From home with Love

On the Bus to Khartoum from Shendi, I was a bit down. The city streets were dirtier than ever; a whole market area that was apparently built by a government entity had fallen apart. The Big metal doors of the shops stood on falling walls. The old market area (alsouq alsigayer) stood exactly as i Left it decades ago. It is the only working shopping area. Why those shops nicely lined up behind the original souq were falling? No one knew and no one cared.
My aunt and my cousin got on the bus with me and occupied two seats. I said they should get up and let passengers sit, that was because I did not know that they were on a mission to choose who would sit next to me. In the end I got a nice young lady as a travel companion. Funny, every time I tried to talk to her she smiled and said nothing.
Any way to the incident
A young lady harried into the bus carrying a child and basket of clothes, she had an intriguing design of hair braiding. She dropped into a seat and hid her face that seemed to have been the punching bag for someone. Minutes later the traffic police got in the bus and started to talk in an almost whisper to her, She did nothing but violently shook her head. She could not have been driving, could she? Then someone else, a man came up. The level of curiosity shot way up and the traffic police declared that the woman had a “little” problem with her husband. To my surprise a couple of women sitting behind me started to admonish the beaten woman and tell her that she should go with her husband. I could not keep my mouth shut and I asked whether they knew what the problem was. A young man sitting on the driver’s seat, who was not the driver, immediately told me that “alrasoul salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, said women should never leave home without their husband’s permission.” I could not help but ask whether he knew that all the women on this bus had husband’s permission. He put on sunglasses and left the bus.
A few minutes later the women followed the traffic police out of the bus, I wanted to follow them, my cousin sat on me and my aunt said the woman was not from Shendi and no one should get involved.
Before I could wipe a surprised look off my face, the traffic police stood on the door step of the bus and declared, “Problem solved!”
What problem? I shouted at the top of my voice. The women behind me could not tolerate my long nose, one whispered, “The couple is from the West, and you do not want to get involved.” I ended up in one of those many times in my life when I felt helpless.
When I left this town, a man who touched a woman would get a beating from the nearest man standing next to him. When I left this town the traffic police biggest fight would have been with a Karro driver who was obstructing traffic. When I left this town Alrasoul salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam was a respectable enlightened mention that kept people off each other’s throats and preached good neighborly manners.
End of the story, something is terribly wrong in the city of Shendi.

Arabic Forum