The dark side of the veil

As long as the community insisted young women follow hackneyed traditions, Mausariya said, it won't be easy.

This week, while in Dewas, Indore, and the Dhar district of rural Madhya Pradesh, all the young women I met were chafing under the tyranny of the ghunghat (veil). Tradition dictates that within and outside their homes, all married women in this region must cover not only their heads, but in some cases, faces too. There is an elaborate, often bewildering set of rules dictating the length of the ghunghat. For example, new brides and women under 30 are expected to cover their faces up to the neck; women in their thirties cover up to the forehead and older women