My earliest memories of the burqa are indeed as ancient as me myself! In my native place, all the women in the family wore the burqa, the black all-covering garment under which if they wore nothing else no one would ever know!
My late father left his home town in search of a better future and landed up in what was then Bombay almost immediately after he received his engineering degree. His job took him to some of the most beautiful hill spots in Maharashtra. All the employees of the company posted in a particular place lived with their families in the company’s residential colonies built near the worksites. That was an eye-opening experience for my mother who still has vivid memories of how difficult it was for her in the beginning to do away with the burqa.
I recount this to emphasise a reality that has been significantly overlooked in the debate on the burqa/hijab: the burqa in most cases is a "family tradition" that inadvertently became a habit as it was passed down through generations. Hence it must be clearly noted that there is no love of god or making a choice involved in this.
I have heard since childhood that Islam is more about intent – to become a good, god-fearing human being – rather than the peripheral rituals that change from place to place and culture to culture. When, for instance, one is praying to god almighty, it is actually the connection with the supreme creator that is at the centre of it all. The way one prays is perhaps of lesser consequence but a certain method and manner have evolved over the years for the sake of uniformity and possibly even for the health benefits to be reaped from the exercise.
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