Burqa, Hijab, Niqab, ... they are NOT the same ...

So, is there is a difference? Yes.  Yes :)

Hijab: it can be conceptualized as a head scarf.

A couple of years ago, we had a visitor from Bahrain as a house-guest for ten days or so.  She always wore a hijab.  And, it turned out that it was her choice to wear a hijab--even her mother does not wear one.
But, this was in Bahrain, which is one of the less restrictive Persian Gulf societies.

Now, let us suppose we expand the covering to most of the body--except the face.  In other words, anybody can see the entire face of the woman, despite that all-covering garment.  Well, that is the chador.

As a kid growing up in India, I think I have seen many women in chadors.  But then in India, I recall that everything was given a common word of purdah.  Purdah itself, according to Wikipedia, has Persian/Urdu origins.  But, the purdah that we generically referred to in India is more like the Niqab or burqa.

With the niqab, well, one can at least see the eyes and eyebrows.  This is also what a German reporter wore for a day to get an idea of how others might respond to a woman wearing a niqab. 
With the burqa, there is a small veil/slit for the eyes.  This is one serious covering up.
(Source for the images used here.)

As a kid, I did not see very many women in India in a burqa.  Even now, when I visit, maybe I see a lot more of the chador and niqab, but not many burqa-clad women.

Here is one of my favorite Hindi songs where you ... well, watch it :) Click here for an English translation of the lyrics

The life that was :-(

Slumdog Millionaire

Jorge Luis Borges wrote somewhere that all stories since Don Quixote are only retellings of the Cervantes classic.
What does this have to do with Slumdog Millionaire?



As the movie unfolded, I kept thinking that this was so similar to Forrest Gump. Gump managed to be at the right places at the right times, and despite the low IQ person that he was, well, he turned out to be one successful guy. And, of course, Gump was forever after that same girl in his life--despite how much ever she shunned him.
Here, the slumdog--Jamal--didn't quite know anything really; he just lucked out with the questions--they all somehow related to his life experiences. You know, life is like a box of chocolates, as Gump opined.
I guess the only difference is that Gump girl dies in the end, whereas Jamal and Latika get together in the end, in quite a cheesy ending to the movie.

A quick Google search for the Forrest Gump comparison, and here is an excerpt from one of the results:

In championing Forrest Gump's purity, Robert Zemeckis's film mocked both U.S. history and the complexities of adulthood, helping to fan the flames of American anti-intellectualism to a towering mid-Nineties blaze. Boyle's ode to dumb love and circumstance hasn't the same deliberation, but "Slumdog Millionaire" does manage to make bombastic offense. Jamal's success on the TV show makes him a hero to slumdogs everywhere (they gather around televisions in the cities and on the farms with that nostalgic fellow-feeling), but he doesn't care about being rich. He just wants to be with Latika. Quite instructive to the billions of poor people in the world foolishly aspiring to subsistence, let alone wealth. See that heartwarming montage of Jamal through the years, laughing despite the begging, stealing, and enslavement? He's postcolonial, post-material, totally adorable. Love is all Jamal needs. Love and a lobotomy.

I thought it was interesting with the names of the characters--the brother is Salim Malik, and the brother's boss--the crime leader in the slum--is Javed Miandad. What is special about these names? They were big time cricket players from Pakistan; Malik was eventually banned from cricket for match-fixing, and Miandad is currently the head honcho of Pakistan's cricket board.