Headline March 26, 2017/ ''' ONE HALF *FROM* ONE EAST '''

''' ONE HALF *FROM* ONE EAST '''

THE WORLD STUDENTS SOCIETY   -for every single discipline and subject in the world,    -belongs to every single student in the world  :    ''One Share-Piece-Peace''.

SAM DAILY TIMES : is the  Master Global Publication   of the World Students Society, most lovingly and respectfully called !WOW! -has the American Students Lead.

The great students of Philippines close in for a  *Silver Standing* while the great students of  *Proud Pakistan* set in the interception course  on the Philippine Students in the Bronze status.   

*MIRZA ASADULLAH KHAN GHALIB*   -one of the greatest of the world's all time poets,  very often questioned  the capacity of words- to express thoughts.

  

Asking if silence communicates more than words. In one beautiful and very unusual  hamd  [hamd is a poem in praise of God]   Ghalib touches on the subject of communication with God:

*The tongue so begs You,,,,,,,,,,,,,. for strength of Speak

Because silence so unfurls  all  communication so Deep*.  

BY THE HUNDREDS,  all coming and going and living : Surrounded by students of all disciplines, all males, I silence myself and observe. The updates and contributions on Sam Daily Times : 

*The Voice of the Voiceless*  is a super indicator.

I advise vision, and  patience, I advise, the rigors of great intellectual thinking, I advise hard work, pursuit of knowledge, just as I advise : any port in the storm. 

*With a heavy heart, I discipline myself and  double my efforts on *Job Creation*. And work up  master presentations for  the Corporate World, here, at *Proud Pakistan*,  the first historic, conceptual host of the World Students Society.

And then, to my very good fortune, in operational research, I discover this master *Fiction Queen*, Nadia Hashmi:

      

MY MOTHER CALLS me into the kitchen.............

''Take this dough to the baker and come back with bread.''

It sounds simple enough. I've been to the market plenty of times with my mother. I used to go the market in Kabul with my father too, but that was when he had two legs.

I walk slowly, watching the people around me to see if anyone notices that I'm in  pants  for the first time ever. 

No one seems to realise.........

The baker stares at me with one eye narrowed........... I don't know what to say.

''Which is the dough and which is the boy?'' he asks his friend with a laugh.

''Hard to tell when neither one is talking.''

*I clear my throat. He called me a boy*.

A snippet masterpiece   -that writing...... from the book. 

Afghan-American writer  Nadia Hashmi's  fourth novel is the second of her books based on the Afghan tradition  *baccha poshi*  [dressing as a boy]. 

For those unfamiliar with the practice, it is apparently uncommon for Afghan families who only have girl children-

To bring up one daughter as a boy; the little girl is made to wear boy's clothes, is given a haircut, and is encouraged to act as   -and mingle with- boys. The change is not permanent and when puberty hits, the child is made to revert to girlhood, with marriage generally following soon after.

The phenomenon has been documented by journalists, with at least one recent book,  The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg , describing it in some detail for the  non-academic  reader.

Apparently,  the  baccha posh girl  is not only supposed to [temporarily] help the parents assuage the grief of not having a son, but her role-play is supposed to bring good luck to the family, with greater chances of actually having a baby boy.

At the very least,  the  bachha posh child is useful as someone to run errands, do chores outside the house, and escort the mother and sisters on routine trips to schools or marketplaces  -all the tasks that a young son would perform in a highly patriarchal society.

The practice has attracted the attention of child's psychologists and anthropologists, many of whom point to the complex psychological issues of faced by young girls who are suddenly expected to switch gender roles upon onset of puberty, which is already a confusing time.

On the other hand, there is a belief that being a  baccha posh  encourages young girls to become more confident and capable as those who go through this transition to have greater exposure to the world than their more traditionally brought up sisters.

One Half from the East explores the latter aspect of  baccha poshi, not dwelling too much on the possible psychological problems such children face.

It follows the fortune of  Obayda, a ten-year old with three older sisters whose policeman  father has lost a leg in a  bomb blast. The misfortune compels the family to relocate from Kabul to their ancestral village, with their livelihood now dependent on an elder uncle and other extended family.

An aunt advises Obayda's mother to make her, the youngest daughter, a baccha posh for the short while before puberty hits, to bring good fortune to the family and to assist the mother in chores outside the house  -a necessary consideration given that the man of the house is no longer fully functional.

The novel briefly documents Obayda's bewilderment as being told that she is now to be the family's boy-child, with no access to her colourful clothes or her dolls.

Initially she is deeply unhappy and conflicted, but her first few days at her new [boys] school are rendered meaningful by her encounter with Rahim [in the past life Rahima], an older  baccha posh  who immediately recognises Obayda for what she is, and proceeds to take her under her wing.

As the boys at school remain blissfully unaware of the existence of intruders in their midst, the two girls cavort in their less restrictive attire, play raucous games in the schoolyard, learn to climb trees and play ghursai [a wrestling game] and enjoy the freedom of running around the village with no questions asked.

Before long, Obayda now called Obyad, cannot bear to think of the inevitable transition back to girlhood and is determined to transform herself into a boy in the true sense of the word. 

When Rahim[a] is suddenly withdrawn from school, matters comes to a head as both girls have to succumb to the inevitable.

The author's biography states that having been born and brought up in the United States , she has not, in fact, spent a lot of time in Afghanistan with barely a few short trips to her homeland to her credit.

As such, it is brave of her to set her novels in a land of which she has little experience. That she manages to paint a convincing portrait is commendable, although her American roots are reflected sometimes-

When the characters refer to groups of boys  as  ''guys''  or their mothers as ''moms''.

Nevertheless, given that the text is supposed to be a translation of the  of their actual speech, this is not too jarring.

The Honour and Serving of  the latest  'Operational Research* on Great Writings, continues. Thank Ya all for reading and sharing forward. 

And for your preparation for Global Elections on !WOW!.

With respectful dedication to Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of the World. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW!   -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Silence & !WOW! '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless