A Day well spent
After so many days… it was a day well spent.
On January 1st, I was invited by few of my UN friends over for a lunch… well… dinner is not a possibility due to curfew in the evenings.
The UN guest house, a reasonably fortified place, is a few hundred meters away from my place of stay… and yet in a way its far away… we hardly see each other, the UN people and us… due to the fickle security conditions. One of my very good friends over there… always invites me for a football match or a cricket match (he is a British, and therefore either way, its fine for him)… and though I try my best… something or the other happens and I have to drop my plans to go there.
This time however, I was able to make it there… and met a number of wonderful people… the life in Kandahar does not give me a lot of chances to socialize… and yet my interactions in this place have been much more intense and meaningful… probably because of the fact that everyone, like me, starves for meaningful socialization and when it happens… its much more intense, much more frank and much more meaningful.
Anil Chandrika is an Indian national… a Tata Institute of Social Sciences pass out… he has extensive developmental experiences in Nepal and Afghanistan… he used to work for the Agha Khan Foundation (which has been doing great work in this place, albeit very quietly)… presently he works for the United Nations Development Program… as a consultant and regional head for governance in entire South-West Afghanistan… its always a pleasure talking to him… to share his dreams and exasperations… his ideas and confusions…
That day, we had some very serious discussions about the way sub-national governance is shaping up in Afghanistan… I was particularly impressed with the insights and analysis he provided… I commented… Anil, you are having experience of a life time… he smiled and quipped… but at what cost… imagine life without alcohol… I assured him… something is just around the corner.
I met Steve for the third time… an American… there is something within his demeanor that suggests that he had seen a lot in life… the last time when we met… we discussed a lot of ideas about the situation in this region… everything he told me provided me a key to open a lock in order to decipher the complex situation in this region… he speaks very mildly, very politely and very philosophically… it seems that he weighs each and every word… and therefore one must lend his full attention to what he says… lest he may miss something.
We were sharing our expectations viz. security in the year to come… and I said that it may go out of control… that the signals are ominous… the year has begun in the shadow of an IED attack on a Canadian convoy, killing 4 Canadian soldier and 1 Canadian journalist… he said… well my problem is that I am a incorrigible optimist… I hope things would actually get better… despite the fact that this year begins and ends with a Friday. I smiled back… Steve being an optimist is this human wasteland for 6 years… is no mean achievement.
Taffera is an Ethiopian national, who works for International Organization of Migrants… I met him many months ago at UN Terminal in Kabul Airport… when I expressed my dream to visit Ethiopia. Taffera recognized me as soon as he saw me… remembered each and every word that I had told him. We picked up from where we had left… same fondness, same vigour… probably reflecting the mutual admiration which we had for each others country…
We talked about Lalibela… and the Orthodox Christianity… and the great relations that the two countries share… and how Ethiopia and India are growing regional players… Taffera gave me some good insights into the African politics… he later taught me how to play “Pool”… he is the Guest House’s champion… we played 3 games… and with each game, I improved… forcing him to say that if you continue playing like this… you could be the next champion.
While I was having lunch I was joined by Rouieda… the Lebanese lady, whom I had met some months ago at Governor’s house. She is the UN Human Rights Officer. She also recognized me almost instantaneously… again with her, I started almost from where we had left last time… it never seemed that we were meeting for the second time. We discussed about the Middle East… our experiences of Syria and Egypt… about the Levant politics… about Lebanese food, about Koshri, the Egyptian delicacy.
I told her about how eager I am to go back to the region… Syria being my most favorite destination… she told me to come to Lebanon, too… and promised to take me to her village in north Lebanon, which, according to her, is the most beautiful place in the world. I said insha Allah… like the previous meeting, it was a pleasure meeting Rouieda.
I also met Michael and Christian… the two German guys… working with UN’s security department… apart from discussing the unfolding security scenario, and the usual precautions to be taken… Michael told me interesting things about the erstwhile Prussian empire… he took me back to the 18th century and told me how Prussian empire came into being… and how it shaped up in the 19th century… and how it shapes the modern world… in places like Kaliningrad… where people say that we are not Russians but Prussians… he gave some really wonderful inputs of knowledge…
So while departing from the place… I was smiling…it was really a day well spent…
While going back… I stopped my vehicle at a place… I saw many kids… surrounding a cotton-candy man, who was churning out cotton candies for the kids… forgetting where I am, for a few minutes, I approached the cotton candy man and bought some for me and some for those kids who didn’t have money…
A wonderful finale to a wonderful day.
On January 1st, I was invited by few of my UN friends over for a lunch… well… dinner is not a possibility due to curfew in the evenings.
The UN guest house, a reasonably fortified place, is a few hundred meters away from my place of stay… and yet in a way its far away… we hardly see each other, the UN people and us… due to the fickle security conditions. One of my very good friends over there… always invites me for a football match or a cricket match (he is a British, and therefore either way, its fine for him)… and though I try my best… something or the other happens and I have to drop my plans to go there.
This time however, I was able to make it there… and met a number of wonderful people… the life in Kandahar does not give me a lot of chances to socialize… and yet my interactions in this place have been much more intense and meaningful… probably because of the fact that everyone, like me, starves for meaningful socialization and when it happens… its much more intense, much more frank and much more meaningful.
Anil Chandrika is an Indian national… a Tata Institute of Social Sciences pass out… he has extensive developmental experiences in Nepal and Afghanistan… he used to work for the Agha Khan Foundation (which has been doing great work in this place, albeit very quietly)… presently he works for the United Nations Development Program… as a consultant and regional head for governance in entire South-West Afghanistan… its always a pleasure talking to him… to share his dreams and exasperations… his ideas and confusions…
That day, we had some very serious discussions about the way sub-national governance is shaping up in Afghanistan… I was particularly impressed with the insights and analysis he provided… I commented… Anil, you are having experience of a life time… he smiled and quipped… but at what cost… imagine life without alcohol… I assured him… something is just around the corner.
I met Steve for the third time… an American… there is something within his demeanor that suggests that he had seen a lot in life… the last time when we met… we discussed a lot of ideas about the situation in this region… everything he told me provided me a key to open a lock in order to decipher the complex situation in this region… he speaks very mildly, very politely and very philosophically… it seems that he weighs each and every word… and therefore one must lend his full attention to what he says… lest he may miss something.
We were sharing our expectations viz. security in the year to come… and I said that it may go out of control… that the signals are ominous… the year has begun in the shadow of an IED attack on a Canadian convoy, killing 4 Canadian soldier and 1 Canadian journalist… he said… well my problem is that I am a incorrigible optimist… I hope things would actually get better… despite the fact that this year begins and ends with a Friday. I smiled back… Steve being an optimist is this human wasteland for 6 years… is no mean achievement.
Taffera is an Ethiopian national, who works for International Organization of Migrants… I met him many months ago at UN Terminal in Kabul Airport… when I expressed my dream to visit Ethiopia. Taffera recognized me as soon as he saw me… remembered each and every word that I had told him. We picked up from where we had left… same fondness, same vigour… probably reflecting the mutual admiration which we had for each others country…
We talked about Lalibela… and the Orthodox Christianity… and the great relations that the two countries share… and how Ethiopia and India are growing regional players… Taffera gave me some good insights into the African politics… he later taught me how to play “Pool”… he is the Guest House’s champion… we played 3 games… and with each game, I improved… forcing him to say that if you continue playing like this… you could be the next champion.
While I was having lunch I was joined by Rouieda… the Lebanese lady, whom I had met some months ago at Governor’s house. She is the UN Human Rights Officer. She also recognized me almost instantaneously… again with her, I started almost from where we had left last time… it never seemed that we were meeting for the second time. We discussed about the Middle East… our experiences of Syria and Egypt… about the Levant politics… about Lebanese food, about Koshri, the Egyptian delicacy.
I told her about how eager I am to go back to the region… Syria being my most favorite destination… she told me to come to Lebanon, too… and promised to take me to her village in north Lebanon, which, according to her, is the most beautiful place in the world. I said insha Allah… like the previous meeting, it was a pleasure meeting Rouieda.
I also met Michael and Christian… the two German guys… working with UN’s security department… apart from discussing the unfolding security scenario, and the usual precautions to be taken… Michael told me interesting things about the erstwhile Prussian empire… he took me back to the 18th century and told me how Prussian empire came into being… and how it shaped up in the 19th century… and how it shapes the modern world… in places like Kaliningrad… where people say that we are not Russians but Prussians… he gave some really wonderful inputs of knowledge…
So while departing from the place… I was smiling…it was really a day well spent…
While going back… I stopped my vehicle at a place… I saw many kids… surrounding a cotton-candy man, who was churning out cotton candies for the kids… forgetting where I am, for a few minutes, I approached the cotton candy man and bought some for me and some for those kids who didn’t have money…
A wonderful finale to a wonderful day.
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