Terrorists on Two Wheels

"Hey! What?!!!" His eyes popped out of their sockets and hit the glasses which was wearing. Just as well, or else they would have burst out of the windshield of the car! His jaw dropped. Mercifully the two were joined together at the joint!

A split second later there issued a hysterical laughter - relief, shock at the realization, amusement at what he saw and at what he thought at first he saw.

We had halted at a pedestrian crossing and something in pink darted across. It was covered in zebra like stripes.(Did he think only zebras crossed at zebra crossings?! :shock) Nothing like anything we had seen before. It was carried on two legs. Suddenly it dawned on the BH that this was the female of the human species that had decided to cover her entire face except to leave a slit for the eyes (something akin to a post box opening) with a pink striped scarf. For a moment he thought this was some new species of fauna he was seeing and wondered what it could be.

Ha! I wondered what he would do in a place like Pune. One of the first thing that strikes one is that every second girl who drives a scooter covers her face in that manner to protect her face and hair from the dust, grime and pollution of the street side. They wear long sleeved coats over their dresses and some even wear long gloves to protect themselves from getting sun tanned. One could be forgiven for mistaking it for a modified version of the hijab and burkha. But no, the reason for wearing is different.

Of course, I have always maintained that wearing a burkha, if it is a voluntary decision or in this case completely covering the face with a scarf, dark glasses and a helmet on top of that can be very liberating. Imagine, one can ogle at all the guys on the street without them being able to ogle back! :biggrin2:

There was some protest at one point of time saying that there should be a law against women covering their faces with scarves. Who knows, even terrorists could go around in the same garb and be mistaken for a harmless scooterist! Not to say that these women (moi included) on two wheels are not a variety of terrorists on the road. :-D Looks like Pune did not introduce that ban, but I read that it has now been banned in Madhya Pradesh for security reasons.

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I guess, more than security reasons, the male of the species felt cheated at not being able to see the pretty faces behind the scarves!

Whatever the reasons for wearing those scarves, I have always wondered how they feel comfortable covering their noses with those layers of cloth. How do they keep breathing that hot air inside those scarves? I wonder! But then our women are capable of anything and everything, aren't they?

 

Sweetypi, helmets according to the law are mandatory everywhere. But the law is not imposed strictly in most places.

 

Hi Ravi,

I remember my mom telling me to cover my face to protect it, but I used to feel awkward doing that. I preferred wearing a helmet with a dark vizer - only disadvantage being that it was difficult to see through those in the dark. So evening times one had to lift the vizer and have insects hitting one's eyes! I once got an insect into my eye and one eye was massively swollen for the rest of the day!

 

Kamalji, trust you to find out a reason for women wanting to wear such gear. Wonder why they don't wear a helmet. It is easier. But then I have seen some women wearing all this and then a helmet on top of that.