"Thanks" to a high-profile assassination, my
supervisor decided that I should have a chadari, just in case of emergency.
While that might sound like a smart disguise, wearing it on the street for just
a few minutes confirmed that any man who wasn't blind could spot from some
hundred metres that I was a foreigner. That thing is by far the most difficult
garment I ever had to put on, and that includes my kindergarten costume party
outfits! Of course, not being comfortable in your clothes shows, so men walking
by me on the street were staring even more than when I go out without it. Later
I was told that it was the way I walk and carry my body that gave me away more
than the jeans which were slightly visible underneath.
In short, the chadari is everything I expected it to be,
and worse. In 40 degrees weather, the thick cloth turns into an oven. It is
supported on the head by some sort of bonnet, on which the cloth is sewed. If
the bonnet doesn't fit your head size exactly (which mine didn't, having been
bought by one of the drivers, without me trying it on), the whole contraption
slides towards the back of the head, pulling with it the small netted hole
which constitutes the only medium through which you can see some of what's in
front of you (not left or right, no way). Basically, this leaves you blind,
whereas before you were only half blind.
On the upside, I was able, for the first time, to stare
back at people (well, men, I never know when a woman is staring at me) without
giving the impression that I'm inviting them for dinner + breakfast. For a
short time, I was able to do something I had wanted to for months but couldn't:
analyze the facial expressions and body language of Afghan men. It's amazing
how men across cultures and vast geographic spaces are basically the same:
undressing a woman with their eyes seems like a popular sport even when there
are literally half a dozen layers to go through...
For the purpose of illustrating what a western woman looks
like when she puts on a chadari for the first time, here it goes:
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