My grandparents used to tell me stories of tall mountains of Khaukaff (Tian Shan Range), beautiful fairies and strongest of all Dawoo (Almas) living there. With wide eyes I used listened and believed in those tales and in my childish fancy wished that one day I would visit Khaukaff and play with these fascinated creatures of the God. And God granted me a wish in 2001. All those tales of Grandparents came alive when I have visited Almity, Kazakhstan.
After crossing uncrossable mountain range through modern aircraft I was wondering how it was possible for those people centuries ago to know about any thing beyond these sky-high mountains range and who could survive to reach other side to tell their tales? They were must be one or two in centuries to live to tell. No wonder, the previous generations were fascinated and charmed by this rare storytelling sequences and passed on their rare experiences from generation to generation.
Reaching Almity and having firsthand knowledge of this region to me like a dream comes true. I recall my grandfather's words that girls are pretty like fairies and men are huge enough to eat whole goat in one sitting and when sit on a horse, horse back was bent down. True to the claim, I must accept that I have not seen such pretty girls and strong men anywhere before. I was astonished by their beauty and openness. To me it’s like walking among fairies.
The first woman I conversed with was Aigoul Bekova (Flower of an eye), she was our interpreter and guide and later became a good friend. She is a rare beauty, Khazak Face but delicate features. A complete woman! But the lifestyles of these women are very complex. They are very fond of latest dress and cosmetic. Their average monthly earning was US$300, but they were wearing more then US$200 dress and I bet they had plenty of them. They were regular visitor of night clubs and seemed happy all the time. When a surprise visitor like me asked them that how they could afford such lifestyle? They gave you one big smile with naughty looks. I have also observed that the number of single mothers in Almity was gruesome. “The divorced rate is very high in Almity” commented our guide.
Men are men. Strong, bully and seemed worry-free... (Continue)
