India Culture Week in Egypt

The Embassy of India in Egypt celebrated the India Culture Week with performances in Cairo and Alexandria from November 10 to November 17. The various art forms from India such as kathak, folk dances of Goa and Rajasthan and Talvadya music were performed in Ghoumariya theatre and the Cairo Opera House in Cairo and the Sayed Darwish theatre in Alexandria.

I attended the kathak and the rajasthani folk dance in the ghoumariya theatre and it was heartening to see so many Egyptians in the audience and their response to the performances. Their knowledge and appreciation of the Indian culture surprised me and made me realize that the Indian art forms have. The kathak performers, won the hearts of the audience with their amazing footwork. The rajasthani folk dancers wooed the audiences with their colorful ensembles as much as their flexibility.

Chitra Kalyani, a friend of mine, who writes for the Daily News in Egypt has written an interesting article on the Indian culture week with lots of background information. She has also included some interesting sound bytes from the audience, one of them from yours truly.

Read it on http://dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=17984

Such initiatives of bringing the Indian culture to the people of Egypt are welcome-not only do they improve the understanding about India but also gives a chance to the expat Indians living in Egypt to keep enjoying the art forms of India.

Sit-down business lunches

Last week, hubby attended two business conferences in some of the big names in the hospitality industry-the Semiramis Intercontinental and the Four Seasons. The peculiar thing was that both the breakfast and the lunch were served in the dining room as sit-down meals. Usually, at business conferences elsewhere, the meals are served in the buffet as it gives an opportunity to the participants to network, secondly it is faster and definitely convenient too. The sit-down affairs are more drawn out and make it very difficult to network. Of course, there is less wastage and the quantity of food that is served can be regulated since there is no possibility of “second helping”.

Am trying to find out if hubby’s experiences with sit-down lunches was an exception or is this the way things usually happen in Cairo?

ARABS GONE WILD

Attended the “performing to a packed house” Comedy Box Productions’ “Arabs Gone Wild” and it was a laugh riot. The best acts were in Arabic, though. People were laughing so hard at the jokes in Arabic that I have a feeling that I missed the best lines. Nevertheless, it was still a very enjoyable performance.

I particularly liked Ronnie Khalil for his take on the experiences of an American-Egyptian, visiting Cairo-from the traffic situation to engaging a cab to attending the never-ending “family dinners”. Dean Obeidallah, a US resident and raised by a Palestinian father and a Sicilian mother gave a hilarious account of the stereotypes associated with Mexicans, Italians, Egyptians etc. When he introduces himself as a Palestinian, he is confronted first with a silence that lasts for 5 seconds and then the response “tough situation”.

Maysoon Zayid, Sherif Hedayat and George Azmy brought the house down with laughter with their spoofs on Arab stereotypes. Aaron Kader, whom I had earlier seen as part of the “Axis of Evil” act was superb too.

The shows were performed at the Cairo International Conference Centre in Nasr City. The centre is equipped with parking facilities for 1200 cars and the organizers of the show had thoughtfully provided mini-vans to transport the audiences from the parking lot to the hall. The hall, with a seating capacity of 2500 was packed, with just a few spare seats.