Storyline: Life at Kabul’s bird market is a snapshot of times gone by, a corner of the city relatively untouched by war and free of modern life. The Bird Market, also known as the Hay Market, is a narrow street lined with stalls and booths selling birds of all variety and description. But a pall of gloom has settled on the bird sellers -- trade has dried to a trickle since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Many of the traders wonder how long their traditional way of live will survive.
Shot list
Extensive GVs of market, traders, passers-by and birds.
Interview 1:
- I used to have another job, but now sell these pigeons and sparrows.
- Where do you get them?
- People bring them to us from their homes and sell them.
- And you sell them to other people?
- Yes, we sell them.
- Can you tell us about these pigeons?
- There are many kinds. We have the breed called Shirazi, or Patin or Bor and Black. Any pigeon you can think of, we have them.
- Which breed has the most demand?
- These Patin ones. I have great yellow, black, red and Shirzis.
- Today that we are visiting the market, vendors seem to be gloomy, why?
- God knows there is no business. Since Taliban have come to power, there is no business.
- What was it like before?
- It was good. We could earn enough to live on. Now, everyone’s hungry and there is no work. This is the situation for most people. It’s not just me. What is the benefit of having security, but no work? As if an atomic bomb has exploded and destroyed everything.
Second Interview:
- My name is Jamil, from Charkh in Logar province.
- What do you do here?
- I sell birds
- Why are vendors so edgy?
- Work is bad. I’m here from early morning until dusk, but there is no business. If there was work, all would have been in a good mood. I’m here from morning till dusk, but do not sell one Afghani or ten Afghanis. The money I bring from home I spend on lunch. I sell nothing. I sell birds and do car grease work too. I’m a mechanic too.
- What do you sell here?
- I sell larks, owls, cockatiels and budgies. We get them from Herat and sell them here.
- Do you have someone in Herat or buy them here?
- They are caught in Herat and sold here in the Hay Market.
- Tell us a bit about how they are caught
- They use traps. They put some birds in a cage next to the trap with seeds in it. When birds in the cage sing, other birds come and they are caught and brought here and sold in Kabul."
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