BAGHDAD, Iraq – As night falls over the hot desert city, temperatures begin to cool. It still reaches 90+ degrees during these early winter months.
As it approaches 8pm, Ahmed Hanash gets ready to close his auto repair shops which usually severs about 50 customers per day. The little money Ahmed has coming in, he spends on his small apartment and entertainment. Today he plans to hit the town with his “boys.”
When Ahmed puts on his newly washed Ralph Lauren Polo and imported European cologne (which he bought from a new shop specializing in imports from Europe) the night life beings.
In the once conservative city which imposed curfews under Saddam’s regime, the business have take advantage the young people who are sleepless and desire to mingle with their peers.
Ahmed explains that him and his friends usually attend a the local cinema, sit at the local cafe, smoke hookah, or shoot pool on a typical night.
The main square in Sadr City once housed the very first cafe in the area after the invasion, now the streets a dotted with multi-dozens of restaurants and bars. Ahmed and his friends will be frequenting one of these for the night, with some lady friends.
The current dating scense is rather complex according to Ahmed. Although the youth have embraced western ideals of dating, the older more conservative group still prefer a traditional approach in which the parent’s consent and guidance takes president.
Regardless to which dating scene will emerge, once thing is clear. The Iraqi youth are no longer relegated to an oppressive curfew which inhibited them from enjoying the few luxuriates the city has to offer, even in a time of war, crisis, and poverty.
Surly it is not the idea Westerns have when they invasion a “night on the town,” but then again, Iraq is not in the west. Out of these trends and freedom, a uniquely Iraqi version of a “night on the town” will emerge.
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