I Wanna Leave Your City
by: Khabat Rasuli
Translator: Kurdistan hajebi
The green jeep was stopped at the Eskandar Square, across the street and my dad got off quickly. After a minute he came back with a big caldron put it under our seat. The jeep was full of Kebab and fresh bread, we cheered up, clapped and danced happily.
‘Shhh, be quiet, no one eats, we will eat them together with guys.’ mom said
We sat down quietly and cringed against the seat. A man knocked the door and spoke with my mom then went away. My dad came back and then went outside again after a while came back and start wisperin with my mom. Maybe they were speaking about the Kabab and didn’t want to keep it in touch with us or didn’t want us to understand about it.
” hey sister in law if childern promise us to say as what we want to say I will give them Kabab[1].” My aunt told
As children we were deceived and gazed the big caldron avariciously and as a sign of approval nodded our two heads and hundreds of eyes quickly.
As she was making the first bit told:” Anyone who asked about where we are going please say we are going to the wedding. OK?”
Both of us told: “OK”
She made another bit and told:” if gendarme asked where are you going to? What would you say?
“We are going to the wedding.” We told
“Excellent, here your bites, bon appetite.” she told
The chauffeur turned back looked at the big caldron and told: “if they asked me I would say we are going to the wedding. My aunt smiled but my mom glared at him and murmured irony:” he is child”
Wondering how we went and what said the gendarme and which way we went on but I remember on the way back at a checkpoint a gendarm looked up and asked if where we were. As we told whatsit village at the wedding he told:” the roads are not safe because the counterrevolutionaries are in the area, it is no good to come back at this late time of the day.” all of us swore and told you are right.
As the car was being gone away my uncle inverted the big caldron as a drum and started singing with the rhythm of Viva Mahabad[2]: I love you, don’t do this hey counter-revolutionary٫ never listen the people’s speeches…
We all together clapped and said hey counter-revolutionary.
It was about noon they stopped in a forest, by the time the jeep was stupped I got off quickly. How was nice clear air and lovely forest! The sound of water and birds were so pleasant. Under each tree there were some Peshmargas[3], my dad asked about my uncle. I took a deep breath and told:” that’s it, what a nice weather.” two peshmargas were close to me and asked me:” what does the weather like in the city?
“It is full of pullution and smoke” I answered.
“Are you kidding? What smoke do you talk abou?” one of them said.
“The smoke of factories” I answered.
“Does the Boukan have factories?!” they asked surprisedly.
My dad told:” get on the car, you uncle is over there.”
I was happy because I could go off of answering that difficult question, I got on quickly. The jeep didn’t move that I remembred the somke is caused by cars. I turned back and looked at them and with one of my hands as a sign of turning around the steering wheel, and with another hand drow the sign of smoke and showed them that that smoke is the cars’ smoke not factories, but they didn’t saw. I was regretted not to tell them that there isn’t any factory and it is full of cars.
Long times ago I thought my uncle’s habitat is terrible but now I saw it by my own eyes understood that he is in the center of nature and also he eats Kabab either so I decided to be Peshmarga like him. We were sitting together and I told: I bet I will be Peshmarga too.
“Imagine I’m a gendarme, what would you do?” A Peshmarga asked me.
In a blink of an eye I went over him and started punching him.
“Hey derro don’t annoy Kak Mohammad.” my dad said.
Kak Mohammad’s last name was Alzade then I’ve recently known that he became martyr, he told my dad: “there is no problem, he doesn’t annoy me.”
When we came back and laughed continuesly.
“Since I thought she is’t girl I didn’t kiss him then when we went to river to wash the caldron, she rolled up his sleeves and saw her bracelet I realized she is a girl so I kissed her.”
“I wanted to kiss her with other boys but she just shaked her hand.”
They were introducing a peshmarga who was a girl, a girl brought up the summits of mountains.
My uncle was a guard on the top of a mountain. They announced him with a wireless telegraph. He came down and we welcomed him, he has gun٫ cordon and pistol, and some cirular things then I knew they were grenade and the mountain was Mt.Taragh.
After lunch we got together in a cirular way. I asked:” uncle, who is your headmaster?”
“Who has the biggest head is headmaster.”
one of them has a curly hair so I mentioned him:” that one is the headmaster.” he was Capitan Ahmad.
I looked at him and told:” I wanna be Peshmarga.”
“Don’t come here, we will come back.” He smiled and said
“No No I’ve come and won’t go back home.” I begged.
“Your height must reach that branch of the tree then you can come.” Kak Ja’far told.
I looked at the branch, it was so long. “None of you can reach that.” I said. Again they laughed.
Kak Ali looked at my mom and mentioned me with his eyebrows and asked her:” How old is he?”
I suddenly answered:” I’m eight.”
[1] Kebab is a lovely food among Kurds
[2] Viva Mahabad is a lyric poem
[3] Peshmarga is a Kurdish liberal soldier who serves his land
