|
Mon 21 Mar It's not unusual in Sudan for people to invite you to their homes, perhaps even – if it's out of town – to stay for several days. Some advice I was given early on is those who invite you within the first five minutes of meeting are probably not the sort of folks you would want to spend a day with. The student community is no exception.
The flipside of course is that there are folks you meet and get to know and it somehow feels ok. Perhaps it's simply in their manner – whether they are patient or pushy. I recently agreed with Gassim, a male student in my 2nd year class, to meet with two female students. The only thing that concerned me is why didn't these girls approach me themselves?We meet-up in one of the many college cafeterias and chat. Of course I recognise them both. They've been coming to my 2nd year classes for the past three or four weeks. One, Hadeel, is what they call a "halabiya" (very light skinned). She is tall, thin and wears a see-thru veil. She has long hair. Her English is quite good probably due to spending time outside the country. We talk nonsense for a while. Hadeel asks if she can take my photo. Of course I agree and she gets out her mobile phone. Click. It's done. She let's me look through her other pictures. There are many self portraits, all without her spectacles or headscarf. I realise she's extremely pretty – looking very much like an actress from a Bollywood movie. As I have my camera with me, and I fancy myself as a portrait photographer, I ask her to return the compliment. I try different angles, backgrounds, vary the depth of field but all to no avail. I fail (I feel) to capture her beauty.
Her mate, Einas, though also tall and slender, appears rather plain Jane in comparison. She's patiently sits through all this obsessive behaviour. I'm a little embarrassed. She's pleasant enough but I wouldn't have got my camera out especially. In the spirit of "fairness" I ask if I can take her picture too. Click. It's done.When I get home and look at the photos on the computer screen I realise that Einas is in fact the natural beauty of the two. If only I could see these things with the naked eye?
|
