Clowns Without Borders at the Townhouse Gallery

How difficult is to make people, especially children laugh? Very difficult!…As I discovered at the performance of “Clowns without Borders” at the Townhouse Factory in downtown. But the talented performers of the French Clowns Without Borders made it all seem so easy!

This group of more than 400 clowns, comedians, musicians, dancers and acrobats have made it their mission to bring a smile to the lips and cheer to the heart of the displaced and the depressed. Their associations can be found in the US, South Africa, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Belgium, Ireland and Sweden. They corroborate with local NGOs to organize performances in shanty towns, refugee camps, detention centres and orphanages. The props that they use are from daily life-brooms, saucepan, dusters, cooking pot etc. But their nimble fingers manage to coax beautiful music out of even a plastic bucket! Wearing only the simplest of clothes and a “clown” nose, they are a big draw with children. At Saturday’s performance the children seated on all the four sides got equal attention from them. Their ability to emote and their antics can bring a smile to even the most hardened

The venue for the performance, The Townhouse Factory is one of the three buildings located at the junction of two lanes in downtown that form part of the Townhouse Gallery. The main building is three-storeys high and houses exhibition halls, a library and studios. The adjoining building, which is the rear part of an erstwhile paper factory, is called the Townhouse Factory and is used for staging performances. There are two shops adjoining the Townhouse Factory at which you can buy some of the contemporary art displayed at the Townhouse Gallery. Recycled souvenirs can also be found here-laminated photographs to be used as wall hanging, used bottles beautifully painted etc.

The Townhouse Gallery is situated in a “working area” in downtown with car mechanics, sign painters, carpenters and coffee shops occupying the surrounding space. Probably the best example of bringing art to the community and integrating community into art

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

Had a very interesting experience that last week, which re-enforced the fact “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. We were trying to locate a street in Garden City by the name of “Mohammed Ali Jinnah”. Now, I was familiar with this name as being that of the first President of the then newly created state of Pakistan. But my chauffeur totally disregarded the “Jinnah” in the name when he asked for directions the first couple of times. Obviously, he thought that the “Jinnah” in the name was a mistake in my understanding, and I actually meant “Mohammed Ali Pasha” of Egypt

When he met with no success, on my prodding, he asked for the street by its complete name of “Mohammed Ali Jinnah”. But everyone he asked said “marafsh” (I don’t know), while shaking their heads. When after much driving around, we finally did stumble onto the desired street and my chauffeur read the street name written in Arabic, he said "oh you mean Mohammed Ali Genah!”, pronouncing the “J” in “Jinnah” as a “G”. I had completely forgorgotten that the Egyptians pronounce the “J” as “G” –so the name “Jamal” becomes ‘Gamal”, and “Jinnah” becomes “Ginnah”.

Now only, if I would have remembered this small detail, I could have spared myself the trouble and saved on some precious time.

Counterfeit Money

I have been frequenting the branch of Al Shabrawy on the 26th of July street in downtown for a couple of weeks now. Imagine my shock when one day, the cashier approached my friend and me and told us that the 20 pound note that we had our bill with the previous day was a counterfeit.!

My friend was pretty calm about it and just took the counterfeit note and gave him another 20 pound note. I later learnt that she had had such experiences earlier and the LE 20 pound note is particularly susceptible to being a counterfeit. This had me worried and in my quest to know how to recognize a counterfeit note, I tumbled upon this great site that details what one should look for to scertain that one has a “real” note. The site is http://www.moiegypt.gov.eg/english/Departments+Sites/PublicFunds/SecurityFeatures/LE20/

It details clearly the security features that one needs to look into a LE 5, LE 10, LE 20, LE 50, LE 100 and a LE 200 note.

The nest time you exchange money, you might want to look out for these features.

COSMOPOLITAN CAIRO

It has been little more than a year now that I have been in Cairo and the quality of this city that has impressed me the most is it being a cosmopolitan city. What is so impressive about being like many other cities across the world? The fact that Cairo is a city in what we call “Middle East” and an Islamic nation too makes it a challenging task for this city to retain its cosmopolitan flavour

The church, the mosque and the synagogue form part of the skyline of Cairo. The Eid celebrations are stupendous, no doubt, but the city also gears up for Christmas and New Year. Fir trees adorn the sidewalks, Christmas ornaments do brisk sales and Santa Claus caps and stockings are on every child’s wish-list in Cairo. Come March and the city will also celebrate the Pharonic festival of Sham-el-Nessim.

Italian, Indian, Mexican, Korean, Thai, Chinese-all kinds of cuisines can be enjoyed in Cairo in addition to the Egyptian cuisine. If you are a movie buff, Cairo affords you opportunities galore to see some brilliant films from all over the world. At the Cairo International Film Festival held annually, films from countries such as France, Spain, India, China, Japan, Tunisia, Turkey, Lebanon etc are screened. You want to get a peek into the Columbian society without traveling there? You had your chance in Cairo when four Columbian films with English subtitles were screened at the Columbian film festival held a fortnight back Opera, ballet, jazz music, blues, reggae, hip-hop form part of the cultural scene in Cairo. Night clubs are packed on week-ends. At the same time, the tannura dance performances and traditional music also see a full house.

