Wealth and Poverty
10/01/06
Today started pretty lax. My dad has a nice garden outside of his house with flowers and we saw 3 kittens wrestling one another. I really wanted to pick them up, but could hear the woman that gave me my vaccinations to stay away from all animals because of rabies. No fun.
Wazhma and I spent most of the day looking for a hotel in Delhi. I started to get really bored and remembered the TV. There was a great show on that was similar to the old MTV where you could call in and request videos to be played. The VJ’s were two handsome Afghan men. After one second of the show being on Wazhma and I burst into laughter exclaiming, “He’s sooo GAY!” referring to the skinny thing on the right. And he really was so gay. He was so feminine and pretty that he reminded me of my cousin Mariam! He had his skinny jeans on, large belt buckle and v-neck top on. The one on the right was dressed similarly, but the jury was still out on his sexual orientation. I wonder if people here recognize when men are gay or if they’re in denial about it. My uncle walked in and I almost asked him if he thought the VJ was gay, but decided against it. Homosexuality is NOT accepted in Afghan culture, whether you’re in Afghanistan or the US.
All the music videos were romantic and cheesy (not unlike American music videos). There was one Hindi music video featuring a couple dancing in the fields. The girl was wearing a mini skirt and dancing around and her legs were censored! It was hilarious to see this woman with no legs frolicking about. There was also another music video of an Afghan band that had two female members-both guitar players. One was wearing black and had a scarf and the other didn’t have a scarf and was dressed in a bright red outfit. My uncle says that one thing that has moved forward here is music.
My uncle told us there’s a popular Hindi soap opera played in Afghanistan that is translated into Dari. Apparently EVERYONE watches it. It’s such a “pandemic” that the religious figures in parliament wanted the show’s time slot to be changed from 8:30 pm because people weren’t going to the mosque any more! We also saw a commercial for that new mall I had seen called “City Center Mall,” or rather “Sitee Sentar Mall” It advertised all the gold, electronics and other things you could purchase there.
Later that day we went to the lake in a “village” called Quargha outside of Kabul. As we drove outside Kabul, I saw a different view of Afghanistan. The streets weren’t as crowded and there definitely weren’t any shiny buildings to drive by. Instead, there was basic life and basic poverty. I was somewhat surprised to see people still living in tents alongside the road. I guess I’d had higher hopes than that. The fact that the capital of Afghanistan has sporadic electricity is one marker of the progress made here, but that people still live in tents outside the city brought the marker way down. In Kabul there are soldiers, blockades and guards watching over many of the houses and buildings due to security. I couldn’t imagine living in a tent outside the city; far from police or a hospital of any sort, without any type of security.
Further down the road we saw large UNICEF tents--desks and chairs crammed underneath—serving as schools. This is a stark contrast between the City Center Mall, whose hotel rents rooms as expensive as $2500/night. My inclination is to say, “What’s wrong with these people!?” but I know that sort of attitude won’t get anyone anywhere in the progress of humankind. But I can’t help but ask why the Dubai developer couldn’t have invested that money into a school. That building could have housed thousands of students. It had security and a metal detector. What about the schools and teachers that are being attached by the Taliban—where’s their security?
What is it about capitalism that narrows people’s conception of wealth strictly to the monetary realm rather than focusing on the value of life itself? What good does a mall that sells gold and iPods do when the majority of people’s quality of life is not high enough to even enjoy these commodities? Furthermore, who cares?! If I was a developer in Dubai, I would feel a greater level of satisfaction building something that provided something more than a false sense of reality in Afghanistan. I could just take pictures of the posh in Afghanistan, and you would think Afghanistan is as rich as the US or richer. The crazy thing is this mall hasn’t gone out of business yet, so there are definitely people here that can afford it.
We continued on our drive and reached the lake which was a beautiful blue green color. There was a restaurant at the end of the road with a nice patio and lawn. Across the water to our left was another club, whose membership was $250. This is why I wasn’t sure if I should call this a village or not. On one hand it looked like a village, on the other hand there were these fancy clubs that weren’t very village like. Apparently on Fridays this place is really hopping.
It was very peaceful here. The lake was a shimmering blue green, the breeze was calm and quiet, and the mountains a crisp silhouette against the sun. This sense of calm and security was disturbed by some military helicopters that flew over head. I took a picture of one and then stopped, thinking, these people could kill me if they wanted. It’s a very weird thought to look at a helicopter or a soldier on the street and think, “One wrong move, and I’m dead.” We should be careful that the level of security in the US doesn’t reach this level.
After relaxing for a bit we headed home. My uncle could smell Bolani (fried potato thing) and it was almost time to break fast. On the way home the streets were packed and filled with men and a few women bustling about. I had my window open and we were driving through the crowd. One guy kind of jeered at me through the window and I tried to ignore him. Did I mention my dad was driving? This added a whole ‘nother dimension to the experience as we don’t like to let my dad drive in the US! I think the traffic rules of Afghanistan fit his style better though.
After we got home, I went straight to bed. All the dust, gas fumes, and jostling of the road exhausted me.
