reading: g. whitney azoy – buzkashi – game and power in afghanistan

frances — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:14:56 +0000

buzkashi, self-portrait & laptop

frances — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:20:46 +0000

When I was a student, I would trundle up to Melbourne Uni and on weekends and holidays hole up the the stacks somewhere, a large Sikh pushing the trolley of returns often the only other person in the vicinity of my nest in the Central Asian shelves where I’d devour everything from Kazakhstan to Pakistan, paying careful attention to those parts most mountainous and wild. My enduring favourites were old travelogues, especially of women who ventured out on their own to spend winters in Skardu or years in Kabul, or meandering across unmapped stretches. I planned to go, at least through Baltistan, and maybe along the northern side of Tian Shan mountains. Adventures in China and sundry wars detoured me though.

Since my recent time in Melbourne, I’ve re-found my love for Central Asia, even when I had to spray Issey Miyaki on the pages of Louis Dupree’s Afgahnistan to mask the rank odour of stale cigarettes in its 600 pages, the cover of which has beautiful men with long hair and daggers jumping and dancing, and another of Buzkashi. I added many blogs from the ~stans to my reading in those and subsequent months.

Yesterday, I discovered Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan, and of course was immediately smitten. Especially the photo, taken by Pouria Lotfi which now graces the desktop of my darling Mac. Sitting in the kitchen tonight feeling lonely and somewhat lost, I decided to take photos…

buzkashi, self-portrait & laptop

supernaut » Buzkashi

reading: g. whitney azoy – buzkashi – game and power in afghanistan

buzkashi, self-portrait & laptop