pedestrian observations

so this happens a lot as i make my nightly pilgrimage to a wi-fi spot somewhere. my apartment is on the main street, sort of across the street from where the president works. as i'm walking down the street, around 6p, suddenly there are an increased number of cops, like every block on both sides increased number. they are whistling and making a lot of noise, basically, clearing the road of traffic. so like, making some cars move through very fast, forcing others to pull into side streets. the road clears, then suddenly three police cars, at intervals speed down the street in the opposite lane. suddenly, a convoy of three two police cars, and a black mercedes with one ahead, one in the back, and two mercedes SUVs with lights flashing flanking it, are flooring it down the street for about 3 blocks. they stop abruptly and turn onto a side street. this whole incident takes a total of 3 minutes. the roads were suddenly empty for half a minute and then traffic was restored, in slow moving pace. for a second i get nervous: should i be walking, or should i duck for cover in case there is shooting? but there are women with children on the opposite side of the street so there is no way i would be a shooting target. i guess the president also goes out for a walk.
Some of the women I have interviewed talked about ‘chinese napkins’. From what I can gather, this is spermicide and the women swear by it. After consulting with my co-workers, it is decided that I must procure some and bring it back, so I embark on the procurement mission. While planning this, I realize that acquiring contraceptives over the counter, in a conservative muslim country may be tricky. So I specifically decide to go to a pharmacy where I know the pharmacist is a woman, since I do not know what I’m looking for and imagine my interaction would sound something like “umm….do you have these napkins? They are chinese and someone recommended them to me as very good”. This pharmacy is quite a walk, and after getting there, all sweaty of course, imagine my surprise when I find a man behind the glass window. Shit. I proceed to have a full on 15-year-old-teenage-girl-buying-tampons-for-the-first-time moment. I cannot bring myself to ask this man what I need. I literally stand there, looking through the available product in the window giving myself a pep talk: you’re an adult, you’re a doctor, you do this all the time with your patients. Finally, I ask him if they have any chinese napkins. “would you like wet or dry?” dry??! That seems uncomfortable, until he brings out tissues. Oh, no, no, I am looking for like napkins to like not get pregnant? ‘we have this”—he brings out spermicidal suppositories. Ok, but maybe like in napkin form? Oh, yes, hold on. He climbs from behind the glass and opens another glass door to hand me pads. No, no, this is not quite it. Then he informs me they are all out. probably seeing my sad face, he gets on his phone and starts making phone calls. I’m sorry, the other pharmacies in Dushanbe are out too… damn, chinese napkins!
My last day. After transcribing for a while I am ready to walk out of the office. jonbek suggests we go out, since it is my last day. We hail an ueber-city cab to take us down the street. Except, the cab stalls in the middle of the street and will not start. No fear! Jonbek gets out of the car and pushes it (along with me, lady with a child, and the driver desperately trying to get his vehicle to start) down the street, the main street, until whatever gears catch and the car starts. We then walk towards the newly built presidential palace (I’ve counted this as the fourth one). We pass by a river, more like a trickle of muddy water, which Jonbek describes is the place where women who have been left by their husbands, jump into to drown themselves. I raise an argument: given that this ‘river’ is like 2 feet deep, I doubt anyone can successfully commit suicide by drowning in it. I mean, the stones will hurt, but drowning?? No it gets really deep in the summer!.....it is summer? The dispute is settled when jonbek points out that it is way sadder when the women take the kids with them. We pass the zoo (there is a zoo?? Yes, there are lions and bear…lions??? Well, lion and he is skinny and hungry, but yes he is there) on our way to the palace. After the tour, which for money is open to the public, we drink beer on the veranda overlooking an amusement park (‘the rides remain from the soviet era.” “have they been fixed since the soviet era?” “no”), listening to tajik sad music (it’s all about love), and talking about dating, which really means Jonbek telling me stories about his friends misadventures in multiple partner dating, and me acquiring prices of local sex workers.
On the way to the airport, there is a roadblock: the road to the airport is closed, and police cars are blocking traffic. Since the cab cannot get through, apparently my option is to walk, with my luggage. Which is when jonbek hires a cop car as a taxi to drive us to the airport. I am out.