Kite tournament was fantastisch
By: Vicente Figueroa, 5th June 1975, Kabul
To start with this news report, what basically happened is that two kids, best friends, one of them a Hazara and the other one a Pashtun won their first kite tournament where their performances in it were absolutely splendid, done with a lot of effort and also talent, plus a perfect chemistry between them equals the perfect combination to win everything they can imagine and set as a goal.
This huge event happened last thursday here, in the city of Kabul. The reason of why they did it is basically because of fun, but even more than that is because that is what both of them wanted more than anything, it is what every kid in Kabul wants more. But for Amir this tournament was much more than those things. When I asked him after the kite tournament he told me something he considered very personal, and it was that the reason, he gave everything in the tournament so he could win, was because he wanted to gain his father's respect, he wanted Baba, his father, to consider him a man and not the sensitive kid that was the complete opossite of him.
This kite tournament was the 100th anniversary, so then it was the most special one, but not just that, despite, from being the most special and important kite tournament amongst all its story, it is also the most difficult one, the one with the highest level of competitiveness: because since this tournament is the most special one then it is going to have the most skillful kite flyers across the whole country, including the team that has won the past 15 years in a row, excluding that fact, this tournament was the most numerous one, with more than 200 of the best kite flyers across the country.
Unlike what Amir told me after the kite tournament and which I also just wrote, there is Hassan's opinnion. Hassan said that the real reason of why Amir and him did it so well in the tournament, gave them what they wanted: the precious victory. Was because the tournament is what every kid in Kabul wants the most, and because it was also their dream and for what they had trained so much. But the important thing here is that Hassan told me that Amir was lying, his real reason, the one he considered very personal, was just a lie, he didn't want to gain his father's respect, or show him he was a real man; he just wanted to do it for himself, to have something to be proud of and specially to brag. This is because some kids last week were bothering him, Assef and his gang as Hassan told me telling him that he was a looser, someone that have nothing but money, and of course that was property of his father, so then he didn't have nothing: useless kid, sensitive and the shame of his family; after all that he had to intervene (Hassan) threating them with his slingshot, after that the bullies ran as fast as they could.
After that he told me that I had to tell the truth to everyone, he was completely mad, even furious, he was dissapointed and with that, outraged at Amir, because he didn't tell the truth, he was just covering with something cute and kind from him, while the truth was that he was just selfish, and that is not the way it should be.
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