ABSTRACT
Qamar Jahan was formerly Professor of Urdu at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). At the time of the interview in 2004, she was in her early sixties and still teaching at the BHU. Originally from Lucknow, she made Banaras her home. She was the first girl in the family who gave up purdah, the first girl who went to a co-educational institution, the first who went in for higher education. Firoza Bano was the pradhan of the Lohta Gram Panchayat in 2001. At the time of the interview, Firoza, in her mid-twenties and unmarried, was active in local politics, but also pursuing her medical studies alongside. One of the consequences of communal riots has been an overall increase in the sense of insecurity – the Muslim community as a whole is quite nervous and anxious. Firoza explained thus: Muslim women have started giving up the wearing of the nakab because they do not want to be conspicuous.
