"Midnight's Children" Post 2a

This chapter brought up more interesting cultural perspective on the roles of women in Indian society. Aadam marries Naseem in this chapter, and their courtship takes a most unorthodox manner. He comes to diagnose her for various illnesses, of which she has one each week. Each time a small part of her is revealed to him through a sheet with a hole cut in it. Apparently this is not creepy or abnormal in any way, and they eventually get married. Aadam is a more modern person than Naseem's father, and he finds it unnecessary for her to wear purdah. One would think that this liberation would be welcomed by her, but she rejects it strongly: "'You want me to walk naked in front of strange men." (He has told her to come out of purdah.) He says, "Your shirt covers you from neck to wrist to knee... Wife, are your face and feet obscene?" But she wails, "They will see more than that! They will see my deep-deep shame!"' (32). One would think that restrictive practices such as this would not be accepted by women, that they would enjoy more freedom and less restriction, but here this doesn't seem to be the case. These practices seem to have been so deeply ingrained in Naseem that she can't imagine any other way, and that she truly believes that she is disgracing herself by not following purdah. Perhaps this has to do with the period; Aadam is a fairly modern person and I suppose it would be awkward if you were the only one following the new fashion. However, wouldn't the freedom from the second class status that wearing special garments that obscure and restrict you outweigh the potential social pressure? How can one adjust to not being allowed freedom? If you've grown up with something all your life, can you always have adjusted to it? How far does one have to go to have something one cannot adjust to?