Pampering in Cairo

Yesterday was “pampering” day. On my agenda - pedicure, manicure and waxing. Was not very sure what to expect-women all over the world have the same beauty needs but the techniques and the results differ from country to country.

Once, while in Saudi Arabia, I went to a local parlour (since my Indian beautician friend was away in India) for “waxing”. In India, to remove body hair, we use hot wax (a mixture of paraffin or beeswax), which is applied to the skin, a strip of cloth placed over it and quickly stripped off, yanking out the hair in the process. It is painful! I expected the same here; but imagine my horror when the girl at the parlour came towards me, holding a wax look-alike in the palm of her hand! This was no hot wax (since she was holding it so comfortably between her fingers) and where were the cloth strips? Was I going to be subjected to more pain than before? I demanded an explanation as to what was going on-she explained to me that it was “hallawa” and extremely good for the skin; she demonstrated how it would work- since then I have become a fan of the “hallawa” way.

“Halawa” literally means “sweet” and can be eaten too! Seriously! It is a mix of equal parts of water and sugar boiled together until caramelized. Add a few drops of lemon juice and its ready. It is cooled to room temperature, then applied to the skin and pulled against the direction of hair growth and voila! No hair and your skin feels soft and smooth. Good for the skin too-since it does not burn the skin like the wax which has to be applied hot and can also be washed away easily from clothes etc since the mix is water soluble. And to top it all, it tastes yummy too! I did hands and legs and it set me back by LE 45 (INR 315).

The pedicure and manicure here was a disappointment - they just put my feet and hands in hot water, scrubbed perfunctorily, cut nails, filed them in a weird square shape and rounded of with nail polish. Hey what’s this? What about the massage? Without the massage, I would feel that the whole point of getting a “parlour” pedicure is defeated. My friends in India will agree, I am sure!

The Africa Cup of Nations

Egypt won the Africa Cup of Nations last night. Caught the game at a nearby café. The enterprising café had put up chairs on the pavement adjoining the café and set up a television outside and squeezed in 70 people in a place meant for 30…. but it gets the adrenalin really going watching a sporting event in a social setting and with a big crowd. I was cheering along with my Egyptian friends for the Egypt team, pumping my arms at a great save by the Egyptian goalkeeper, throwing up my arms in despair when the Egyptian team failed to capitalize on a “golden chance”, feeling outraged when the Cameroon team members were roughing up the Egyptian players- and I thought to myself here I was watching a tournament that I had never heard of till I came to Cairo, and cheering a team that I knew nothing of …..but it did belong to my “resident” country and I have some good friends here and have had some good times here….

The celebrations after Egypt’s win were stupendous (can’t think of a more apt word here) –this is the second consecutive time that Egypt has won the championships-this time in a foreign land! Stayed up late into the night –the celebrations on my street were deafening and entertaining. Here are some images to give you an idea of the scale and the kind of celebrations -Cairene style!

Street Savvy in Cairo

I chose to walk to my Arabic class today-I have been in Cairo for close to three months now and have not really walked anywhere- walking to and fro from the car to my destination does not count. Having made the momentous decision, I observed the road from my apartment (yes, my apartment overlooks the busy Gameat al-Dowal al-Arabiya street) and decided the spot from where I would cross the road-a number of people were using this spot to cross to the other side; and also it looked to be the shortest distance to the other end.

So, on my maiden walk on the streets of Cairo, I stood at this spot, hoping for a break in the traffic or for the approaching cars to slow down and allow me to go through. When neither of these things happened and I was still waiting, at the end of five minutes I decided to “go” for it- took a deep breath, tightened the shoulder strap of my bag (thank God, I had worn sensible walking shoes that day!) and dived into the oncoming traffic. For a second, I just froze, I thought that I would be mowed down under a car; but then my “Mumbai training” took over and I forged ahead confidently, without hesitating or looking back and lo! and behold! I was “home”. I told myself I had done this before on the streets of Mumbai and I could do it again!

Though I had made it safely to the other side, my woes had not yet ended; I found it difficult to walk on the side of the road with the cars whizzing to within an inch of me –so I thought I would get onto the pavement-is it not the safe and sensible thing to do? Pavements are meant for pedestrian traffic after all! But not in Cairo –I found it impossible to get onto the pavement; the cars were parked so close to each other and so close to the kerb that I could not find enough space to squeeze through and I did not want to go through the embarrassing situation of having to wriggle my way through two cars-What if I got stuck? And even if I did manage to find my way through the maze of cars and to the pavement, getting off would again be a problem….the cars are parked on the keb, then “double parked” and even “triple parked”!

