under the fire star

I was just reading the New York Times review of The Bookseller of Kabul. It was hard for me even to read the review, I don't know if I could get through the book - but it looks as though I ought to. Among other things, the reviewer writes:

With a fine eye for detail, Seierstad shows how Afghan women's powerlessness is enforced in ways large and small. The journalist often wore a burqa in public (even though she detested it) in order to mingle more freely. She points out how, because a burqa offers no peripheral vision, a woman must turn her whole head to see sideways -- "another trick by the burka-inventor: a man must know what his wife is looking at."

I bought a white 'shuttlecock' burqa in Peshawar - for fun, for a costume party, to play Casper the Friendly Ghost. The headpiece was tight on my face. After a few minutes it began to give me a headache. I could hardly see even straight ahead - the netting was against my eyes, so that I couldn't ignore it. Later, when I came to Chennai, I modelled it for Ramesh. He said, "It's frightening me -- please take it off."