Learning to belly dance in Cairo?-the expected thing!. Learning foxtrot, jive, salsa?-possible in cosmopolitan Cairo. Again whatever language you want to learn, Cairo is your destination with classes being conducted for Italian, French, English etc. You are feeling homesick?-you can bond with other members from your country through the various clubs operating here. Again, these clubs welcome members from all countries. In addition to the locals, Cairo boasts of a very large and vibrant expat community that gives Cairo its flavour as a world capital. The latest in designer wear and global trends can be found and bought here.

I am not writing here about the differential rates charged to foreigners at the tourist sites, the rip-offs by the taxi drivers, the inflated prices demanded by the “Khan” vendors, the higher rates charged by the hotels, maids etc to expats etc…This post is about all good things:-)

Baksheesh, please

According to a survey conducted by Expedia, an online travel company, Indians ranked as the "second worst tourists" in the world. One of the reasons for this dismal ranking is the fact that they got average scores on their "generosity" or to put it simply due to their lower propensity to tip. However, one year of stay in Cairo, Egypt can change this forever. As I have discovered!

During the initial months of my stay in Cairo, I had this in-built inertia against tipping-why should I pay for a service that I did not ask for and did not want? Why should I tip a person who is just doing his job? But soon the “tipping culture” gets to you and you start understanding the nuances.

My first brush with tipping was when on landing at the Cairo international airport, I visited the washroom and came face to face with a lady holding a toilet roll in her hand and handing me a swathe of tissue. I thought to myself-what a great way to ensure that there is no wastage of tissue and to encourage conservation!!. And then I saw the other ladies who had used the washroom tip the woman. The woman then looked expectantly at me-since I had only large denomination notes with me, I mumbled a thanks and left the washroom.

"Baksheesh", as tips are known in Cairo is a way of life here. At the supermarket, the person who puts the groceries inside bags, then insists on carrying it out to your car needs to be tipped. The person who opens your car door for you-whether you want such kind of service or not has long ceased to have any relevance-is not being chivalrous

While going out for dinner, the "baksheeshing "begins when you are parking your car. A man will suddenly materialize and insist on guiding you on how to turn your wheels to park your car-it is a different matter that he may never have driven a car in his life! Of course, you need to tip him. The person who guides you to your table expects a tip. You need to leave a tip on the bill amount, even if they have already added service charge. When you are walking towards your car, suddenly a man darts in front of you and takes a swipe at your windshield with a cloth-his idea of cleaning it. Your windshield is, of course, absolutely clean and you did not ask for it but you need to give him baksheesh. Decide to fill up on gas? Keep a pound ready to tip the guy who is filling up your tank-never mind that he is just doing his job

Of course, all this baksheesh business can sometimes get very uncomfortable. Like the time we ate at the Egyptian Pancake House in the Khan. Our cheque had just been brought to the table when one of the waiters came over and asked if we had liked our food. What care and courtesy! We assured him that we had enjoyed the food but he kept waiting while we sorted out the money for the cheque. We then realized that he was hanging around to ensure that we left a baksheesh.

At other times, it can get unpleasant too. While leaving from a pub, we handed LE 5 to the person “in charge” of the parking on that street. He took the money and then demanded LE 20! He held onto the car window and let go of it only after we firmly refused to pay anymore. On another occasion, outside the Boulaq market, our driver handed over LE 1 to the man who had helped him find parking. But the man got into an argument and demanded more money saying that the place where our car had been parked was his!!! (when did the authorities of Cairo hand over this tract of land to him?). Finally, the matter was settled at LE 7. Whew!

Sometimes, it is plain funny. The liftman who took us up the Cairo tower, kept telling us “welcome” and repeated again and again that he loved India and of course, loved Amitabh Bachchan. He completely ignored the other Egyptians in the lift and we were quite amused to being singled out for attention. We, of course, had to give him baksheesh! Another time, when I had gone to see off my friend traveling to Paris, we entered the wrong terminal. We were looking around trying to determine the correct terminal when a man in overalls (probably the maintenance staff at the airport) approached us. On hearing that we were there for the Air France flight, he pointed to the adjacent terminal and insisted on leading us there. My first thought was that people are so helpful and polite here...but I soon realised the folly of these thoughts. Even after we had thanked him, the man kept standing around and then it dawned on me that he was expecting a tip!

Soon you learn to judge situations. In some cases, the amount that a person gets through baksheesh are his only earnings, thus justifying tipping. Sometimes, the employers deliberately underpay the employees, hoping that they will make up in tips. This moves you to give baksheesh. Of course, in certain cases, culture overrides the necessity angle and compels you to tip. Therefore, it is important to use your judgment. Good service and need of the person should win over coercion.

P.S. Don’t leave your house without your mobile, house keys, wallet etc. In Cairo, they add…Don’t leave your house without sufficient change!