| Industry of love thriving business in war-torn Afghan capital AFP
07/11/2004
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KABUL - It's a typical Friday morning in the Humaira's Beauty Parlour in the Afghan capital Kabul -- the small shopfront is crowded with women in ballgowns while their male relatives wait outside, holding restless children and occasionally pushing money, lost pieces of clothing and babies through the flimsy curtain separating the shop from the street.
Three brides are being made up this morning and owner and chief make-up artist Nadia Salimi is rushing to complete her cosmetic wizardry.
No lengthy consultations with the bride are allowed, they are all subjected to the same brush and lipstick strokes.
"For me, all of them are the same," says Salimi of the women who come to her for what is meant to be the most important day of their lives.
In conservative Afghanistan (news - web sites), where marriages are overwhelmingly arranged by willing parents rather than besotted lovers, the day is not always a happy one with many women sitting in Salimi's plastic chairs with tears streaming down their faces.
"There's nothing I can do about this," Salimi says with a shrug. "It's their private business."
The bridal business might be tough in Kabul, but it is a thriving industry of reception halls, gold jewellery, hair and make-up, diamante tiaras and red and white bouquets of roses all wrapped up in green tuile.
Wearing a floor length green brocade dress with matching high-heeled sandals, glitter lipstick and swathed in gold jewellery, Leila Khaiwar is pleased to be the centre of so much attention and expense.
"I'm 18 years old, my husband is also 18 years old, she says, explaining that she has met her husband before as he is my sister's brother-in-law's son."
Her wedding, to which about 1,000 people have been invited, will cost about 6,000 US dollars for the reception. The gold earrings, necklaces and thick bangles she is wearing have cost another 3,000 US dollars and were a gift from her husband-to-be, she says.
Has she pored over magazines, consulted a wedding planner, considered the styles prevalent in the Bollywood movies during the one month of preparation for her big day?
"No, I haven't said anything since coming into this beauty salon. She (Salimi) just made me up like this."
Her green dress, the typical colour for wedding gowns here as the colour of Islam, is a different matter. "I said I wanted my dress like this. Some brides wear two dresses but I will wear three," she says, adding the others will be white and purple.
Spotted throughout Kabul's dusty streets are scores of bridal shops and reception centres. The clothes shops were allowed to stay open under the repressive Taliban regime but beauty parlours were closed down. Instead private homes were used as secret beauticians shops.
Now, with the fall of the regime in late 2001 and the rebuilding of Kabul, they are out in the open and as the capital becomes more stable, businesses everywhere have been able to expand and invest.
The Asian Development Bank has said that Afghanistan's economy is likely to continue to surge and that annual growth in Gross Domestic Product of 15 percent is achievable to 2008. Services will be a major factor in this growth.
Mohammed Siddiq Ahmadi is building a wedding reception centre which should be able to accommodate about 400 people in an upmarket district of Kabul.
"One reason is because it's a good business, secondly in this area... there weren't any wedding halls," he says. Ahmadi is planning to charge about 300 Afghanis (six dollars) per person for which he will make about one third in profit. Even though the reception halls and restaurant are still days away from completion, he has already had requests for bookings he has had to turn down, he says. Despite the positive business side of the nuptial industry, not everyone is happy. One of Leila's bridesmaid is also engaged -- but not looking forward to her wedding with the same excitement. "I don't like my fiancee," says 25-year-old Homma, adding she would rather not get married.
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