Mystery of Disappearing Braids

   

             A strange, unexplainable “supernatural” phenomenon seems to have gripped the attention of some neighbouring states of north India.  Some mischievous “spirit/witch/ghost” with a malicious sense of humour seems to be having fun snipping off the braids of unsuspecting, innocent women and girls in some rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab. Interestingly, the “spirit” is not interested in urban women. The poor victims can’t do a thing to protect themselves and generally fall into a faint.

             It would do everyone concerned to look deeper into the existing socio-familial traditions, taboos and norms as they govern every thought and action of the rural women of north India.  There is an exhaustive manual of dos and don’ts that a girl starts imbibing as soon as she starts grasping the life realities around her. They soon become part of her evolving self-regulating mental manual, which she follows, for the most part, unquestioningly. Most girls grow from being good, obedient daughters and sisters to being good, obedient wives and daughters-in-law. Life is generally a dull routine of cooking, washing, cleaning, raising children and pleasing the husband and in-laws. Dress styles are conservative, very often including a veil over one’s head and face.

             But, deep down, human mind has its own mischievous “spirits” which will sometimes become restless and wishful, straining to break free from the given norms. These untamed spirits can be suppressed and pushed into the unconscious but will not be banished.  If one is not ready to acknowledge them as they are, they will find ways to show up in clever disguises to protect the conscious mind from guilt feelings and the threat of social blame and censure.

                 This woman in a certain village in, say, Haryana, meekly goes about her usual daily chores without taking up a losing battle against a strong, suppressive social system; she has overtly accepted it as her way of life. But come evening, she has access to the television, which opens a window to an amazing, enticing “other” urban world, a world where women are smartly turned out in short, styled hair and dresses and move around freely out of their homes between jobs and other activities. She escapes her drudgery, identifying with them for a few bewitching hours.

           Eventually, wherever her fancies may take her, she is not empowered to change her dull life or win any attention or social importance.  Unable  to openly rebel against the family and larger community and incur their wrath, her subconscious forges socially acceptable forms to break taboos, express frustrations and  get even with a cruelly suppressive system without giving it a plausible reason to punish her.  Going to a village dera to exhort a spirit through wanton dancing with open hair was one such way. Snipping off one’s braid and forcing her family to accept short hair, which symbolizes modernity and freedom, is another.  The “spirit” is not outside but within, and social repression is the cause.