Oriana Fallaci on Clothing in India

“Then, as always, when Indian and European women meet, the conversation turned to the sari, this beautiful piece of clothing ... next to which each model dress of Chanel or Dior looks ridiculous, clumsy and graceless.”

“The turban is not a symbol of Islam. If you had done your homework you would have discovered that, far from defining it as an "Islamic garment", all dictionaries and encyclopaedias define it as "Oriental or women's head-dress". And the Orient, thank God, is not composed of Muslim countries only. It includes India, for instance, which despite Muslim invasions has always managed to remain Hindu. In India the turban was used a long time before Prophet Mohammed. Think of the black turban of the gurus, of the jewelled turban of the maharajas, of the red turban of the Sikhs who by the way are the most unbending enemies of Islam.”