Salma Ansari: ‘Scandalous’ necklines and horse-riding sprees that changed a few things at AMU and beyond

Mr Hamid Ansari is sworn in as the Vice President of India for the second consecutive term. I feel very happy. Not because I support the party that backs him. As a matter of fact my reasons to like him are very personal. I am a big fan of Mrs Ansari, a lady who dares to bare: society’s cultural hypocrisy as well as her own matronly yet beautiful back. I remember her as the Vice Chancellor’s wife in AMU, who had visited Abdullah Hall on Founder’s Day to attend Sir Syed’s birth anniversary celebrations. Her shockingly bright silk Saree worn with a fashionable blouse gave the resident girls food for thought, and gossip, for many days to come.

Most of the resident-students were scandalized, for Mrs Salma Ansari was the First Lady of AMU: an institute where parents sent their daughters to receive education in keeping with their Islamic traditions. Where anyone not wearing a shalwar-kameez would be looked down upon as a ‘transgressor,’ to use the most polite and literary term. It was the most commonly used epithet for girls (even the 11-12 years old residents of Sultan Jahan Hostel) who wore jeans and T-shirts. The only time one could paint one’s nails was when the menstrual flow forbade offering of Namaaz. Mrs Ansari, certainly post-menopause, had painted her nails bright red that evening.

I remember each detail of her appearance on the Founder’s Day dinner at Abdullah: the blinding orange and green of her Saree, the size of her Bindi, the colour of her nail polish, the fashionably cut blouse which drew glances and the confidence in her gait. I met her twice again after that first encounter but I cannot recall what she wore on those occasions. Once she had given me a trophy for being the best debater in the university. Next time, she took me by surprise when she entered my room in Old Waheed Jahan Hostel with another smartly turned out woman of her age. The other lady was the wife of the then VC of Jamia Milia Islamia. As it turned out, she had occupied the same room during her student days and wanted to take a trip down the nostalgia lane. This was just before my std 12 board exams and Mrs Ansari asked me what was I going to do in life. I shared my wish to ditch the commerce stream and do ‘English Honours’ from DU. She was delighted, being an English Honours walla herself.

Both of us left AMU in 2002: I got admission in DU, while Mr Hamid Ansari’s tenure as VC ended the same year. We never met again. On the Army Day this year, however, I saw Mr Ansari at the high-tea hosted by the Army Chief. Being a high-profile event, reviving the University connect seemed a little out of place. I wanted to tell him that his wife was a rock-star in true senses of the term. I’m sure he is proud of Al Noor, the educational trust founded by Mrs Ansari in Aligarh. What he might not know is the fact that Salma Ansari made a difference, however small or insignificant, in the way many girls in Abdullah Hall perceived tradition, modernity and religion. My room-mate, for one, decided to stash away her burqa and we went to take a round of the “University area.” An aapa from Women’s College began to be seen sporting large colourful bindis, ignoring all the smirks and dismissive looks that came her way. At the farewell party organized for our batch, I had overheard somebody whispering, “Look at her blouse, toba! Who does she think she is, Salma Ansari?” While the comment may appear regressive, it held some promise. Once you reach Salma Ansari’s stature, you can wear ‘scandalous’ clothes. Earning a right to choose one’s clothing is a great incentive to do well in life. I am neither in touch with the girl who dared to emulate Mrs Ansari, nor the one who passed the comment. I hope the former retained her rebellious streak and the latter made good of her practical cynicism. Mrs Ansari, apparently, impressed them both.   

I wonder, however, what that class-mate of mine would have said to those criticizing Salma Ansari for doing horse-riding in Aligarh. Being the VC’s wife did not exempt her from parochial censure. And yet, Salma Ansari silenced the ‘culture’ brigade by giving them Al-Noor, an idea that she conceived during one of her rides.   

Salma Ansari, an alumnus of AMU, certainly is a worthy bulbul  of this chaman.