You know a book has the potential to be mesmering when just the prologue is a pageturner that has you reading furiously, and covertly, at work.
Forbidden Lessons In A Kabul Guesthouse
Suraya Sadeed
Hachette
280 pages
Rs375
You know a book has the potential to be mesmering when just the prologue is a pageturner that has you reading furiously, and covertly, at work. The prologue to Forbidden Lessons In A Kabul Guesthouse shows early on that the woman you will read about in the rest of the book is a charismatic personality. The burkha-clad Suraya Sadeed attempts to smuggle $35,000 into Kabul with the help of two colleagues. Once in the battered Soviet-era bus, with a child’s jacket forming a pillow to save her head from bumps, Sadeed realises how much women have to suffer when travelling. She decides to speak up. “’You men in front!’ I yelled out. ‘I swear to God if you don’t stop smoking I’ll unveil in front of the Talibs, and they’ll beat the crap out of every last one of you!’” The men at the front of the bus obey. At the next stop, she takes a forbidden pee in the bushes. “..the rebel within me just couldn’t stomach the Taliban’s mindless rules.”
Suraya Sadeed has an impressive background and a resume that boasts of the elusive but ultimate accolade (ask Lance Armstrong): an interview with Oprah Winfrey. An American, “born and raised in Afghanistan”, Sadeed and her husband Dastagir emigrate to the United States after the 1979 Soviet invasion. The sudden death of her husband in 1993 forced her to reevaluate her life and she decided to return to Afghanistan to help. She started the Help the Afghan Children (HTAC) and later set up underground clinics for women and schools to educate girls.
Forbidden Lessons In A Kabul Guesthouse details Sadeed’s various journeys into Afghanistan — through mountain passes on horseback alongside mules, in helicopters with stoned pilots and in the face of every Talibani or Mujahideen who dared stop her.
In all this, there are times when Sadeed comes across as too heroic. For instance, there’s something distinctly Hollywood-esque in her story about how she travelled with $1,00,000 strapped to her stomach. At every instance, hers appears to be the only organisation willing to risk lives to give aid to the Afghan people. The only remnant of her Afghan upbringing seems to be her knowledge of the Dari language. On occasion, her stubbornness to not conform to society’s dictates seems incredibly foolish.
Yet, Sadeed’s is a heartening story. If for nothing else than the fact that her sassy overconfidence has provided aid and help to millions of Afghanis over the years.
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