September 11, 2009 Another Iftar

Another Iftar . We’re all sitting around on a blanket on the grass as the sun goes down. AZ is reading one of the submissions for the short story contest sponsored by a German NGO. He’s reading it in Dari and translating into English. His translation is exquisitely detailed- he explains all the many layers of metaphor . One of the more beautiful is the explanation of the mother pulling on the shirt of the husband who is bound to kill her daughter his wife. This part of the shirt, the lower portion of the shalwar kamise is sacred on both men and women but esp women because this is the part of the body where humans are born. When you make a plea to someone in this way the person is bound to honor the supplicant. The story is only two pages long and yet tells so much – I imagine it would take twice as long to say the same thing in English. There are other evocative metaphors: the writer hears a dog giving birth inside the house he’s observing. He imagines the dog is mourning the birth of her pup because of the terrible life it is bound to lead, and he compares this to a human giving birth in this time. The author is from Mazur which is the current center of storytelling and creative writing in Afghanistan. The author is the head of one of two writing groups in Mazur. the competition had more submissions from Pashtuns than in Dari but the Dari ones were better.
When the sun goes down, H brings hot fresh Nan and there is baklava brought by D from the German NGO that is sponsoring the competition.
Later we go inside and after Z has gone out to get kabobs we sit around on the floor and toast 4 more yrs of Karzai (haha)
Al Jazeera is on the TV. They’re talking about about the NYTimes journalist that was jus t rescued while his accompanying Afghan journalist was killed. AZ says the family of the journalist had arranged with the T that he would not be harmed, but then was shot by the British bec they thought he was a T. A (from Poland, working for a Swedish NGO, here 6 yrs) says the T who were once only on the Paki border are now everywhere.
She has brought some Afghan films-4 shorts and one feature. I am only able to see the first two because my driver insists on picking me up early. The first one was made in the 60’s and is an informative film on birth control!!! All the women are wearing western style haircuts, no scarves and skirts above their knees.! (B says her mother got married in 1969 and wore a mini for her wedding dress) It is so strange to see this as History! All the Afghan men present are in their 20’s.
The second film was the first film made by the man who made OSAMA (if you haven’t seen this and want to know more about Afghanistan run out and rent it. He made it during the era of the soviets-he was in his 20’s studying filmaking in Moscow. It shows some children painting a peace sign on a building with jack booted men bearing down on them. It’s kind of surprising he was able to get away with it.
I have just learned that the end of Ramadan is next week (Eid) and I have 9 days off! What to do! Where to go!