Jhalak Dihklaa Jaa - Show me a Glimpse..

 2008 - 2013 | Photography

A Journey of the Pune Scarf Fashion. 

This series is inspired by a newspaper article below:

A ban on covering faces by women while driving motorbikes has irked several women’s organizations in the city. Satyapal singh, who took charge of the City Police Commissioner last week has disapproved women covering their faces while driving. The contention of Singh is that terrorist can take advantage of the practice to disguise themselves. Pune which is reportedly has the maximum number of two wheelers on the roads, is listed among the most polluted cities in the country. The controversy also hit the blogsphere with girls protesting the ban on blogs and social networks such as Orkut and Facebook. – Times of India 27 July 2008

On the other hand blogger ‘Amit Paranjape’ wrote in an article about ‘50 ways in which Pune has changed over the past 15 years’ said:

“Even back then, Pune was the national leader as far as beautiful collegiate crowd from the fairer sex was concerned. Back then, the teenage boys (and many, if not all men) had a great time enjoying this beauty on strategic places such as FC Road, as the crowd zoomed past on their 2 wheelers. Unfortunately today, with the invention of the ‘wraparound scarf’ it feels like Pune has significantly regressed in this area! Keep aside the security debate for a moment – in the wider interest of the male population, an immediate ban should be passed on this headgear!”

The girls of Pune dealt with this ban by simply ignoring it. These scarves serve many purposes as told by my subjects. Its easy to hide your identity from harassment, bunking college and more than protection from pollution, it has become a style and statement.

Infact the scarves has followed their on evolution in fashion from style of tying and bold prints. This series documents the journey of the Pune scarf style.