قوس قزح

However from my observations I have noticed that we are both accepting and accommodating modernity. Many of our traditions and rituals are borrowed from our history in the Indian sub-continent and these have no relevance to Islam.

We Pakistani people may cross as rigid and unyielding in our perceptions of religion. Many times people in the West perceive us as hard-line Muslims non receptive to modern evolutionary changes.

Mehendi celebration for example is a wedding ritual we adopted from India. Before the wedding, the bride and her friends get together, sing songs, sometimes dance and apply Henna.

Now, how people celebrate this particular day varies from family to family depending upon their adherence to religious codes. Some have large, mixed gender dance parties and others have female-exclusive events. The example I am going to share is interesting as it had both within one family, on one day and at one event.

My uncle’s family is not hard core religious family and hence gender segregation is not a compulsion. He has two daughters the younger was getting married. The older daughter has been attending sermons of an Islamic organization and consequently adopted strict Islamic practices which includes pardah.When girls observe pardah, they cover their entire body in large veils and also their faces. The one who was getting married was rather different. She expected to have a large dance party in her Mehndi occasion with both male and female friends. 

When we got invited to the event, I was wondering who would amongst both the daughters would have won. Both had starkly different views of celebrating this particular tradition and a clash was something I foresaw. 

When I entered the hall, I saw a dance floor with flashing lights, loud music and young boys and girls dancing to the rythms. I looked around for my other cousin expecting she wouldn’t have attended her own sister’s Mehndi event. Surprisingly, I was wrong. Within the same hall there was a small partitioned area where the older one and many other girls were happily applying henna. Men weren’t allowed in that section and these girls were as lavishly dressed as the girls outside the section.

It was a pleasant evening for me. I enjoyed the dance party as well as chit chat and laughs with the girls in separated section.

We are a unique nation, I thought. Because we have people with different ideologies in our community, we have people with different perceptions. 

 If only people who encroach upon others life with their own perceived notions of right and wrong, learn to be more accommodating of difference of opinions and respect each other’s values, Pakistan will be a land free of intolerance and hatred.