What are we, happy, surprised, vindicated, shocked, that a girl in hijab is the first-ranked among Arts students in the Karnataka state board Class 12 exams? Or are we somewhere, somewhat ashamed, at having put an 18-year-old to such a test?
Now that Tabassum Shaik has succeeded after ceding to the requirement of not wearing the hijab while on her pre-university institution premises — plus come up on top against those losing their heads over what she chooses to put on hers — what more could be demanded of her?
The field is wide open, after all, with no redeeming mid-paths as another election sways between hard Hindutva and soft polarisation. From food jihad to love jihad, Tabassum may find many more battles thrust upon her.
But now that the 18-year-old has already shown little boys masquerading as grown men their place, our vote should be with Tabassum.
Her first clients as she becomes a clinical psychologist — as is her goal in life — could come from this very same lot. Remember those boys gleefully donning saffron stoles handed out by political leaders and protesting at college gates to scare away girls like Tabassum, with whom days earlier they had happily shared their classroom?
Presumably, as Tabassum was trying to make her way to the top despite the rhetoric and the theatrics, those boys did not have missed classes on their mind at least. As their tribe inexorably grows, on and beyond, it would be illuminating to know what exactly is going on in those grey cells of theirs, and Tabassum could help us get there.
Actually, what we need are more such Tabassums — the Tabassum in shorts, the Tabassum in sari, the Tabassum in burqa, the Tabassum in bikini, the Tabassum dolled up, the Tabassum as it is, the innocent Tabassum, the wily Tabassum, the Tabassum who is good, and the Tabassum who can be bad — boggling all the small, befuddled minds around them.
How then could they slot a Tabassum Shaik on the strength of just a piece of cloth? Or a Deepika Padukone, for that matter, over also a piece of cloth — placed differently, sure, but again, not to their liking. Or a Sita, who couldn’t prove her case with even a chastity test?
Clothes may or may not maketh a man, but they do certainly shaketh them. The hijab worn by Tabassum may not really be the perfect example, but the far-from-fair sex has never shied away from setting the rules of the game in its favour. Has any woman had her way without breaking at least one of those rules?
In times like ours, where a Prime Minister declares from a podium that he can identify rioters based on their clothes, Tabassum has shattered a crass ceiling.
It is sad that fights such as these are what’s left for us to celebrate now, but Tabassum’s reply to those who once doubted her raises one question that should travel right to the top and resound loudly there: in which category would the powers-that-be bracket her?
National Editor Shalini Langer will curate the fortnightly ‘She Said’ column, starting today
shalini.langer@expressindia.com
