Thursday 11 October 2007

It's the soul that matters the most




One of the worst nightmares you can ever have is having to take a cab from Mohandessin to downtown at around 2 p.m. in Ramadan. I got on a cab with the usual intention of:
- not talking to the driver and avoiding eye contact in the mirror
- giving him whatever he asks for
- not answering the phone unless it's a family member (& making it clear that the one on the phone is my brother and not my boyfriend)
- rejecting phone calls when I had to talk in English (not to be charged the double-no sunglasses for the same reason)

The driver kept cursing the car and for about 5 minutes he kept asking her why she stopped every time he hit the brake or the clutch. The traffic wouldn't move and, of course, he had to brake and the car stopped. He got off the cab and hid behind the hood for less than a minute.
He got into his seat and once he managed to start the engine, he changed into a different creature.

He was a bulky guy in his early thirties. I don't remember anything about his facial features other than they being big ,and getting bigger when he speaks louder.

Five minutes later I decided to have one good cab ride.

Driver - Finally it worked. I knew what to do, it's just my damn wife who is driving me crazy.
Me - Why? What did she do to you?
- We're having our apartment redecorated. The damn mentally disturbed painter she hired got paint all over the place although I had asked him to cover the furniture. He even got paint on shoes, mademoiselle!
- Ma'lesh. You'll forget all this when all is done.
- What can I do. When a woman wants something, her head becomes zay el gazma el 2adeema(an old pair of shoes = she's adamant)

We reached 6th of October and cars remained motionless as if they were part of a noisy photograph.



Me - What's all this heavy traffic ?
- It's up to the government to fix this.
- By the way, who are you going to vote for in the next elections.
- If he's still alive I won't go.
- Why not? Don't you want things to get better?
- Elections are nothing but a silly show. I'll tell you a joke
"A man decided to vote in the last elections. He voted 'No'. He later met his friends at the cafe and told them what he did. They told him off and insisted that he should go back and vote 'Yes' if he wanted to live safely any more. The scared guy went back to the voting center and asked to talk to the judge in charge.
I want to change my vote to 'Yes.' I am really sorry about that.
No problem. We knew that it was a mistake and we changed it for you. Don't ever do that again. OK?"

The driver laughed out loud and caused an 8 richter scale earthquake. He kept talking about many other things and of course he took the conversation into What do you do? Where are you from? etc.

We were a couple of minutes away from Tahrir square. By that time I was already calling him by his first name (a thing that I'm sure he appreciated)

- You know, Miss. Beauty isn't everything (= you're not pretty) It's the soul of a person that attracts you. You have a beautiful soul that makes people feel comfortable talking to you.
- Thanks for the compliment.
- It's not a compliment. My wife, for example, is sooo pretty. But ... she's choking me.
- C'mon. I'm sure you love her.
- If I got you your own apartment on Faisal street, would you accept to marry me?
- Really? That would be convenient. I'll of course own it after your wife has killed you on our wedding day.
- (laughing) Wallahi. I'm serious!
- No, ya sidi thanks. I'm fine like this.
- Insha'llah you'll meet a good man 'coz you're really a good human being.
- (Leaving the cab)Thank you, Mohamed. Say hi to your wife :)

8 comments:

kiran said...

Very interesting, and very funny. It makes me want to know more.

I gather that Egyptian men are as forward with Egyptian women as they are with western visitors?

Even with the Hijab?

Nesrine said...

Well, they are forward with everyone. Hijab for them might be a sign of the girl being decent and that's even more encouraging :)

Hafez said...

As Kiran said it all, looking forward to your next post :)
___

Eid Mubarak!

Went to Mustafa Mahmoud's mosque. The following seems appropriate.

Hands in pocket and feeling quite elated
I walk in a strange place, but am not alienated.
Alone but not lonely I find myself walking here.
Not sure if I'm going further or getting near...

- Salah Jahin

Nesrine said...

So you went to this mosque for prayer!! I was there as well but decided to go back last minuted. It was packed & I had female cousins wih me and thought anything might happened to us.
I just LOVE Salah Jahin. He's deeply and truely Egyptian :) Where did you get the translation to his poem?

Nesrine said...

By the way this poem was made into a song: "ايديه فى جيوبى وقلبى طرب"
by an Egyptian singer called Mohamed Mounir. He's popular, especially among people from upper Egypt.
He's one my favourite too.

Hafez said...

Cool! Will definitely look him up.

I found the bilingual Rubayat at the AUC bookshop, and grabed the last one! The translation is by Nehad Salem, and will be asking you for your help in reading the colloquial (not sure about the vowelling).

Thanks loads for the recommendation: very much enjoyed reading him, and read up on him as well. As a result, I am going tonight to the opera for the performance of Leila Kabira. Hoping I'll get by despite the Arabic... ;) I'm finding Egypt ever more fascinating, not least in terms of what it means to be an Egyptian, and any other suggestions you might have, either by him or others, are welcome. It will be a pleasant escape from Arabic (shhh!), the Cairo trilogy, and my law books...

Mustafa Mahmoud: one of my Egyptian friends absolutely wanted me to go there -even if she couldn't make it!- and so went early for morning prayers and was sitting near the front. Amazing experience, and would have been so funny to bump into you!

Très bonne soirée !

Hafez said...

fascinating... but frustrating as well, like when you turn up for a show which has already taken place and was badly advertised... couldn't help laughing though!

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