INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia ended its longstanding ban on women driving on Sunday -- and the second the clock struck
midnight, women across the country started their engines.This is what it was like for one of those women as she drove across Riyadh, the
city of her birth, in her own words:"My name is Samar Almogren
I'm a talkshow host and writer."I took off my niqab a long time ago
When I first decided to show my face on television, it did not go down well
My brothers were very upset
But my father supported me, and has always supported me in all of my life decisions
He's the one who encouraged me to study abroad."I've driven in different countries before, and I have an international driver's license, but
it's going to be totally different here
At home."I actually hate driving
The point is that it is my right
I can drive, and whether I choose to or not is another issue."My whole body is tingling right now
To get in my car, to hold this steering wheel, after having lived my entire life, since the moment I entered this world, in the back seat
This is now my responsibility, and I'm more than ready to bear it
I've long depended on myself."I always knew this day would come
Sudden."I think this was the biggest stumbling block
I don't see any more obstacles from here on
Driving was the big one, and that's done now."I decided to wear white tonight
The black abaya has become the mark of the Muslim woman
But there's no religious text that states that a woman must wear a black abaya
I'm not against the black abaya, but I am against forcing it upon anyone."Everyone's already asking me to drive them to work or to come for
It's going to be great to be able to take my mother around, rather than have her sit in the backseat with a driver who's a stranger
No, my mom isn't going to drive, at her age
We're going to drive her around, me and my sisters
We want to spoil her."What's most important to me is that I can drive my baby around
It's the worst thing to me to have to entrust him to a driver, even though I'm always with him in the car."I wore white tonight because it's
I feel like a butterfly No, a bird
I feel free like a bird."(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a