Today started pretty lax. My dad has a nice garden outside of his house with flowers and we saw 3 kittens wrestling one another. I really wanted to pick them up, but could hear the woman that gave me my vaccinations to stay away from all animals because of rabies. No fun.
Wazhma and I spent most of the day looking for a hotel in Delhi. I started to get really bored and remembered the TV. There was a great show on that was similar to the old MTV where you could call in and request videos to be played. The VJ’s were two handsome Afghan men. After one second of the show being on Wazhma and I burst into laughter exclaiming, “He’s sooo GAY!” referring to the skinny thing on the right. And he really was so gay. He was so feminine and pretty that he reminded me of my cousin Mariam! He had his skinny jeans on, large belt buckle and v-neck top on. The one on the right was dressed similarly, but the jury was still out on his sexual orientation. I wonder if people here recognize when men are gay or if they’re in denial about it. My uncle walked in and I almost asked him if he thought the VJ was gay, but decided against it. Homosexuality is NOT accepted in Afghan culture, whether you’re in Afghanistan or the US.
All the music videos were romantic and cheesy (not unlike American music videos). There was one Hindi music video featuring a couple dancing in the fields. The girl was wearing a mini skirt and dancing around and her legs were censored! It was hilarious to see this woman with no legs frolicking about. There was also another music video of an Afghan band that had two female members-both guitar players. One was wearing black and had a scarf and the other didn’t have a scarf and was dressed in a bright red outfit. My uncle says that one thing that has moved forward here is music.
My uncle told us there’s a popular Hindi soap opera played in Afghanistan that is translated into Dari. Apparently EVERYONE watches it. It’s such a “pandemic” that the religious figures in parliament wanted the show’s time slot to be changed from 8:30 pm because people weren’t going to the mosque any more! We also saw a commercial for that new mall I had seen called “City Center Mall,” or rather “Sitee Sentar Mall” It advertised all the gold, electronics and other things you could purchase there.
Later that day we went to the lake in a “village” called Quargha outside of Kabul. As we drove outside Kabul, I saw a different view of Afghanistan. The streets weren’t as crowded and there definitely weren’t any shiny buildings to drive by. Instead, there was basic life and basic poverty. I was somewhat surprised to see people still living in tents alongside the road. I guess I’d had higher hopes than that. The fact that the capital of Afghanistan has sporadic electricity is one marker of the progress made here, but that people still live in tents outside the city brought the marker way down. In Kabul there are soldiers, blockades and guards watching over many of the houses and buildings due to security. I couldn’t imagine living in a tent outside the city; far from police or a hospital of any sort, without any type of security.
Further down the road we saw large UNICEF tents--desks and chairs crammed underneath—serving as schools. This is a stark contrast between the City Center Mall, whose hotel rents rooms as expensive as $2500/night. My inclination is to say, “What’s wrong with these people!?” but I know that sort of attitude won’t get anyone anywhere in the progress of humankind. But I can’t help but ask why the Dubai developer couldn’t have invested that money into a school. That building could have housed thousands of students. It had security and a metal detector. What about the schools and teachers that are being attached by the Taliban—where’s their security?
What is it about capitalism that narrows people’s conception of wealth strictly to the monetary realm rather than focusing on the value of life itself? What good does a mall that sells gold and iPods do when the majority of people’s quality of life is not high enough to even enjoy these commodities? Furthermore, who cares?! If I was a developer in Dubai, I would feel a greater level of satisfaction building something that provided something more than a false sense of reality in Afghanistan. I could just take pictures of the posh in Afghanistan, and you would think Afghanistan is as rich as the US or richer. The crazy thing is this mall hasn’t gone out of business yet, so there are definitely people here that can afford it.
We continued on our drive and reached the lake which was a beautiful blue green color. There was a restaurant at the end of the road with a nice patio and lawn. Across the water to our left was another club, whose membership was $250. This is why I wasn’t sure if I should call this a village or not. On one hand it looked like a village, on the other hand there were these fancy clubs that weren’t very village like. Apparently on Fridays this place is really hopping.
It was very peaceful here. The lake was a shimmering blue green, the breeze was calm and quiet, and the mountains a crisp silhouette against the sun. This sense of calm and security was disturbed by some military helicopters that flew over head. I took a picture of one and then stopped, thinking, these people could kill me if they wanted. It’s a very weird thought to look at a helicopter or a soldier on the street and think, “One wrong move, and I’m dead.” We should be careful that the level of security in the US doesn’t reach this level.
After relaxing for a bit we headed home. My uncle could smell Bolani (fried potato thing) and it was almost time to break fast. On the way home the streets were packed and filled with men and a few women bustling about. I had my window open and we were driving through the crowd. One guy kind of jeered at me through the window and I tried to ignore him. Did I mention my dad was driving? This added a whole ‘nother dimension to the experience as we don’t like to let my dad drive in the US! I think the traffic rules of Afghanistan fit his style better though.
After we got home, I went straight to bed. All the dust, gas fumes, and jostling of the road exhausted me.
posted by Gazelle at 9:51 PM
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