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Satellite TV dishes are sure sign of new times
©Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan -- The metal sheeting was constructed for another time, another place -- to become cans of creamy dessert topping. But in Kabul, where raw materials are scarce and ingenuity abundant, entrepreneurs have given it a different identity. Sheets stamped with the familiar "Reddi-Wip" logo so they could become whipped-topping canisters are instead being enlisted as metal for new satellite dishes, handing Kabul's people glimpses of a world long denied them. On the streets of the Afghan capital, men with tools, metal scraps and customers who dream of a horn of entertainment plenty are building dishes at a frenetic pace, helping restore popular culture connections severed in 1996 by the draconian Taliban. "All the people of Kabul are interested in these. They've suffered in the last five years and haven't been allowed to see such things," said Zalmay Horiakhail, a member of Kabul's new police force. "I'd be really interested in a good cop movie," the officer said. During their 1996-2001 rule, the Taliban barred television as un-Islamic and punished anyone caught with one. Those who wanted to watch TV had to hunker behind closed doors. Two months after the Taliban quit Kabul, poverty is endemic, and many families lack electricity or running water. But dish manufacturers say demand has spiked even among those who can barely afford it. In cramped one-room factories on Qalah Fatullah Street in central Kabul, hammers clank and blowtorches crackle as young men churn out dish after improvised dish, then line the sidewalk with their wares. On a recent afternoon, the dishes sported metal from Gerber baby food containers and Barbasol shaving cream -- the kind with aloe for sensitive skin. Makeshift dishes cost from $15 to $50 depending on their size. "Bigger dish, more channels," said Mirwais Samandari, the assistant manager of one factory. At home, he has three dishes -- bringing in a total 273 channels from Europe, Asia and America. Some people tune to BBC news, others to Iranian TV or American programs. But the most popular is Indian movies, full of spectacle and emotion but without the risque elements of Western programming. "For a family, India is the best," Samandari said. "Those others sometimes have people with no clothes."
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