Walking to the class was an education on "street etiquette" in Cairo. I finally made it to the class-hurray! I am now “Cairo street savvy”

Book Fair-Nasr City

Had been quite excited about attending the international book fair at the Cairo Fair Grounds in Nasr City-but could not make it till today. And it being a Saturday and a school holiday, the place was swarming with people; it was tough getting to the shelves to have a “dekho”. For Arabic readers, the exhibition is a boon, but there is a good range of English titles too.

For books in English, enter through the gate 11 and make your way towards the Atelier Pavilion- here you will find books on just about everything-from agriculture to zoology. All the books are being sold at 10% discount, a higher rate of discount being offered on some. Next to the Atalier Pavilion is the Naguib Mahfouz Pavilion which is hosting the American University of Cairo -here the discounts are great-ranging from a minimum of 20% on all books to as high as 75% on certain books. Might be a good idea to make a list of books which you have coveted for some time (especially the dictionary and the encyclopedia types) and purchase them at this time of the year. Books on Egyptian history, the Pharaohs, Tutankhamen are plenty and available at bargain prices.

A word on the organization of the book fair-There are no signboards or banners put up to serve as a guide-had to ask for directions a number of times before reaching the area where the English titles were being exhibited. For expatriates, who can’t read Arabic and can speak only shuya shuya! (a little), navigating the huge grounds is extremely frustrating!

On a separate note, I recently finished reading “The Yacoubian Building” by Alaa AL Aswany, published in 2002. I, of course read the translated version; I do believe sometimes the sub-text is lost in translation-but I am glad that I read the book, nevertheless.

The book takes a look at the Egyptian society in the 1990’s. The protagonists are residents of the “Yacoubian Building”-the “real” Yacoubian Building exists to-date on Suleiman Basha Street in Cairo. Having lived in Cairo for the last three months, I was better able to relate to the places, events and circumstances as described in the book. The characters are well-etched and representative of the Egyptian society. The author has very skillfully narrated the turmoil, the change and the identity crisis that the country was going through at that time. He has done so by giving the readers a peek into the daily lives of the residents of the Yacoubian building, each with different ideologies, attitudes, circumstances and financial conditions-sometimes the characters seem so real that I felt as if I had met the person in Cairo. What I really liked about the book was the narrative-it is so gripping and “flows” so well that I managed to finish the book in one sitting!

Definitely worth reading, especially if you are staying in Egypt for some time.

Celebrations-Egyptian style!

Here are some ways in which you can celebrate your country’s win in the semi- final of a prestigious football event:-

Wrap yourself in your country’s flag and sprint across the busiest road of the city.
Ride your bicycle on one wheel, and if you are feeling really happy, you can go round in circles on the bicylce
Play football with cola cans on the streets of the city.
Cruise down the road in your luxury car, sitting on the bonnet or better still on the roof.
Hang out of the sun-roof of your car, waving the flag. Or, if your car does not have a sun-roof, you can hang out of the windows.
Form a human chain and weave your way in and out of the traffic.
Climb onto the roof of the parked cars and play the “tabla” while your friends dance below; to make it more interesting you can move from car to car-all is forgiven in the “happy times”
Show stunts on your motorcycle-with one leg stretched out and the other on the pillion, drive your bike in a circle
Move around in a circle to the beat of the drums
Firecrackers are passé –shake your deodorant cans, press the nozzle and put a cigarette lighter to the spray, watching it flare up. (this is definitely risky)
When you have celebrated enough on one side of the busy street, shift the action to the other side.
Make it impossible for the cars to pass through and turn the busy road into a playground.
If you are driving on the road where celebrations are in full swing, stop your car, get down and start dancing; soon others will join you and you can be at the centre of all the celebrations for some time.
Importantly, don’t let the decibel level down, not even for a nanosecond and not even a notch…keep celebrating into the wee hours of the morning.

The above is a sample of the ways that the Cairenes celebrated the Egyptian football team’s win in the semi-finals of the Africa cup of Nations on Thursday, on the busy Gameat al-Dowal al-Arabiya.