- Traumas of children in a lawless land
There’s always a lot of debate surrounding dominant narratives. Lately we’ve heard too much about gender stereotyping and a general call for equal opportunities available to both men and women. These are dominant narratives with varying degrees found all throughout the world. In all its glory this debate most profoundly by feminists centres around creating avenues in a manner that would allow both men and women an equal chance to live, irrespective of gender. However, we’re still far from it, but for the bacha posh, this largely remains a foreign term.
Since Angelina Jolie’s Breadwinner made it into cinemas last year, people have developed a better understanding of what the term means, however, most of us remain oblivious to what it truly signifies. In Persian, bacha posh translates to ‘dressed as boys’. This is a common practice amongst most Afghani families. Dressing up as a boy somehow allows the girls, from early age till puberty, to live a life outside the confinements of house. There is no debate in feminism on this, not yet anyway.
In a country where war has never seized to exist, where rebellions amongst tribes were as common as short skirts in Kabul; there is little respite amongst the women now. Globally, we’ve heard far too many stories of women being denied their right to live in a manner they want, but bacha posh is another tragedy altogether.
These bacha posh carry out the same activities as any boy; they go out to buy groceries for the house, get a chance to go to school, play outside and in some cases even earn a living. It’s ironic to see how the same girls, just dressed differently, have more privilege. According to a documentary by Deutsche Welle News, most people turn a blind eye towards these bacha posh, until they hit a certain age and have to be housed away from the world. Continuous assurances have to be made, but for a few years, these girls are liberated. In a country where most girls aren’t allowed to roam the streets freely, where abuses are hurled at any who dares to make the journey in search of food, freedom comes at the cost of shorter hair and male-appropriate clothes – with an expiry date.
What the future holds for these bachas, is uncertain. There are no dominant narratives surrounding these phenomena, except that these shouldn’t happen, under any circumstances
But this isn’t all. Amongst many others, Afghanistan’s children have to bear yet another kind of tragedy, bacha baazi. With women locked away at homes, and some pretending to be boys, the power-drunk warlords approach the more vulnerable young boys. Some of them are kidnapped or bought, while some resort to this as a means of providing for their families. These bachas are entertainers for the influential and wealthy – dressed in women’s clothing they are made to dance at every wedding or party for hours, in the presence of men. What follows after, is a series of exploitative experiences rendering the bacha from baazi to bereesh; followed by societal shunning and further isolation.
In a law-less country where morality and state of affairs run low, influential people’s wealth is measured in terms of the number of bachas that they have. Bacha baazi doesn’t end here; it is a vicious cycle that keeps repeating. The presence of law-enforcers themselves at such events further validates this use of entertainers. The bacha bereesh only get respite after they pass their ‘prime age’.
In both bacha posh and bacha baazi, a childhood is lost. Some would argue that the latter is more traumatic; but what’s to note is that these are the choices that the Afghani children have. We’ve read too much on Afghanistan – the Afghan peace process, US’ foreign policy centred around Afghan Taliban, overseas operations, consensus building, and many more such cleverly and thickly-worded phrases – while the on-ground reality seems to be much different altogether. For these bachas, none of this matters.
They don’t care about the ‘war on narratives’ as long as none would provide them with better opportunities. In a country that ceases to be, is reduced down to tribes and fortified capital, the bacha posh are reversing their gender roles for a few years’ of opportunity, while the bacha bareesh are doing it to earn a few bites of bread. The shunning of bereesh tells us that conscience amongst some is still alive, but in the absence of any alternatives these are the choices they are presented with.
What the future holds for these bachas, is uncertain. There are no dominant narratives surrounding these phenomena, except that these shouldn’t happen, under any circumstances. Feminism talks of choice in the way women aspire to lead their lives, but there is no word defining the complexity of bacha posh. While bacha baressh touches upon various ills that exist in our world, we can’t even comprehend what these children have to go through or will do when they grow up.
While they’ve made a conscious decision on reversing their roles, we now have to ask ourselves, how much farther will these kids go in realising that actual freedom doesn’t even begin here. How do we tell a generation that hasn’t known any better, that in a free world there are more narratives and opportunities than this?