by Deepa BHOOKHUN

So the Toorab family is not going to the beach anymore.

Guess why? Because some dimwits have decided that Mrs Toorab cannot wear a swimsuit. Not a bikini but a swimsuit. By the way, the culprit, the man who has refused the right to poor Mrs Toorab to go to the beach may be interested to know that what Mrs Toorab was wearing was certainly not a bikini. A bikini is according to the Oxford dictionary, ?a scanty two-piece beach garment worn by a woman?.

Mrs Toorab, bless her heart, was only wearing a boring one-piece swimsuit. But anyhow. Mrs Toorab is not only forbidden to go to the beach; she has altogether lost the right to exist.

But hey, at least now we know. We know that we are meant to teach our children that each and every one of them is different simply because their names have different origins. And moral values - if this at all has anything to do with morality - depends on one?s family name and what one wears at the beach!

How by any stretch of the imagination is the drawing of a woman wearing a swimming costume tantamount to ?disgrace?? How does it ?belittle and give a false image of women in our society, especially that of Muslim women? - as the enlightened Mr Peerun wrote in his letter to the ministry of Education?

I personally know of many other ?real? women including those who chose to practice Islam as a religion, who wear swimming costumes or even bikinis at the beach. Why, I do it myself! Is this disgraceful? Is that giving ?a false and belittling image of women?? What is Peerun talking about? Surely if any parent thought that - and he would be entitled to his opinion - then, it is his business and only his, to explain his reasoning to his child?

I would be interested to know what Mr Peerun wears when he goes to the beach? Oh what am I talking about! Of course, it is OK for him to wear swimming trunks; he is a man after all, isn?t he?

As concerns the ministry of Education?s ill-advised reaction to this inane affair, the less said the better.

But poor, poor Mrs Toorab. May she rest in peace.