Don't Tell My Mother - Afghanistan

The name of the program is weird and a little misleading, I agree. I had seen the title "Don't Tell My Mother"followed by a country name like Iran for many days in the cable TV Program Guide before I actually sat downand watched one episode of this program on NatGeo.

Yesterday's program was on Afghanistan. I had watched it before but only intermittently. Even yesterday I got on in the middle of it. To tell you the truth, the mention of Afghanistan still brings to mind Tagore's Kabuliwallah as it did all those years ago when the US invaded this country looking for Osama.

So I watched on with curiosity as the anchorperson went to a gym meant exclusively for women, accompanied one of these women and her male cousin as she took the driving lessons, went to the place of one of the Russians who has converted to Islam, pushed his car in the snow falling near the Hindukush ranges and attended a singing competition.

The only time I couldn't watch was when they showed the traditional Afghani sport in which horsemen fight over a dead cattle. Remember Sridevi and Amitabh Bachhan in the movie Khuda Gawah? I think it's cruel to treat a dead body like this :-(

I remember learning about the dry fruits in Kabul when I was in school. It's a sad transition from that to being one of the countries that you don't want to tell your mother about if you are residing there. :-(