First Grain of Sand — Page 142
126 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND When it was time to eat, the two officers took me to the train's dining cabin. It was a very decorated room, and the officers sat me down with them to eat. I told the Turkish Muslim man who was serving the food to not bring any pork for me. This was because in Tashkent, they sometimes secretly gave pork to the Muslim prisoners without telling them to make them their companions in sharing the same food and drink. The first time this meat was given for lunch, I had wisely kept a voluntary fast that day, and this was the first fast that God Almighty had me observe in prison, on that very day they were serving pork. So I was saved by the blessing of fasting that day. After that, for many weeks, if not months, I ate bread with hot water and salt in the Tashkent prison instead of curry. As a result, I became so weak that sometimes when I touched my chest, the hair would fall out. In short, as a precaution, this is why I told the Turkish man serving the food not to bring me any pork, even though since he was Muslim it was unlikely he would do such a thing. In front of me in this cabin, a young Russian lady was eating her meal with a knife and fork. Our food hadn't arrived yet, and so I had the idea that I should observe how exactly she eats with a knife and fork. At the time I was wearing a jubbah, which is a traditional Bukharan outfit. The woman would eat and then smile at me whenever she looked at me, perhaps because she was won- dering how I would be able to eat with a knife and fork. I saw that she took a piece of meat from the plate using her fork, placed it on her empty plate, cut it with the knife, placed the knife down, took a bite of bread, and then filled a spoon with soup from the bowl and took a sip. After that, she ate a piece of the meat with the fork. After seeing this, I lowered my glance down.