Burqa in Sea Beach
Diego, an Argentine wanderer, came to visit Bangladesh in 2017. Apparently he came to visit Sylhet.
I went out with Diego to show him the eco-park. I noticed that he was walking straight, ignoring the beautiful trees around him. It was not clear to me if he liked my beloved eco-park or not. Then I thought about starting to talk. But this topic is from a different angle. It was important to know what was going in his mind.
Diego, can I ask you a personal question? I asked for breaking the monotony.
It depends.
Hahaha! Okay, what do you think about religion? I mean, do you think we need it or not?
See, though I have not so much interest in religion, I have some kind of belief there. It is personal.
Yes, almost everyone has a belief.
But when I toured India, even in your country also, I noticed that in most cases, girls are being deprived of in the name of religion.
Ah! What made you think so?
When I came here to visit, I went to a friend’s house. Finding me, they asked a lot of questions. In between, we ate together. I shared some interesting and strange experiences with everyone while eating. When I finished, I noticed that someone was eating alone inside. I didn’t know that she wasn’t eating with us. After a while, I found out she is my friend’s mother.
Our mothers feed everyone first, and then they eat.
But if she eats alone without everyone, does she enjoy it?
No one enjoys eating alone, but it is not just because of religion. In our country, patriarchy has been practiced vigorously for many years. It has become a culture once in a while. Mothers eat alone when they go to follow that culture.
Getting along with this one thing came to my mind. When I went to Cox’s Bazar, I saw most of the girls walking on the beach wearing big black clothes! Can you imagine! Only the girls can not take a bath while boys are bathing there. Is your religion only serving the males?
Don’t you know the males have taken the advantage of religion? This situation is all over the world. And that cloth has a name which is called ‘Burqa’.
I heard that later and also know that burqa is very popular here. But is the burqa really popular, or are boys forcibly making girls wear it?
A lot of things have become part of the culture. As a result, some girls have accepted it and some have not. All the girls are not coming back without taking sea bathing. When I went, many of my friends and I were rushing to take a bath spontaneously.
So someone will come to the beach wearing a burqa? Will not go down to the sea? I can’t think about that. I jump as soon as I find a vast sea. In my country at least, there’s nothing like that on the sea beach. Girls can take a sea bath free there. Another thing, while walking in Chittagong, I saw little girls in long black dresses walking in the streets during scorching heat. But then I was literally screaming inside because of the heat. I felt sad for them.
Don’t talk about this to anyone else. Want to get beaten? Inside the secluded eco-park, I whispered to Diego. Hearing that, Diego laughed. He was sure that he would not talk about this to anyone. Then we roamed around the eco-park.
Translated by Goutom Goswami/
Written by Fayezur Shoikot
The actual post is in Bangla. You can read the post here.
