Divine Moments of Madness… part 1
The tonga lurched forward, stretching the soiled rags that held together its metal frame. She deftly shifted her weight to move with the rickety horse and cart, never losing her grip on the piece of cloth covering her head. As a Westerner in a Muslim country she did not have to be completely veiled, though she might’ve preferred it for all the stares she was getting. Glancing about now for the first time, she realized just how far from home she really was — and it thrilled her. Facing backwards on the tonga she could see the entire village as the tiny horse stiffly trotted down the rutted street. It was filthy. The previous day’s rain (a rare occurrence in the desert of central Pakistan) had helped some with the dust, but the mud it created was worse. Garbage was everywhere, plastered to the dirt roads and walls by the mud. The sweepers would not be able to work today. She wondered how they would feed their families tonight. The unmistakable smells of human and animal waste from the open sewers hung thick in the air. Under her chadre, she smiled.
It would’ve been inappropriate for her to smile openly, and she was again thankful for the Pakistani clothes she was wearing. In addition to the long tunic and comfortable drawstring pants, a doputta covered her head and wrapped around her neck like a scarf. The chadre was wrapped over that, and then around her shoulders and chest and down past her waist. It was this that she held up in place over her mouth with one hand to keep the men from staring so much. Dressed in this way she felt more beautiful than she had in a long time — feminine. But this is not why she smiled. For this brief moment, she felt more alive than she could remember ever feeling. This realization, however, brought a pang to her heart, and for a moment the smiled faded. “I can’t stay,” she thought. This inevitably brought thoughts of home, but they weren’t what you would’ve expected. She did not want to be home. She would never leave her home, and all the things that held her there. But for this moment in her life she could imagine living a passionate life in a foreign desert.
Stay tuned for more stories of divine madness.
