for AIR, my first mount holyoke loves :)

LAHORE, December 24th, 2006

Absurd. Eight girls lined up in front of a window with elaborate metal lattice work. Grills on the windows. To keep us inside and the world out. To preserve our delicate virtue and shelter us from temptation. And today-to keep out the McDonald's delivery man.
The night before Christmas in a women's missionary college dormitory in Lahore, Pakistan. Our sour faced cooks were busy making dinner for the foreign guests. The rice that day was burnt, the daal unpalatable. After skipping three consecutive meals, the eight of us threw caution to the wind. We broke the rules. We ordered cheeseburgers.
Ordering in was a big no-no. Delivery men, being men, were a danger around the nuns, children or whores we were assumed to be. But never underestimate the power of eight girlfriends craving fast food. We pulled on our sweaters, pushed open the heavy doors and went out into the thunderstorm, bribed the guards to keep their mouths shut and instructed MCDonald's to deliver directly to our window. Then, stealthily, excitedly, hungrily, we received our food, cheeseburger by cheeseburger, through the metal grills and passed it down in a line. We congratulated one another and ate (like the fat whores we were).We giggled about the crime. We missed the biryani we couldn't have. We squeezed onto a charpai and dramatically lamented our suffering. We recorded it all on camera. Oh, female solidarity.
We almost got caught that night. Some jealous bitch reported our violation of the discipline code to the warden. Resourceful women that we were, we hid the evidence in a laundry basket when the hostel president came to check.
While I wrote this, I ate chocolate chip brownies for M&Cs, M&Cs that we get every night. I'm sitting in my country club-esque, non-missionary, rule-free dormitory in a women's college in Western Massachusetts. Guiltily, I acknowledge how homesick I am for the school I left behind. I don't miss burnt rice, delivery boys aka suspected lovers, or being considered a nun, child or whore. I miss lining up behind a window. I miss passing down cheeseburgers one by one and being united in our indignation at the room inspection. I miss the people who would bribe a guard for you in the middle of the night in a heartbeat and turn it into a huge laugh. I miss having people to dream with, even if the dream is real now.
If being barricaded into a dormitory is what it took...oh, female solidarity-I miss you.

KHAAR, Dec 24, 2006:
Candidates contesting by-election in NA-44 in the Bajaur Agency on Saturday decided to bar women from casting vote.
Two independent candidates -- Shahabuddin Khan and Haji Syed Badshah -- backed by the Awami National Party and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, respectively, are contesting the by-election, scheduled to be held on Jan 10.
The decision would deny about 55,000 eligible women voters, out of a total of 131,700 registered voters in the agency from taking part in the by-election.
ANP’s general secretary in Bajaur Gul Afzal Khan, who is looking after Malik Shahabuddin’s election campaign, said that the two candidates had taken the decision because tribesmen did not allow their women to take part in the polling process
“It is against our tribal traditions to allow women to cast votes,” Mr Khan said.
However, an official of the Election Commission of Pakistan said that the commission would set up separate polling stations for women despite the tribal ban.
Tribesmen had previously banned women from casting vote in the previous general elections.