Re: Mashriqi hayaa (Eastern Modesty)
Not sure how it started in the north. It is a social custom that crept in some time I suppose. There is no religious sanction in the vedas that one has to cover head as a mark of respect. In the south it is considered inauspicious since in older days (we r talking pre-independence and beyond), widows used to get their head tonsured as a mark of grief and only they used to pull their sarees above their head to cover it. Otherwise it was just not done.
Hair as long as it is bound is not associated with modesty in my culture I suppose.