Red Lanterns, Chinese Food and Sundry Pleasures

Those beautiful red lanterns that hang invitingly outside so many establishments have come to signify a lot - in Kabul, of all the places. Kabul, embattled, bruised and bleeding is not quite broken. It's attracting Chinese restaurants by the dozens.

I can imagine the tough Pathans as they make their way out of the restaurants, smacking their lips in delight, thinking, "Chinese tastes delicious".

China Daily reports how many Chinese restaurants have sprung up in Kabul's upmarket areas. But the police are cracking down on them because a Chinese meal there signifies more than just chilly chicken and fried wantons. It signifies food of a higher (or lower) nature, depending on where you're coming from.

Scores of Chinese women have been arrested for allegedly feeding the lust of mostly expats and some Afghans too, thus unleashing moral corruption among its holy denizens. In China, women are often 'afraid' of getting too close to foreigners, though many do. There are size issues - how can the petite and tiny fit in what is large and 'monstrous'? There are social issues, too. How can Chinese men accept a woman who is seen with foreigners? Some of the whys and the wherefores have hilarious explanations that I am not going to delve upon here but might some other time, elsewhere. Yet, many Chinese women end up in Kabul. These Chinese are amazing!

What is the allure that these women possess for men from different parts of the world? Men are drawn to them like bees to honey! Don't ask me...I know! But, honey going to where the bees are?

Chinese women are very gentle and soft spoken. Men, too, are but less so! And very reticent. They don't show what's in their minds and hearts too easily. One needs to figure them out through little signs and indications. Life and everything in it is like a game of Mahjongg. You have your pieces and she has hers and the pieces are always moving as one throws some on the board and picks new ones. You must guess and outguess but never be outguessed or you're dead meat. Why? I don't know...perhaps, Confucius's legacy lives!