Ishtar Coming

By Mahir Salih

The story depicts the clash of traditional values with western concept adapted by middle class Iraqi women from Baghdad in the 1980s under Sadam's era.
Selma is middle class Baghdadi married woman . She has a feud with Loma who was in a relationship with Selmas brother in law. Selma learned a secret that Loma tried to keep it from everyone. She is married to a well to do man. He was appointed the Iraqi military attach in London UK. Lomas secret haunts her. Her best friend Madeha visit her in London to warn her about the smearing campaign Selma has started back in Baghdad.
Madeha is a widow she met her University sweetheart who is dissident opposing the government. Unfortunately ,she discovers later that he wanted to use her to infiltrate in the Iraqi embassy. She was anti-Sadam, pro her lover, but loyal to her friend Loma.

The result unpleasant confrontations between the two. the events ends with revenge, plight and an accurate description of the Iraqi daily life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jan 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781499089394

Mahir Salih

Mahir Salih Iraqi writer. Ishtar coming is the debut of his writings about his birth place Baghdad. He has contributed in play writings and an active member of the amateur drama in Ealing London.

Book preview

Catfight on the Tigris

I n a garden near the river Tigris in the Adamyah district a suburb of Baghdad in a hot summer day. Two ladies who are approaching their 40s were chatting over a cold beer. The breeze from the river was a salvation to cool down the summer heat but not the emotions. The two ladies conversation has escalated to discussion, argument then confrontation. There were accusations, blame and disagreement thrown all over the place. The dominant words are love; betrayal, sex, infidelity and some swear words. The older dyed blond hair, tall, with green eyes stood and threw the aluminium garden chair on the ground. The red haired, younger and slimmer lady reciprocated the action with some caution. Soon, fighting struggle and biting and nail scratching. The argument is beyond reasoning. The accusation is personal and touching the most sensitive emotions. Each one of them has created a life long scar to the other. It is the judgment time.

Rendezvous in Baghdad

I t was a hot summer day with temperature of 45°C. The heat was melting tarmac in the streets of Adamyah, which used to be a suburb of Baghdad in the early 1930s. Now in 1980s, it was part of central Baghdad. Affluent families built nice huge mansions occupied by middle-class Iraqi families at the time of British occupation in Iraq after World War I. You cannot believe how peaceful the place was then, and, 70 km away, a raging aggressive war broke out between Iraq and Iran during 1980–1988. Those Iraqi families benefited from the oil boom in 1970s. You could see fancy cars like Volkswagen and Chevrolet were made locally and manufactured by western manufacturers, following the improved relationship with the USA. If someone was very lucky to be a big businessman or more likely to work with Sadaam’s entourage, he would have the latest models of Mercedes (car that shows one’s status in Iraq). BMW was for the elites like Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein’s troubled sons.

Following the oil boom in 1970s, life had changed for some. People started wearing designer clothes with French brands like Chanel, YSL, and Cacharel. Many affluent ladies used to get their dresses from Oxford Street in London. It was a show-off business. They usually shopped from posh departmental stores like Selfridges and more affordable Marks & Spencer, though they needed to conceal the brand when they were searched in Baghdad Airport (M&S was banned due to its connection with Israel). Less fortunate people relied on local designers and tailors, mainly ladies who were good enough to make dresses as given in a Western magazine called Burda, a very popular German magazine. Iraqi women, generally Middle Eastern women, loved to look very elegant and immaculate. They did not give a damn to the saying ‘Appearances are deceptive’. A girl could pay her one-month salary for a dress! In other traditional areas of Baghdad, the generation conflict is obvious between young girls and middle-aged women. Senior ladies could be seen wearing the traditional dress, which could hide Western clothes underneath, or a long dark-coloured dress and covering themselves with abaya, a full-length black garment. Since the call of liberation and emancipation of women post-WWII, some women started to wear westernised clothes, and there was a discrepancy in the dress code. Younger girls were more skewed towards Western dresses even in traditional areas and very small villages. You could notice the difference between generations.

Though young men were forbidden from travelling abroad – Saddam’s strict, iron-fist regime wanted to make sure that they were available for his military adventures – girls travelled abroad more freely and managed to get the jobs traditionally dominated by men. Saddam had oppressed the Iraqis prior to the war to make sure no opposition could prevail, as he wanted to pave the way to his military adventures against Iran with the aid of the West.

Paranoid interpretation is common in place and could cost the victim his or her life. If lucky, he or she could end up being subjected to torture or imprisonment.

On the other hand, Baghdadis enjoyed a huge social freedom and were provided no political intervention of any kind or shape. This was not strange for Baghdad, the first city with a population of over one million.

