OK… so anyone who might be reading or casually going through my blog must have seen a brief lull in my blog…. From 30th July till 8th August.
The reason for that is that I was busy organizing an Odissi dance and Sitar recital programs in Egypt. The programs were held in Cairo, Ismaelia, Fayuum and Alexandria on 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th August… tight enough to keep me busy and at tenterhooks.
The performances were given by Delhi based odissi dancer Ms. Kavita Dwibedi (www.kavitadwibedi.com) and Kolkata based Sitar player Mr. Purbayan Chaterji (www.purbayan.com). The performances were wonderful, though the backstage was a bit chaotic. This was my first brush with an event management from the scratch… and at least what appeared to the audience, my efforts were successful. I would soon be writing a post on the highlights of the occasion. So this was on a professional front.
On a personal front, however, when accompanying the group for a performance in Alexandria…. I spent one night on the roads of Alexandria with a colleague of mine, Sudhir. And what a wonderful night it was.
Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt…and yet in a way it has no trappings of a large city. For the larger part of the year…it remains a sleepy town… but in summers, it is flocked by families all over Egypt… to escape the heat and enjoy the cooler climes of Alexandria… (it is however debatable whether Alex is cooler or not… it is only a few degree lesser than Cairo, but the humidity levels are daunting… nevertheless the ensuing Summer vacations…and an urge to take a dip in the sea…make Alexandria a wonderful spot…like Marsa Matruh and Al Arish)
Alexandria is a linear city….spread all along the coast… with little or no spatial depth. Thus entire life of Alexandria rotates around the sea. Specifically, from the Citadel that holds the mighty Quatbay Castle (built upon the ruins of famous light house of Alexandria) to the Montazah Garden (that houses the famous Montazah Palace or the summer retreat of the former Egyptian royalty) - sandwiched between the two is a magnificent sea front, among the best I have ever seen.
This linear design of the city enables the city to have an effective public transport system… in the shape of trams (off the sea front) and a by-a-minute microbus service (on the sea front). This translates into a lighter traffic, despite the density and a better civic sense (in comparison to Cairo).
I have a theory that a city with a better public infrastructure is more humble and civilized a city… for- a better public infrastructure brings a degree of egalitarianism and therefore a sense of belonging to the city dwellers… a clear cut example of it is the contrast between Delhi and Mumbai or Kolkata…. A better public infrastructure also tones down the pre-eminence of money and therefore cancels the disenfranchisement that may set in due to unequal distribution of wealth. Any government worth its salt should strengthen the public infrastructure in a city to develop it… without which it would always remain a soulless entity… I am often reminded of Gurgaon…. That lacks even a modicum of public infrastructure and therefore remains a soulless destination.
In the summers, the city comes to life…. with thousands and thousands of Egyptian family coming over to Cairo for a dip in sea and a public gathering… These families mostly travel in groups (comprising of extended families or close neighborhoods)… and therefore assume a centrality in Egyptian life… these vacations often enliven the budding romances, for young couple get a chance to spend time- in a legitimate fashion, these vacations also become a meeting ground for many a families who have lost touch with each other and finally these vacations breathe life into people who are zombied by the hard life of Cairo.
So in summers, one can encounter a lot of Egyptian families enjoying themselves sans the tense looks one encounters often in Cairo… Not to forget the beautiful Egyptian girls, who leave their makeup and inhibitions behind and enjoy themselves to the fullest… so the usual tacky “head dress” gives way to fashionable head wear or altogether an absence of it. (I realized that the incidence of adorning a hear scarf is relatively lower in Alexandria than in Cairo… moreover a girl in Alexandria is exempted from wearing it till she attains a higher age, in Cairo, sadly, I have seen girls wearing the head scarf from a small age of five). Thus when in Alexandria, one can sniff a freedom in the air… a few days ago I met a Copt girl who spent her childhood in Alexandria and now lives in Cairo, due to her job… She rued over the fact that how Cairo is a sad city in comparison to Alexandria and how Alexandria is progressively being turned into another Cairo, with time. Till a few years ago, she told me, Alexandria used to be a toned down version of a bohemian Mediterranean city… with cafes, night life, parties and today it has become more or less like Cairo… with a sharp divide in lifestyle and morality of people, depending on their strata.
Whatever she said, might be true, and yet I still sniff freedom and fun in the air of Alexandria.
So on the evening of 6th August, I reached Alexandria and checked in one of the most fascinating hotels of the city…. The Sofitel (previously a landmark in the city known as the Cecil)…. The hotel was founded in 1902 and used to be one of the most wonderful hotel in entire Egypt… the elevators used in the Hotel are an engineering marvel from the yesteryears… I stayed in a sea facing room, it was one of the rooms that was part of the suite in which King Farooq stayed for a day (or at least that is what the staff told me). It also has one of the oldest continuously running night clubs in the city…
So at the very outset I realized that this visit is going to be memorable.
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