WEBVTT

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[soft rhythmic percussive music]

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[soft rhythmic percussive music continues]

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[car horn honking]

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There is probably nothing more novel

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than a woman filming in the streets of Jama Masjid.

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I\'m not easily categorized.

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My looks and dress betray the fact

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that I\'m not just any other foreign tourist.

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But then, what is an Urdu-speaking Indian woman

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doing walking the streets with a movie camera?

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[passersby chattering]

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My first week here led me to identify

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with certain standard preconceptions

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of this Muslim community.

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I assumed, for example, that a woman

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behind the burka or veil was naturally sad and repressed,

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and was expected to deny her curiosity

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by walking away from the camera.

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[car horn honking]

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I find the younger unveiled girls more openly curious,

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and then realized that my first reaction to the burka

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was so strong, because I felt that it both physically

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and mentally served to suppress this impulsive curiosity,

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so natural to the younger unveiled girls.

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[passersby chattering]

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Is it possible that these women

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are happy with their veiled existences?

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It seems unliberated to me.

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But then, perhaps it is the most effective way

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of maintaining some sort of private space

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in this extraordinarily public community.

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Why then are some women

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so obviously resentful about what I represent?

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I don\'t think it\'s because they feel

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I\'m intruding into their privacy.

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For in Jama Masjid, as in many other older parts of India,

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the concept of individual privacy really doesn\'t exist.

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[car horn honking]

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[townspeople shouting]
[chickens clucking]

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I hardly have any privacy while filming.

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But then, I guess my presence contributes

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to the general lack of privacy around here.

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[townspeople speaking in foreign language]

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[townspeople chattering]

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[birds chirping]

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[townspeople speaking in foreign language]

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I stop and load my film every few minutes,

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and each time I feel like the Pied Piper of Hamelin

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reborn in Jama Masjid.

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[townspeople speaking in foreign language]

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[car horns honking]

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[townspeople speaking in foreign language]

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On the other side of the tree

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sits the street chiropractor and physician.

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He boasts the knowledge of all kinds of body aches,

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and uses a combination of Ayurvedic herbs and various oils

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for soothing the most aching muscular problem.

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[townspeople speaking in foreign language]

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Amidst the busyness of the street,

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I find men involved with what first seems to me

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to be each other\'s rather private activities.

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Professional ear cleaners, clearly distinct

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from the rest by their red headbands,

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surface in the early afternoon around the mosque.

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[townspeople speaking in foreign language]

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This barber matter-of-factly asks me

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what my husband does for a living.

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And when I answer I\'m not married,

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he raises a half-questioning, half-pitying eyebrow

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and informs me that a woman\'s prime

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is really from the age of 15 to 26,

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and that really I have only about five years to go.

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[townspeople chattering]

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\"Don\'t you have the desire?\" he asks.

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I assure him I do.

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\"But then, how do you deal with that desire

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if you\'re not married?\"

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[townspeople chattering]

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I have all kinds of audiences, both oblivious and aware.

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[townspeople speaking in foreign language]

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[cart clattering]
[townspeople chattering]

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[traffic rumbling]

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An imperceptible hush settles in

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as the muezzin\'s call to prayer

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is heard faintly in the bustle of the street.

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As the persistent teasing group of men slowly disband

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and head towards the mosque, I\'m left with the rare thrill

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of finally being alone and unobserved.

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[muezzin chanting in foreign language]

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[muezzin continuing chanting in foreign language]

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[worshipers chattering]

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As thousands of men face Mecca

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and bow with what first strikes me

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as an almost totalitarian discipline,

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I realize that this intensity is just too big

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for me to understand, leave alone question.

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[worshipers chanting in foreign language]

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[bright rhythmic music]

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[bright rhythmic music continues]