Monday, March 07, 2011

Taxi?


Women in burkas are certainly photogenic in their own way. A scene of a commonplace developing-world street suddenly seems extra-exotic when there are burka-clad women in the scene. For the moment sidestepping the issue of enjoying as a spectator what is for many a manifestation of some pretty horrible subjugation of women, which really is an issue we shouldn't sidestep, but it's late and we're trying to get a bunch of posts lined up for the next week before we are out of comms for the next week or so.

Anyway, we'll get back to that at some point, but for now, I'll note that the most perfect moments are when you see women in burkas doing normal things that people do. It jolts you (or at least me) out of seeing them as mysterious objects of tourist fascination, or even seeing them as pitiable prisoners of their clothes and their culture, but rather you (or at least I) suddenly remember that there's a real person under there who might just need a ride across town, so they scramble over to any car that will stop for them and hope the man in their group can convince someone to do it for a reasonable price.

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