Chaadars and Jaahil Aurats.

The theme of private and public sphere is highlighted in Humsafar. For the purpose of this blog, I’m going to look at Khirad and how despite being in the public, she is still stuck in the private sphere. Before I start my rant, I want to question our definition of “sphere”. At first, I thought by public and private sphere, we were referring only to space as in home and outside, but by observing Khirad I realized we can take sphere to mean a lot more than that.

While in Hyderabad, Khirad gives home tuitions. Unlike the protagonist of the 80s such as Sara from Ankahi, Khirad does not go out and work. It is mentioned that she is enrolled in BSc. but during her time in Hyderabad, she is seen only at home. Moving on to after she gets married, Khirad is seen at home and only ventures out to the hospital in the initial episodes. Once Ashar falls in love with her, she is granted mobility. He takes her out to events and for ice cream and later encourages her to join the university. That is where the idea of sphere gets interesting. Khirad, when out and about with Ashar, is seen dressed rather fashionably. I mean as fashionable as Khirad can get, she is a Hyderabadi after all. We appreciate our shallus*, thank you very much. But yes, she has her hair flowing and everything. However, when she goes to the university, she has chaadar back on her head. This gets further confusing when Khirad doesn’t cover her head when she visits Khizar in the hospital and is hanging with him at her own house and Sara’s house. Khizar is na-mehraam for God’s sake. Has Khirad lost her mind?!

While Khirad is at the university, although she is in a public space, her chaadar signifies she is still a part of the private sphere. She doesn’t feel the need to don that chaadar at the hospital or at the events because there she is accompanied by either Ashar or Farida. Their presence ensures that Khirad conducts herself in accordance with the rules of the public sphere. While unsupervised, Khirad’s chaadar undertakes the role of a veil and separates her from the public and ensures she stays in the private.

As mentioned prior, we can take sphere to mean more than just physical space. Khirad is stuck perpetually in the private, only allowed to go out in the public if and when supervised.

P.S. This conclusion is based on the number of episodes I have watched which is not a lot. So for all I know, she might just surprise me and go out to a café on her own without covering her head. Will have to finish watching the show to be sure but it’s not looking good.

*shalwar kameez