Sheerchok

written by: Mohammad Anwar Andar

Hafiz and Naima go to the castle. They see Lalo Mama, who is sitting under a tree. They go near and greet him. Lalo Mama welcomes them. Meanwhile, a gardener of the castle comes and brings something for eating.

 Naima and Hafiz like the new food and ask the name of it. Lalo Mama calls it Sheerchok and leads them to the corridors of the castle.

There, in a corridor, Naima asks about Sheerchok. Lalo Mama opens the following window for their information.

Window:

 In the window, an old woman collects fresh corn and granulates it. She mixes tomatoes, garlic, and walnuts with the granules of fresh corn. She grinds them all. Then she adds some cornflower and makes dough from the mixture. At the end, she bakes small loaves of bread from it.

Lalo Mama closes the window. Naima learns how to bake Sheerchok and says when she returns home, she will bake Sheerchok.

On the other hand, there are some eggs put on the table. Hafiz touches the table and an egg falls down on the floor but doesn’t break.

Hafiz says that this egg is better for Tukhm janggi (eggs hitting, a special game of Afghan youths) because it is so hard that did not break after falling down from the table.

Lalo Mama says that Tukhm Jangi is a game but sometimes it causes a quarrel between youths and he opens another window in this regard.

 Window:

In the window, the reporter of the castle is talking about Tukhm janggi. A youth from Paghman, district of Kabul province says:

One Eid’s day, many boys were playing Tukhm Jangi. The one, who lost eggs, quarreled with the other who won and they beat each other. Policeman arrested both of them.

Hafizullah, a resident of Parwan province says that they always play with eggs but had never fought because they know that Tukhm Jangi is a game for passing time not for quarrel.

Lalo Mama closes this window too.