Qassim Al Simawi - Venom personified. Whenever a bus goes into a canal or a flood wipes out a village, and the government offers compensation to the victims, he curses his relatives for not having got themselves caught in the catastrophe. The ministerial meeting in the cave, where the ministers plot their nefarious policies. The civil servants' cafe - Hussein s only vaguely sympathetic characters. Hussein's principle characters are all male, although Kuheiti's long-suffering wife often makes an appearance.
Men are the ones who move events.