laila arranged for a cake from the serena hotel + a morning birthday party for me in the university cafeteria, which drew quite the crowd of cake fanciers!
then, there was a lunch at the lovely sufi restaurant, which got me all nostalgic for austin as there was something in the feel of it, the beautiful old house with light streaming in, hardwood floor friendliness of it, that reminded me, finally, of homeplace.
[with hamayoun + laila at sufi]
we had a lot of fun despite the presence of a blustery group of male poets who kept leering at laila, raising her ire. we discussed the performance of music for a long while. laila is a beautiful singer but cannot really perform outside of her home as it's just not considered proper.
she told me that a lot of the girls who audition for the afghan star television series do so not from afghanistan but by sending tapes from germany, the u.k., the u.s., etc. laila admires the girls who are performing on the show and finds them v. v. v. brave. i completely concur.
one former contestant, herat's farida turana, has turned her eye to politics, leveraging her tv fame to win a seat on kabul's provincial council (similar to a state legislature). turana, quoted in time:
"when i competed for afghan star, i wanted to prove that a woman from herat could sing. now that i have been elected to the provincial council, i will prove to people that a lady who can sing can be in politics as well." indeed!
my evening was spent at the charming gandemack lodge with friends . . .
[bahar + dana]
[david, penny, denise, fiona, hera
just out of the frame: ben, serwat]
just out of the frame: ben, serwat]
[denise with gandemack's daily specials. first up: luxus leper pate!]
[chris, mike, justin, jane.
caveat: not all of these wine glasses were mine, please!]
[still hiding in restaurant bathrooms,
taking moody photos of myself @ 37 years]
