Snow or Gold
Sunday, January 21st 2007 - 12:32 PM
Kabul be zar basha be barf ne
According to a little English-Dari dictionary i bought off a street kid outside the Pakistan embassy a few weeks back, that's an Afghan proverb which means "It's better for Kabul to be without gold than without snow". Meaning that you can't live on gold, but snow turns into water which keeps this mostly dry land alive.
But, at the moment, there seems to be a lot less gold around in Kabul than snow. Snow is the one thing that everyone here's got plenty of - and we're likely to get more and more over the next few weeks.
When it snows, traffic slows down and it takes longer to get around. Some cars and buses put snow chains on their wheels - some don't. Personally, i don't think snow chains are a particularly good idea when you're driving on tar roads with a small amount of snow on them - i can't imagine they'd last more than a few days, if that. But i guess they do help on those less used roads, where the snow is deeper and not being ground into slush by hundreds of wheels.
I said the traffic slows down, and most of it does - but not all. The cars that still fly around, apparently oblivious to the weather, are mainly the big white four wheel drives belonging to some of the sillier NGOs and, in particular, the UN. I don't know what these people's problem is, but maybe they can't see the snow over the gleaming white bonnets of their four wheel drives.
On the way to work the other morning, our driver was driving slowly and carefully along a snow-covered side street when a white four wheel drive flew round the corner, tried to turn to pass to our left, and skidded sideways, stopping just inches from the front of our car.
The problem isn't just that these idiots will wreck cars. Sooner or later, one of them will kill a pedestrian with their stupidity. Then there will probably be a riot, and more people could get killed. You'd think that, when their cars stand out from the rest like they do, they'd want to try and keep a low profile with their driving.
But there's one group of people who are benefitting directly from the snow - the snow clearers. These guys walk around with snow shovels, calling out an offer to clear your snow for you. I'd imagine there's plenty of work for them at the moment. Most houses here have flat roofs and, if you don't keep them clear of snow, there's a fair chance they will collapse on you. So snow clearing isn't optional, like it is in most places.
This man was walking up our street yesterday morning, calling out something along the lines of "snow cleared". He seemed happier than most people are at the moment - no doubt with good reason!
This man will clear snow off the roof of your house in Kabul.
You can see some of my photos of Afganistan at
WillKemp-Photos.com/afghanistan