[DEHAI] Street-smart of Aba Shawl...
tka kflu (KFLU@fredonia.edu)
Sat, 6 Sep 1997 4:43 pm EDT (20:43:38 UT)
Many, many summers ago, my friends and I were having a late
afternoon coffee in the outside of one of the Cafes by the port office
in Massawa. Among us was a middle aged English man.
A young boy from the street, almost half naked, came, had a brief talk
with the English man, gave his back to us, & withered in the vines of the
streets. Shortly after, the English man, who in his own way, was trying
to help the young boy, said that he believes that one has to be intelligent
to survive in the streets. His remark made sense to me, for there is nobody
there for him except his own ingenuity and survival instinct. As they say it,
'it is a jungle out there',& for sure, the streets are a jungle without trees.
In the streets, right or wrong don't matter. 'Survival at any cost' is the
only guiding philosophy. Infact, in the dictionary of the streets, the word
'wrong' does not exist. and in the Bible of the streets too, the one that says,
...when thy hunger pangs hit hard, righteous or no, thou must act to survive..,
is the most highlighted verse.
The place was in the sweet old Aba Shawl in Asmara, and the day was
Thurday. This was at a time period when most houses in Aba Shawl, among other
things, did not have electricity (Abai Aba Shawl keyfereset kela...).
Thurdays were the official market days for livestock i.e. cattle, sheep
and goats. The market was in Edaga Hamus (Thursday market). In this 'one day a
week' crowded market, the cattlemen from Anseba Hamasien, in many aspects were
among the most noticeable and most prominent. Generally speaking, the average
Anseba cattleman had the appearance of a well built body, tall and strong. in
otherwords, he was a real Tseba Tsegeb (overfed with milk and butter).
The market day was over and it started to get dark. Six of the
well built and tough Anseba cattle men, with their maHfudas (wallets)
swelling with money from their sales, holding their wooden clubs behind
their necks and between their shoulders, headed towards a certain enda s'wa
(local bear joint) in Aba Shawl, owned by a certain reasonably good lkooking
woman known as gual Bashai.
Gual Bashai, a lady in her mid thirties was liked by her customers
from Anseba and other parts of Hamasien, partly because her quality of s'wa was
good and partly because she had an excellent 'krar player' (string instrument
player) or woQaEEt krar.
The woQaeet krar, was a beutiful young lady, with a long sharp nose, very
light skin, straight long hairs, and big eyes. She had a totally semitic
complexion with a hard to notice slight touch of negroid features arround her
mouth parts. Her lips were a little bit on the thick side. She had the sign of
the cross tatooed on her fore-head. Because of her very light complexion, the
the cross tatooed on her fore-head sticked out so strong, that a foreigner
looking at her from a distance would think that there is a hospital or a
church next bolck :-) She also had her gums tatooed in the guramaile style
i.e. tatooing her gum space behind every other tooth. Her feet from the
ankles below and her palms were blue black from a heavy dose of Hena. She was
a 'Sadula', a traditional hair style which implies that she is past girl-hood
but she is not old enough to be called a woman. She was at that middle stage,
between a girl-hood and woman-hood. Generally speaking a Sadula is between the
age of 17 and 22. When a lady is at a Sadula stage, from the male's points of
view, her every visible feature is at its highest stage of appeal.
In brief a Sadula is like a 'just opened' flower bud.
Sadula was not only one of captivating beaty, but was also a
good singer. The Anseba guys, six of them arrived at enda gual Bashai. There
were some customers who were there earlier, among them was the street-smart
of Aba Shawl..a local customer. Sadula was siting on a low chair and just above
her on a small shelf was the oil lamp. The house didn't have electricity.
The oil lamp with a wick made of long cotton threads comming out of it
was big enough to light the house. The street-smart always like to sit close to
the Sadula and close enough to the lamp. He already had enough drinks but
he didn't think it was a good time to leave. For a while Sadula was playing
some sensational lyrics, non-guayla(non-dancing) type like N'guse ye N'guse etc.
The Anseba guys like that type of music but only until they get some
drinks, enough to get them warmed up. After a while, they want her to play the
guayla music..and the Sadula and gual Bashai both know the timing.
Sadula started playing the guayla music...she asked every body to
do the clapping. She said TaQaEEt TaQaEEt TaQaEEt, oh my God, the clapping
went on Cheb cheb cheb...& the music became more sensational..ofcorse, why not..
it had to ..after all it was comming out of that charming Sadula..every body
started to get feeling good. AjoKum Ajokum she said encouraging them to hit
the dance floor. Two of the Anseba guys stood up from their place, wrapped the-
ir neTselas (togas) arround themselves and started doing the kuda (dance in
circles). Sadula intensified the music and intermitently shouting TaQaEEt
TQaEEt.. Oh my God the Anseba guys do their kudas with emotions and feelings.
Every body was feeling good. Gual Bashai and another Anseba guy
joined the dance. The floor was big enough to hold four dancers.
Gual Bashai another graceful woman, slightly on the heavy side,
but was very majestic. She had gold all over herself, heavy Kutusha
(golden ear rings), and gobagub (pieces of gold coins )arround her neck.
Gold bracellets on her wrists etc. She was glittering with gold.
Like Sadula, she had signs of the cross tatooed over her forhead, on
both sides of her temples, & her ankles etc. The cross tatoo on her
forhead was so big and visible, that when she is dancing in circles
she looks like a moving anmbulance:-) Gual Bashai joined the Kuda
which she was very good at. The music and TaQaEEt continued with
intensity. They were dancing clockwise, suddenly Gual Bashai flipped
back, & they started dancing anti-clockwise. One who was attracted by
gual Bashai's grace and elegance in doing the kuda, stood up and said
AjoKi gual Bashai misaKis...(with you, it doesn't matter I can go
any where) and tucked a 5 dollar bill on her fore head. As the kuda
and the music continued, the street-smart of Aba Shawl who did a lot of
drinking but didn't have the money to pay, thought it was a good time to
sneak out. He did some thinking..if he would just walk out he knew the big
Anseba customers would get hold of him in no time and wring his head like
a chickn. So while everybody's attention was on the kuda and the music,
he simply puffed air out towards the oil lamp and the light was out. Total
darkness took over... one of the Anseba guys who was doing the kuda
stumbled and literally crushed Sadula's foot. Sadula, who
suddedy had her foot crushed couldn't stand the excruciating pain. She
hurled her Krar into the air and started screaming and crying loud saying,
oooi, oooi, wai egrey, wai egrey (o' my foot, o'my foot...). Another sitting
Anseba customer, who was confused by the event, got hold of his heavy stick &
tried to stand and make himself ready for any eventuality. Standing he did, but
on the way the end of his stick poked gual Bashai's eye, who herself was
frantically moving arround like a chiken without head, trying to find matches
to light the lamp...but she got her eye poked and found herself in an
equally if not more bone-crushing pain like that of Sadula...and she
also started screaming, yieling and crying saying oooi, oooi, wai ane
Ayney, wai ane Ayney (o' my eye...) The whole house was taken over by total
darkeness & confussion. It was a pandemonium. Meanwhile, amidst the confussion,
uproar & screaming, the street-smart of Aba Shawl, slowly & unoticed walked out
of the house. He turned right after the first house, another right and a left.
Hawkum
Tesfai Kflu