Thank God! Tomorrow was Sunday. She had just made a lot of plans for tomorrow: a visit to an old friend of hers in the morning along with Nausheen, then a movie with all her friends in the afternoon and at last a little time in the local park. Oh, what a jolly day ahead!

Bouncing and dancing Zareen came home from college. But, as she stepped into the house, all her happiness melted away quickly when her father said, "Zareen, I want to talk to you".

What's the matter, she wondered. Her father could talk to any family member at any time at without asking for their approval, but he asked like this only when he wanted to discuss some serious stuff. "Yes father", Zareen said obediently.

The old man was sitting in a sofa and asked his daughter to sit beside him. When she obeyed him, he said, "Beta, listen to me carefully; this is very important."

Zareen nodded her head, trying hard to guess what he was going to talk about.

"I have told you about this many times but you didn't listen to me. I thought you were a kid so I haven't forced you. But today I realized you are no more a small girl."

Zareen had put a puzzled face, unable to grasp why her father was so sentimental at this moment.

He continued, "I can't see you suffer in this evil world, beta. I am always worried about your safety. From tomorrow onwards you had better wear a burqa before going out. Quite a grown-up you are now."

Zareen hadn't expected this topic. She had thought he was going to scold her for some mischievous and careless thing she might have done. But this was really something she despised to discuss. "But father, I don't want to wear any burqa. Moreover, how can I go to college wearing a veil?"

"Why? Is your friend Nausheen not going to college wearing a burqa?"

"I don't know about her. But I don't feel comfortable wearing it."

 "You will get used to it soon, Zareen. Even you will begin to like it as people respect you more."

Zareen didn't know how to convince her father that she wouldn't like to wear any kind of veil. She wanted to be free without any restrictions and boundaries on her life.

She said hesitatingly, "Father, what you are thinking as respect isn’t a real respect. I don’t want people to run away from me. Why are you trying to snatch my freedom away from me? You know if I wear a burqa I can't feel comfortable to go out with my friends".

To this, her father really got pissed and said angrily, "Freedom? You think you are more intelligent and experienced than your father after getting a little education. I know how much freedom a girl should have. And I have already given you more freedom than a girl should have." Her father's harsh words were piercing Zareen's ears.

Her father continued. "A woman should always be protected as it is the most delicate thing God has ever created. I saw in the morning how those boys were looking at you and what kind of comments they were making."

Oh! This was the reason why he was talking like this today, Zareen thought. She remembered how Latif and his gang had made rude comments at her and her friends while they were going to college in the morning. Her father must have been somewhere on the road at that time. But, when he saw somebody was harassing his daughter why didn't he come forward and taught a lesson to those bastards?

"Father," Zareen said with hesitation. "It's not my fault. Those bastards are everyday troubling us. If you had seen this you should have warned them".

"Oh..! Now you began to tell your father what he should do,” he said mockingly. “Don't forget that I am seeing all these things for more than fifty years on this earth. I don't want to tarnish the reputation of our family. If I scream at those guys in the street, it's my daughter who would loose the dignity, not those boys. And in turns, you know, all the family members would be treated meanly in the society. A girl should always be behind a purda. Then only she is respected."

He then abruptly turned to his wife, who was listening to the conversation all the time without uttering a single word. "Why don't you try to bring around your daughter? Whether she likes or not, she must wear a burqa. Tell her this is my order." Screaming those last words for emphasis, he dashed out of the house.

Zareen looked at her mother with a hope. "Mother, what is this? Why are you sitting idle there without saying something? Please tell Father I can't wear a burqa. I look awkward in that".

The woman looked at her daughter sympathetically. "Whatever your father is saying is right, beta. Moreover he is angry now. He thinks you have given those boys an opportunity to think evil of you by not wearing a burqa. He loves you a lot and thinks a lot about your safety."

"If he really loves me, ask him not to put any restrictions on me."

"Zareen, don't you feel ashamed to talk like this about your father. Have some shame. You don't know how evil this world is. If a woman goes out alone without a burqa, all men eat her up with their eyes; and please don't make me tell you what kind of blatant suggestion they pass. At least for our family's sake, listen to your father."

"Who told you the world is evil? You have never been out without a burqa. You believe what your father and your husband and all your brothers have taught you."

"Shut up, Zareen! I have never thought you would be so stubborn and stupid. You are talking as if you were my mother."

At that time Zareen's elder brother, who was in the next room listening to all this conversation, came into the living room. Encouraged by his father's absence, He said, "Zareen, you had better follow what father has told you. You don't realize how much risk you are taking by going out without wearing a burqa. Just think how much I suffer if somebody makes a rude comment to you; and if something happens who else but me has to come to your risk. Do you want to put me in that kind of ugly situation?"

Zareen became furious at his intrusion into this matter. "Hey bro! It's you who made rude comments at my friend, Nausheen. When she reported your misbehaviour to her family, you know what they told her? ‘Wear a burqa.’ Now you talking about your sister putting you into risk?" She uttered her last words with as much venom as she could get out of her throat.

Her brother was dumbstruck with this unexpected assault on him.

"Instead of asking Nausheen and me to wear a burqa, why don't you guys wear a veil?" Zareen screamed.

"Zareen, is this the way to talk to your elder brother", her mother said.

"Mother, just see what rubbish she is talking! She has no respect for elders," the guy yelled. "If we leave her freely like this she will one day bring shame on our family. Do something to control this tigress."

"Hey! It's not me but you who are spoiling our family's name. Apart from roaming the city and harassing the girls, do you have any other work?"

"Zareen and Munna! You both stop fighting,” said their mother. “Munna, go out. It doesn't concern you; it's our problem."

Muttering something inaudibly the boy left the room.

"Mother!" Zareen walked to her mother and sat beside her. "Please mother, you must help me. Tell papa I can't wear a veil."

"I don't understand why you are opposing it. You know wearing burqa is more comfortable, beta. People won't stare at you. They will respect you."

"What do you think of me, mother? Am I a doll? So that you can preserve me behind a veil and when a proper person in the form of a husband comes, you can sell me."

"That's enough, Zareen. I can't take any more of you.” Her mother's face became stern and harsh. “This is my final word, listen to me. From now onwards I am not going to let you out without a burqa."

***

Zareen no more went out without a burqa; it had become a part of her life. When she walked on the road, it’s true nobody dared to look at her or make a comment at her. She should feel safe now but she wasn’t feeling that way. She felt as if she was hiding from the world. If the world was evil she wanted to face it, not run away from it. Even she didn’t have to display her emotions, for nobody could see the ex-pressions on the face of a veiled woman.

Whenever she was sitting in a bus or in a reception hall surrounded by woman, she felt alienated from the whole world. She thought she was no more a human being, just a beautiful slave whose duty was to just follow the orders from the master.

One day, Zareen asked herself why she was so conscious of her veil. She thought deeply and decided to put a stop to her agony.

Soon she forgot that she was wearing a veil.