Back to Sabah Street in Adamyah district, a few kilometres from the centre of Baghdad, from where our story begins. This area had evolved from farms cultivating palm trees and providing Baghdad with its essential needs of fruits and vegetables to a nice residential middle-class suburb in 1930s.

Selma was a slim lady in her early forties with a dyed blonde hair, which was done perfectly as if she came from a hairstylist. She was wearing a tight Levi’s jeans, revealing her fine contours, and, on the top, a small T-shirt that revealed the fringes of her breasts. Her height was around 6 feet, which was unusual for her generation. She opened the main gate of her luxurious old mansion and walked proudly, swinging her hip evenly on both sides. She put on her sunglasses to protect her green eyes from the intense July sun’s golden rays. She wore heavy make-up, which was carefully attended to. Her main concern was that her make-up would start melting because of the heat and sweat. In 45°C temperature, that can even melt the street’s tarmac!

Selma was married to Hasan, who came from a rich old Baghdadi family. They got married following a fierce love story. She was the envy of many girls in the old district (nearby suburb part of old Baghdad where she grew up). However, Selma was busy gossiping and undermining neighbours and friends. Nobody could have been spared from her icy tongue.

Selma was the third of four children. She had one brother and two sisters. She came from an average Baghdadi middle-class family. Her father was a merchant with a modest income. Her mother was a submissive housewife, whose main concern was to look after her family and to obey her husband.

Selma felt misfortunate for not being able to finish her higher education, which was essential for any middle-class girl who grew up in the fifties onward). Not strangely enough at that time, Ba’ath party (ruling party from 1968 till 2003) had imposed compulsory education. Selma, to her frustration, had convinced herself that she was rather cultured. She always made a point that she could speak many languages and had travelled abroad.

Despite her foul mouth, Selma had a great deal of sense of humour, and she liked mocking at friends, neighbours, and media people in a theatrical manner, and even risking herself by criticising the ruling regime.

Nevertheless, she had acquired an amazing ability to understand or more to interpret others’ state of mind. She could beat Freud in her analysis by sexualising every action people did. She always touched the social taboos – a code of secrecy not allowed to mention – sex before marriage or homosexuality. Those taboos meant to be a secret – seen but not spoken, not for her. She had passed all limits by talking about others’ personal affairs, and at times, she tended to fabricate facts.

In a society where family is a sacred institution in which husband and wife were devoted to their children and extended family, they should maintain the image but could lead a very different life individually. They could have separate affairs discretely.

At the beginning of their marriage, she was madly devoted to Hasan. However, life was not kind to her. Her husband had turned to alcohol; He lost interest in her since having their second child. Her relationship with him was based on love and an amazing sex life. He was the rich playboy whom all the girls of Adamyah wished to marry or even to date. Selma with her beauty was a winner, and being a natural blonde with green eyes in the East was a bonus. She had had a lavish honeymoon in Europe and a very happy life for the first few years of marriage.

As time went by, Selma’s husband became unemployable, though he lived off old money of his family, which was depleting gradually. Selma felt disappointed. Her respect to him had faded away. Her life became less interesting and complicated with her husband’s drinking problem. She had much time on her hands after her children had grown up.

At a later stage, she was attracted to his younger brother Ali. She was consumed by intense passion and sexual desire. She had some conscious and little religious beliefs that forbade her from showing her feelings or committing the sin of having sex out of wedlock. She once had an intimate moment with him when they were drunk in a house party. Selma wished that she could hug him, kiss him, or do even more. Ali had been loyal to his brother. He had rejected Selma’s advances. She had retaliated by causing problems between the two brothers, and she also objected to his plans about dating or marrying any girlfriend.

Meeting in Abu Noas

A bu Noas Street lies along the Tigris River in Baghdad. It is called after the great medieval poet Abu Noas at the glory days of Baghdad, when it was a capital of a huge empire. Abu Noas is famous for describing wine, women, and boys alike and is everything to do with life’s leisure. The street is loaded with cafes, restaurants. From the River Tigris, freshly caught fishes, mainly freshwater species called bonnie ( Barbas grubus ), shabout ( Barbus grybus ), and gattan ( Barbus xanthptreus ). Lucky fishermen will catch bonnie as it is the most popular, desirable, and expensive to the Baghdadi palate. You can hear the song of an Iraqi Jewish singer Salima Murad who was famous in the 1920s. She sang passionately about a fisherman who got her bonnie fish. It is a song that is heard in the open-air outdoor cafes and restaurants.

