Why I started wearing the hijab

A young slam poet and researcher tells us what the headscarf means to her, and how it’s become entwined with her identity

- Zainab Rashid

When I was in middle school, I saw a couple of classmates wearing a hijab. I liked it and started wearing it but just during classes. I wouldn’t wear it when I went out. My parents were very confused because no one in my family had worn the hijab before this. In old family photos, you can see the women have bare heads.

By class 12, gradually as I started reading and understood the idea behind it, I started wearing it more regularly. I began to think of it as a part of my identity, not something fickle but something that can’t be separated from me. Since then, I’ve worn it during college and now while working as a research assistant at IIT Bombay.