The Relationship between the Uprooted as Seen in “Kandahar”

Being uprooted induces in one the insatiable desire to be firmly grounded. This is very much obvious from two relationships in “Kandahar”: that between Nafas and the Fake Doctor and that between Nafas and Khak. Through an instantaneous trust that is induced between the uprooted, a certain almost-familial bond is fostered.

The Fake Doctor had barely spoken a few words in English in musing to himself, when Nafas, who was familiar with the language, chose to engage in a conversation with him, without knowing anything about him. In doing that she potentially gambled with danger, but in that moment responding to a possible connection with something familiar made more sense than did a dire need for caution. Similarly the Fake Doctor reveals to her his real self by taking off the fake beard he had put on to blend in. A similar urge to connect with that which would give him a sense of being rooted made more sense than did a need for caution. The relationship between Khak and Nafas also furthers the point that is being made. Khak sees Nafas in the kind of distress that makes her uprooted existence obvious. He agrees to take her to Kandahar if she would show him her face as a sign of trust.

A quasi-familial relationship, also established between the uprooted is also obvious through these two relationships. Khak, for instance, sings for Nafas, something which he admits that he is very shy of doing. This implies that singing, for him, was a very personal matter and the fact that he sings for Nafas is something that establishes that he thought of her as family. One can at this point argue that Khak sings for Nafas for money and that that negates the point that is being made. An effective counter-argument to this is that the fact that he just gives the ring he takes off from a corpse to Nafas as a parting gift, knowing fully that it could bring him material gain if he sells it. On the other hand, it is obvious that Nafas feels the same for him. When she and the Fake Doctor think that they have come across a patrol person, they immediately agree to answer, if asked about their identity, that they are married and had two children. When the Fake Doctor asks her for the name of their made-up son, she answers, without surprise,: “Khak”. This further solidifies the familial bond that Nafas felt she had with Khak.

The instantaneous connection that the uprooted feel among themselves is hence very much obvious: it borders on a relationship that has existed for decades, and this nature of their relationship is an explicit function of their current condition: that of being utterly uprooted.