A fairly old Volkswagen car (Brazilian make) had parked on the street. The door was opened, and in a very slow motion, fine legs emerged from the dusty car bonnet. An elegant, pretty woman made an entrance. It was Selma with her tight white outfit, which was designed by the famous local Iraqi designer Suha Al-Bakry and Nuha Al-Razi, who was well known in haute couture. She was wearing a false pearl necklace and colourful wooden earrings. As she opened the door of her car, showing her nice, fine legs from her short skirt, she looked younger than her real age as she had early forties (which was a top secret, more secretive than Saddam’s nuclear weapons), with padded shoulder jackets and big hair of the 1980s fashion.

Selma was waiting for her husband Hasan, who hardly could have parked the car as he downed a few glasses of arrack, a local alcohol. She got in to the car and managed to park it with difficulty. She could not feel safe him taking the wheel. They headed to the previously prestigious restaurant in Al Hamra, which means red colour in Arabic and is inspired by Al-Hamra palace in Granada, Southern Spain. Nice simple wooden tables spread on the freshly cut and sprayed grass. They did not need to book a table; they were regular clients. Selma had organised evening outs to catch up with friends, more likely to show her latest dress or catch a gossip. The couple made an entrance. Selma was a few steps ahead of her husband, who was shuffling by the gate as the alcohol levels were well above the driving limits in today’s standards. She turned angrily towards him, telling him off for not being able to catch up with her pace. The waiter greeted them warmly and led them to the table with an admiring smile to Selma’s simple glamour and beauty. Her manners and behaviour indicated that she was bossy, domineering, and dismissive of her husband. The restaurant was specialised in serving fishes that were caught straight from the river and grilled in the maskoff (grilling from a distance by using dried palm leaves). While waiting for the chosen meal, they indulged themselves with mezes, which is a collection of salads, cucumber, yoghurt, and beans; homos had been served with arrack, which is a strong liquor made from dates with 40 per cent alcohol and is the best Iraqi-type Massaya. Some preferred Zahlawi arrack produced in Zahle in Lebanon, as it is milder. Arrack is served with ice and watered down. It forms a turbulent white drink. Heavy drinkers may take it absolute. It has a sharp taste of Anis that can wash down a heavy meal of masokk or kozi (a stuffed lamb with rice and nut) or even Bacha (prepared head of sheep). It was believed to kill off the hangover from arrack.

Some middle-class men and women prefer to show off their wealth by drinking whisky or any imported drinks like wines, copying westerners whom they have seen whilst holidaying mainly in the UK or other Western countries or imitating movie stars from Arabic films.

Traditional Arabic music was heard aloud. The favourite singer was an Egyptian singer Om Kalthum, who mesmerised the Middle Easterners with her long songs from 1930s to 1970s. Her legacy is powerful.

Following greetings and other formalities with her usual group of friends, Selma had started her favourite hobby – gossiping about all sacred, unmentionable subjects. Even worse, she had accused others of having this trait. She used some unspoken themes, some taboos, like love affairs out of marital relationship, homosexuality, mental illness, and alcohol problems. These issues can tarnish a family’s reputation for generations to come. She has tarnished the reputation of her best friend, accusing her of having multiple relationships before marriage. It is possible in a relatively conservative society to have the double standards.

Selma had rechannelled her disappointment and frustration of her love story with her husband, followed by the rejections of her brother-in-law, by criticising others. Her husband was the love of her life. The disastrous failure of her marriage and financial difficulties had turned her into a monster.

Her group of friends was dripping steadily.

All of a sudden, she glimpsed at a light-brown-skinned slender lady with medium height and red-dyed hair. She was wearing a light cotton-blue summery dress that she had more probably bought from Europe. Selma was guessing with envy if it was Chanel or YSL design that she could not afford. The lady was wearing a light blue dress that suited the colour of her skin. She used fewer accessories; more fake wooden bracelets, and gold earrings.

To her surprise and envy, it was Loma. ‘What a coincidence!’ Selma whispered to herself.

Loma’s parents were her neighbours. They grew up on the same area of Adamyha. Although Loma was many years younger, they developed a rivalry. Loma was qualified as a biology teacher. Later, she got married to an ambitious up-and-coming politician, who benefited by joining the Ba’ath Party led by Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq at that time. Selma despised her as she felt that Loma was not entitled to all this aspiring wealth and power that she lacked. Moreover there was an old feud. Selma considered Loma to be the sole rival in winning Ali’s heart (her brother-in-law). Loma and Ali had a long-gone love story, which ended on the rocks, and both got married and got children.

In the faint red lights of the outdoor restaurant, Loma recognised Selma. She was not keen to meet her. The idea of talking to her made her sick. All of a sudden, she experienced a semi-panic attack. All memories crept up from twelve years ago, all mixed with fear and disgust.

As her table was full with mutual friends of Selma, Loma had to bite the bullet and pretend as if she was normal, at least in front of her husband and his work friends that they intended to party with.

