An encounter with an Iraqi teacher

Visiting Iraq in October 2003, seven months after the Saddam Hussain regime fell before the might of the US-led attack on Iraq, it was possible to talk at random to educated women, who spoke good English and held positions such as the “chief economist” in an Iraqi bank or a professor of Management at a Baghdad college.

But this time, I found it extremely difficult to engage Iraqi women in conversation conducted in English. On the roads and paths in both Karbala and Najaf leading to the spectacularly ornate Shiite holy shrines of Imam Hussain, Hazrat Abbas and Imam Ali, there are hordes of women, both Iraqi and Iranian, full of religious fervour.

Many more are seated in the inner area of the mausoleums, where elaborate carpets have been spread out to facilitate the offering of prayers or chanting of religious verses, but whether young or old, most women smile and say “No English”.

Hence it was a delight to find 55-year-old Hajer, a school teacher from Baghdad, who was enjoying the day out with her four sisters and their seven daughters, all of them beautiful young girls.

Her husband Hyder, an engineer who works with the Waterworks department of the Iraqi government, has driven part of group from Baghdad to Karbala, and the women are seated in the cool interior of the Imam Hussain shrine.

Hajer says her school is located in the middle of the Tahrir Square in Baghdad.

But isn't Tahrir Square in Cairo?

“Oh no, that has become famous because of the protests in Iraq, but we have a huge Tahrir Square in Baghdad too. Tharir, in Arabic, means liberation,” says Hajer.

She asks me if I will be going to Baghdad and invites me to her school; when I tell her that I have been advised against visiting Iraq's capital as it is not considered safe, she says, “Oh no, there is no danger there. My school is bang in the centre of the Square and there is no problem.” (Violence in Baghdad continues; 20 days after the conversation, on March 10, a roadside bomb blast killed an Iraqi army general in East Baghdad.)

Don't residents of Baghdad fear getting caught in one of those frequent bomb blasts, I ask her. “No, bomb blasts and violence have become a way of life, and Allah protects us… and Imam Hussain too.” Small wonder that prayers and divine intervention have become the mainstay of their lives and she makes it a point to come to Karbala at least once a month to pray here.

The 100-km journey takes about 2 to three hours depending on the traffic and since she and her sisters' families own vehicles, it is easy to make these trips. Petrol, by the way, cost barely 50 paise a litre in October 1983 and was freely available. It now costs nearly Rs 20 a litre.

Right from Saddam's days petrol in Iraq, which has the word's second highest oil reserves, was virtually free and this policy had continued for a while after the attack on Iraq. But by 2004-end there was a crippling shortage of petrol in Iraq and often people had to wait for long hours, sometimes even 24 hours, in unending queues to get the cheap, but unavailable commodity.

In those days angry Iraqis asked why the citizens of such an oil-rich country should be denied petrol, but, as an article in The Economist pointed out, Iraq's oil facilities were highly vulnerable to sabotage. “In ten minutes, a guerrilla can scrape back a few inches of dirt, uncover some pipe, attach a bomb made from one of the country's abundant abandoned artillery shells, and thereby wreak havoc in Baghdad. Between August and October this year (2004), pipe-raiding by terrorists (and oil thieves) cost the country $7 billion in lost revenues, says the petroleum ministry,” it said.

Well, those days are certainly behind Iraqis and consumers such as Hajer are not cribbing about petrol prices. After protest, the Iraqi Government has continued with the free ration scheme that was the hallmark of the Saddam regime and about 60 per cent Iraqis get essential commodities such as foodgrains, oil, and soap under this scheme. But there are complaints of quality and shortfalls. For instance, during the recent protests in Baghdad, a protestor shouted: “What kind of government is this? It has an $82-billion budget, but can't even provide sugar for its people in the monthly ration?”

(To be concluded)

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