Covered in the Past

I went to buy Anu's slippers from a nearby shop. The shop owner is from South Kanara and I had spoken to him once before. Today his wife was managing it, along with another lady and 4-5 children. Among the children were two girls, not more than 8 I think, both covered from head to toe, except for their faces. Their attire was just like the older women, except that the women's burkha was black and the children's with some colour. This was the first time I was seeing such small girls covered like that and I felt sorry for them, especially seeing the boys run around freely. The lady was friendly enough and I should've asked I guess.