Anis Albasha
When I was a teenager, my father asked me to travel hundreds of
kilometers to his village in order to give condolences to some relatives on
behalf of him. Even though I was so proud that my father could count on me like
that in such a serious social event, I was very concerned about how to handle
the Qat chewing which is an essential part of such gatherings. Then, I foolishly
thought that I could simply stay there for a short time and then leave earlier and
avoid being tortured by setting with Qat chewers for long hours. Unfortunately,
the place was full of senior tribesmen from our village and from the
neighboring villages who wanted to honor me by putting a pile of the best type
of Qat in front of me! They insisted that I would not be allowed to leave
unless I chew that honor!
According to people’s mores in the
rural areas, rejecting that heap of Qat could be taken as an insult. Lecturing
them about my 'unwavering commitment' towards Qat chewing would be considered
‘offensive and arrogant attitude’. Since it was the first time for me to
represent my father in a social occasion like that, I didn’t want to screw it up.
Therefore, the only solution that came up to my terrified mind was to tell the
people that I wished I could fulfill that honor but I was suffering from a
severe pain in my teeth and gums so I wouldn't be able to enjoy chewing.
Luckily, it was a good shot because in Yemen, bad teeth and gums are two clear signs
of professional chewing and perhaps that's explained the acceptance of those tribesmen to my
apology! However, they insisted that I
should take that pile of Qat with me so I could enjoy it later when feeling
much better.
After that incident, Qat and I went
on a truce for a while until my father passed away. My worst experience with
Qat took place in that period because many people came from different areas,
including our village, to give their condolences. To illustrate their love and
respect, those comforters brought with them huge quantities of Qat and for 10
consecutive days they kept coming and gathering in my grandfather's house.
Those were the longest ten days in my life ever! People would gather, have lunch and then
chew Qat for long hours each day. There was no way out as my younger brother
and I had to be there to receive the comforters and sit with them, especially
those who came from remote areas to show their sincere sympathy. In fact, I
would have highly appreciated their feelings if they hadn’t been associated
with Qat. Yet, in a moment of weakness I did wonder if chewing Qat would
appease the massive grief I felt because of losing my dad when I was 18 years
old.
Even after those ten grieving days,
I stayed involuntarily in touch with that hideous plant because I had to attend
my grandfather's daily Qat sessions. I definitely didn't chew but I had to
endure its annoying atmosphere for a couple of months because, after the death
of my father, there were some pending issues regarding our heritage that
required me to be in touch with my grandfather.
Not only are Qat gatherings about socializing
and casual conversations but also during those sessions people discuss business
and finalize some deals and issues. Therefore, I had to figure out a way that enabled me
to attend those daily meetings. It is said that there are three ways to deal with difference:
domination, compromise and integration. Since domination is beyond my capacity as
an individual while integration means simply chewing Qat, I had to go with the compromising
option. I decided to join chewers in their Qat gatherings, but without chewing
Qat.
Well, it wasn’t a good idea! Each
time I joined chewers, I couldn’t cope with the whole atmosphere around me and I
was like a wet blanket. For example, I wasn't able to take part in the
conversations about the quality of the Qat they were chewing, or when they made
comparisons between the different types of that dreadful plant.
I was also completely out of tune
when chewers went through the fluctuating and escalating stages of Qat's ecstasy.
Based on my observations, chewers look normal at the beginning and they tend to
be chatty during the first hours. It varies from one person to another, but
usually after three or four hours of chewing, chewers enter what they called
“the Solomon Hour” which is considered as the peak of ecstasy. It is the stage when
chewers sink in the delusions of finding perfect solutions for all of their
troubles and feel that everything is fine or is going to be just fine. After that, the
anticlimax moment arrives and chewers turned to the silent mood and make a lot
of staring into the void.
To be honest, there were some good
moments of cultural and political discussions during those gatherings, but it
was difficult for me to deal seriously with a person who talked to me about
politics or literature while his cheeks were stuffed with green leaves and his
teeth are stained with algae color. I remember one time I was in a Qat
gathering and there was an interesting discussion about Darwin’s and his theory
of evolution. Actually, I couldn’t stay focused with the topic because I was
distracted with those teeth spotted with the green color. That ugly view along with the leaves and
bundles of Qat scattered in the room made me look at Darwin’s theory from
another perspective!
Ironically enough, the only thing I was
able to share successfully with Qat chewers was their post-chewing
psychological symptoms which -in my opinion- can be contagious! After spitting
Qat, chewers feel desperate and murk, it doesn’t matter if you think that there
is nothing to be upset at because if you sit next to a chewer who just spitted
Qat out of his mouth, he is going to give you hard times. Unfortunately, you can’t escape and
you have to listen to his grief and complaining and gradually you find yourself
being dragged to that hell and you started to feel that everything is really bad and unbearable!
Thus, I came
to realize that this kind of compromising is not going to work and I classified
Qat as a natural repellent of me which means that whenever there is
Qat, there should be no me. As a result, I strongly involved more and more in reading and books have
become my sincere friends which do not ask for any kind of compromising and instead, they swap my time for fun and joy.
For several years later, I haven't
been in touch with Qat except in some scattered social occasions here or there like when
I had to pay a condolence or to attend a wedding or just passed by a Qat
market. The actual interaction with Qat was in my younger brother's wedding
when a big hall was reserved for men to celebrate and congratulate the groom.
True to form, there were huge quantities of Qat and almost everybody chewed Qat
except me, the groom, my youngest brother and two American friends I invited to
the wedding. The funny thing was that those two foreign friends had already an
idea about Qat because they tried it during their visit to Yemen. Though it was
full of Qat, that gathering for my brother was so interesting and everybody enjoyed it.
Another serious interaction with Qat
was at the time of my engagement. In that precious occasion, I was hoping not
to see a single leaf of Qat. This thinking didn't
sound irrational because I knew that neither my father in law nor I were a Qat
chewer. However, my relatives who accompanied me in this occasion told me that
I had to buy expensive kind of Qat and take it with me to the house of my
father in law. I told them that I didn't like their 'leafy' proposal and my
father in law was not a chewer, but they insisted that it would be so
inappropriate if we went to such important occasion with Qat- empty hands. They
lectured me about the Yemeni traditions and the history of Qat and how it plays
a major role in such occasions. I reluctantly agreed, I bought Qat and
brought it with me but as I expected my father in law wasn't interested in that at all and he didn't put a single leaf in his mouth unlike the others who were so
focusing on Qat during our gathering. It looked like the idea of bringing Qat was
only important for the people who attended such occasions since they couldn't
sit in a room for more than two hours in the afternoon without chewing Qat!
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