Bamboo Pen

00:00 to 00:08 "Life is short, and it is hard to serve people the way you want. Unless, I could rise like a bamboo reed from the soil." (poem) 00:09 to 00:24 Until the bamboo reed is in the field, it is called Nai-zar. However, once it is cut and becomes a reed, it is called Qalam, meaning 'cut.' 00:26 to 00:44 The bamboo I selected for my calligraphy pen has rings around it like a belt, symbolizing all the good characteristics of people I have met, from its colour to its durability (quality). It is the best reed pen, and I still kept it. 00:45 to 01:11 When the bamboo is ripe in the shade, it has a dark red colour. If tapped, it sounds like bone. It is the same with humans; we can recognize their personality from their behaviour, when we talk to them, we learn more about their character. As for pen, we recognize its ability when we shape them and cut their tip. 01:13 to 01:37 The bamboo pen has six characteristics beginning with S in the Farsi alphabet (Se’en). Three of them are for its beauty, and the other three are for its drawbacks. The six Se-een are 'black, light, fragile' (the first three, which are considered bad) and 'red, hard, and heavy' (the second three, which are considered good) for choosing a bamboo pen. However, my pen, from my point of view, has no bad side to this pen; I see all its aspects as beautiful qualities. 01:39 to 02:02 The first thing that motivated me was reading religious and classical books (Panj Sura & Panj Ganj) with my father. I was stunned by the form of the letters while my father was teaching me to recite them. My father realised that I was more interested in the visual aspect than in reciting the letters. He told me that a calligrapher had written this, and from that moment, it piqued my interest. 02:06 to 02:14 I was six years old when I lost my father, and from that time, I became the breadwinner of the family. I had to become a shepherd, 02:16 to 02:45 While I was shepherding, I used to practice calligraphy in the sand along my way through the mountains. The top layer of the sand was dark, and as I wrote, the surface below would turn white so I could see the marks easily. After writing for some time on the sand, I could not fulfill my desire for writing. I had to write on the surface of the stone as well. 02:48 to 02:58 Subsequently, our relatives and friends moved to Kabul, and I came with my uncle as well because I had to achieve what I wanted. 03:02 to 03:56 I found a stationery shop. I stood behind the door, looking at the calligraphy and memorising it. The owner of the shop told me several times to leave the front door, but I was concentrating so deeply that I didn't realise he was speaking to me! He brought me in, showed me the materials, and lent me a calligraphy book by Sayed Mahdi Mahmoodi. I paid him 20 Afghani each week until I had paid off the book. I also found bamboo reeds there and this is where I would get them from. I would cut the bamboo for my calligraphy, keeping the best one and giving the others as gifts. 03:57 to 04:17 Some pens had soft skins, and some had hard bamboo skins. I gave the soft ones to gentle people and the hard-skinned ones to those who seemed tough to me. I have immense respect for my reeds; I ensure no part of them goes to waste. I never discard the small pieces I shave off; instead, I bury them in the hilltops as a gesture of respect.