Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Ammo Kamil..

I was listening to a song of Abdel Haleem, when his kind face suddenly came to my mind ...Ammo Kamil was Sayeq el Bas , the looong Big yellow bus of my school..
I can almost remember how he looked at the time.. he had a beard and a Big belly.. he wasn’t very old .. but the nice thing I still remember about him is that he always had a smile on his face.. he was always in a good mood..
The main thing attached to ammo Kamil in my mind was Abdel Haleem.. Ammo Kamil Loved Abdel Haleem, he was a big fan of his ..and so there was always a song of his playing all the way home..
When the old Jaras used to ring, announcing the end of another school day, we used to run in the corridors heading for the outer gate.. I don’t remember we ever walked .. we always used to run.. we run going into class, we run going out to Saha in the breaks, we run going into school, we run coming out of it.. we never walked..
We step outside the school gate, and we see Ammo Kamil sitting behind the steering, in Basna, always parked in the same spot , a few steps away so as not to block the entrance.. and one of Abdel Haleem's song has already started to play..
Now the journey home would never start by getting on the Bas, we first had to make a little tour, buying Charaz and Semsemeyya and stuff.. and in summer there would be (Lekestek) too.. that’s how we used to pronounce it.. which was like frozen ice cream.. later talking to my sister, we figured out that maybe it was marked (lucky stick) but we never knew the meaning at the time.. just (lekistek) which had the most wonderful taste ever.. and what made it taste even better was that parents were always warning us against buying things from the (Arabana) , its not healthy, its full of germs .. etc .. etc.. of course we were never convinced.. nobody got sick eating something he or she bought from Arabana.. that’s why we said yes to them and kept buying what we like when they were not there, and the best time to do that was when leaving school ..
And after buying our favorite stuff, we then would climb into Ammo Kamil' Bas, while he waited for us ever so patiently .. again with a smile on his face.. and so the journey home begins..
I loved to sit next to the window.. eating my sweets, shring what I have with my friend next to me on the (kooshen) .. chatting and laughing.. and Abdel Haleem 's music filling the bus, mixed with the sounds of innocent laughter and sometimes mean wrestling in the back seat, where all the mean, older boys would sit, and love to start a fight once the bus starts to move .. of course it was always silly fights, but we tried hard to stay away from the mean (Wekkah) boys.. better keep to ourselves and enjoy the sweets and lekistek and charaz before we get home..
No matter how loud we were, Ammo Kamil kept his smile, no matter how many fights went on and got settled in the back on the same ride, Ammo Kamil kept his good mood.. and Abdel Haleem kept singing..
Was all this a 100 years ago?? Maybe..
Were we ever sitting in that Long Big Yellow school Bas?? I suppose ..
Have we once had this life full of childhood, innocence, smiles and Abdel Haleem tunes ?? we must've had that once.. ages ago..
I hope that the kind Ammo Kamil is still smiling.. in my mind he still is..

13 comments:

3eeraqimedic said...

Yasmin
Uncanny, other than the boys in the back seat we could have been sitting on the same bus!
It is difficult to believe it really happened, until you read it described so lovingly by someone else.
Another memoriy and smile provoking piece, thank you.

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Violet said...

Nice post girl.. It reminded me of my past sweet times of my school . they were nice days to live and worth to remember. I wish all the people in the world like Ammo Kamil keeping the good mood all the time and listening to Abdel Haleem's beautiful songs!!!

Sincerity said...

You write beautifully, very captivating. By the end of the piece I felt as if you had taken me there, and I couldnt help but smile. Ammu Kamil sounds wonderful a real antique of his time, i hope he is still smiling.

Takecare..Sincerity

Yasmin (Blanche) said...

Dear Violet,
thank you for visiting my blog, and the v sweet comment..
indeed , would life be much happier if were more ppl like Ammo Kamil??
regards..

Yasmin (Blanche) said...

Dear Sincerity,

Im really touched by your warm words.. thank u for yr kind words..
please visit again..
regards..

شوان حسن said...

sorry for being so naive about blogging, I was lucky to see you commenting in one of the blogs that I used to visit. I just read couple of your posts and I liked how our beloved Iraq has created such great memories in each and every one of the iraqi society of bloggers, though with a diffrent taste, which so expected and nice to have all these views about Iraq.

wish all the best

Yasmin (Blanche) said...

Dear "Mosafer",
Ahalan wa marhaban..
Thank u for yr words and welcome in my Blog.. its been quite a while i ahvent written though..
I do agree that there is now a Wide society of iraqi bloggers.. each sees the Gurba in his own way.. each lives his memories in his special way..
all the best to u and pls visit again..

Leish said...

Salaam, I am a research scientist trying to understand Iraqi bloggers. I would appreciate your participation by emailing me your responses to leishiraqia[@]gmail.com.

Your blog identity:
Is your blog name the same your true identity? Why?

Do you only blog in English? Why?

Did you blog about the Iraqi elections in 2010? Why?

Thank you very much for participating.

دردشة عراقنا said...

Thanks for a great article
دردشة عراقنا

Unknown said...


شات عراقنا
دردشة عراقنا
جات عراقنا
عراقنا
شات كيكه
جات
دردشة عبدالله
شات العراق
منتدى عراقنا
منتدى دردشة عراقنا

Unknown said...


جزاكم الله خيرا"

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