Selma felt as if she had found the Holy Grail; she would never miss an opportunity to gather, process, and synthesise information to make a material of her gossips and rumours about her favourite victim.

As Loma deliberately tried to ignore her, Selma became more and more bitter and willing to revenge.

The belly dancer, with her two-piece chiffon pink dress and slightly overweight figure, started to turn her belly in coordination with her hips and her stomach movements. The alcohol played in the mind of the guests. Voices became louder, and the wooden tables were shaking with the dancer’s ill-coordinated movements.

Selma had a plan in her mind. After downing few glasses of vodka, she got the courage to act. She approached Loma’s table, which was booked, especially by the river, and pretended to talk to Sulaf, an old mutual friend who used to live in the neighbourhood as well. After the usual kissing, Sulaf wanted to introduce both Loma and Selma. Selma replied with a theatrical tone,

‘Oh, dear, I know Loma before I know you.’

Loma was attentive, trying to listen to their conversation. She turned and greeted Selma with an artificial smile. She could not hide her feelings and emotions, more likely agitation. Selma answered with a nod that encouraged Loma to leave her seat and approached both Selma and Sulaf.

‘Hi, nice to see you,’ Loma greeted politely.

‘Me too.’

‘I am surprised to see you in Al-Hamra. Thought that you are not used to such places.’ Selma’s reaction was to put her down.

Loma was embarrassed. She knew that Selma wanted to remind her about her modest background and the past. She answered in a low voice,

‘Things do change, Selma. Actually we have a permanently booked table for us. Let me know if you are ever desperate for one. We may soon go to Elwia Club.’ ‘I hope for the best and leave the past in our backs,’ Selma exclaimed in a mean way.

This was like a bomb explosion for Loma. Selma stood up, showing her long legs, and excused herself to go back to her table.

Loma pulled herself together and replied, ‘Actually, these places are turning to be working-class people’s punters. Nowadays, we go to Sheraton and Meriden hotels which were just opened recently at a lovely position overlooking the river.’ She knew that Selma was not able to afford them.

Loma was emotional and almost burst into tears. She tried to compose herself. In the meantime, she downed a glass of beer. This made her even more emotional. She was not able to cope with Selma’s humiliation. Or maybe she was very sensitive to anything Selma said. Loma’s husband was busy, flirting with young girls, not even noticing her presence. She could not get any support from anyone except from her soulmate Madeha.

She turned to him, asking his permission to leave with an excuse of being ill. This could be the rudest thing to do. Nevertheless, she tried to leave the place ASAP. She apologised sincerely to her guests, and many offered to give her a lift home.

Her best friend Madeha came late and was her eternal companion.

Madeha was her best friend and her neighbour, and they had attended university together. She had known Loma forever. She was her secret keeper. Madeha was widowed recently as her husband was killed in the newly broken out Iraq–Iran war. He left her with two children to look after, and she had earned her living from her work as a secretary in the ministry of culture and by the compensation given to her by the government after the death of her husband.

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Loma leaned on Madeha with the protest of all the guests who wanted to be favoured by taking her home. She wanted to be with Madeha. They walked towards Madeha’s old Lada, a Russian car. Loma now had missed the days of modesty and frugality as she enjoyed the flashy Mercedes and being chauffeured at times by her husband’s driver, though she preferred to drive herself. The car’s front lights were painted with yellow colour as a camouflage in the early days of the war. Madeha drove in the Abu Noas; the fresh breeze from the Tigris had freshening effect on Loma, who broke into tears. Madeha stopped the car.

‘What is the matter?’

‘I am terrified of her,’ Loma replied.

‘Who you mean, Selma?’

‘Who else? She is a bitch.’

‘What is new? We know Selma well.’ Madeha took a deep breath.

‘You do not understand. She may ruin me.’ Loma answered with a big sigh.

‘It is in your mind. Past is past. We cannot dwell on it. Let’s go to the Sheraton hotel to have a drink. I heard it was just opened and it is a state-of-art architecture. Remember how we used to enjoy the simplest things in the old days.’

They parked Madeha’s old car in the front of the hotel. The porter was not in the least impressed as he used to see flashy cars. The girls stepped out and went to the lobby in which a big statue of the Babylonian goddess of love, Ishtar, was erected. Madeha, who had big interest in history, recalled how this goddess had protested against the war in her country, Mesopotamia (Iraq), as this country had had a history of wars. Mesopotamia in Greek means the land between two rivers.

# Ishtar the Babylonian Goddess: methodology; goddess of love, fertility, sex and Women prostituted themselves at her temp. Her lover into a frog and sent another person on a quest for immortality.

The gate was a symbol of her journey to