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liked a Mohammedan. My father said, "You can do anything but at least don't do this, because I have to live in the society, I have to think of the other children. And from where did you get this idea?"
Mohammedans in my town used instead of the dhoti that Indians use, a certain kind of pajama that is called a salvar. That is used by Pakhtoons in Afghanistan and Pakhtoonistan -- those faraway places near the Himalayas, beyond the Himalayas. But it is a beautiful pajama, and not made in a miserly way, like a pajama; it has so many folds. If you have a real salvar you can make at least ten pajamas out of it; it has so many folds. Those folds give it its beauty, when they all become gathered. And I wore a long Pakhtoon kurtha -- not an Indian kurtha. The Indian kurtha is short and the sleeves are not very loose. The Pakhtoon kurtha sleeves are very loose and the kurtha is very long; it goes below the knees. And I had got a Turkish cap.
My father used to tell me, "You enter the shop anyway with closed eyes, and with closed eyes you go out. Why don't you use the back door?" He said, "You can come in from the back door, you can go out from the back door; you can have the key to yourself because nobody uses the back door. At least we will be saved the trouble of answering every customer,'Who is the Mohammedan going inside with closed eyes?' And you get these strange ideas. We have a cloth shop -- all kinds of cloths are there, ready-made clothes are there -- you can have any style, but Mohammedan?"
In India, a Mohammedan is the worst thing. I said, "This is why, because all you people think that the Mohammedan is the worst thing. I am protesting against you all, that the dress of the Mohammedan is the best. And you can see it; wherever I go only I am noticed, nobody else is notice&. Whenever I enter the classroom I am noticed; anywhere I go I am immediately noticed."
And the way I was using that dress.... It was a really graceful dress, and with a Turkish cap. The Turkish cap is long and has a tassel of hair hanging by the side; very rich Turkish people use it. I was so small, but that dress helped me in many ways.
I might go to meet the
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