Park on Gamat el dwal el-arabia street

Woke up this morning to a shocking sight-to see a huge billboard put up in the park that my window overlooks. This park runs through the middle of the busy Gamat el dwal el-arabia street and I have spent some lovely moments looking at the trees changing colour to mark the changing seasons. And now I will have this huge piece of steel and concrete obstructing my view! The billboard just came up overnight-in fact, even as I am writing this, work is going on to complete the installation of the billboard.

It saddens me to see that commercial exigencies always triumph-important things like having open and green spaces in an otherwise crowded and polluted city take a backseat! Whether it be Mumbai or Cairo, it is the same story-the lungs of the city systematically destroyed! And the voices, if any, raised in protest are muted or ignored. I just hope that this billboard is just a one-off thing and not a precursor to many of them mushrooming all along the length of the park. If that happens, it will be another step in the “concretization” of Mohandisseen.

Why, oh why could they not have planted another tree rather than this monstrous piece of concrete?

Cairo Grand Hyatt Hotel bans sale of alcohol

Received a mail from a friend that reads as follows:-

“The Grand Hyatt Hotel in Cairo has banned the sale of alcohol from the beginning of May, earlier this week. Though discussions are continuing between the Hotel chain and the owner, no drinks are served at any of the hotel’s restaurants or bars.”

I found it very strange because Cairo is the most liberal of all Muslim cities and alcohol is served in most hotel establishments in the city. The owner of Grand Hyatt is a sheikh from Saudi Arabia and he has banned the sale of alcohol on the hotel premises on the grounds that consumption of alcohol is forbidden under Islam.

Read on http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2008/05/02/saudi_sheikh_bans_alcohol_at_cairo_grand_hyatt_hotel/afp/

I have stayed in Khobar, Saudi Arabia for three years and all the five star hotel chains there have to adhere to the diktat of “no sale” of alcohol. In fact, sale or consumption of alcohol in Saudi Arabia is a punishable offence. However, to find a similar ban in a luxury restaurant in a city like Cairo is surprising and definitely puts Grand Hyatt at a disadvantage vis-à-vis the other luxury hotels.

It remains to be seen whether the ban will continue in the face of reduced business to the Grand Hyatt or whether the luxury chain is able to prevail over the owner to lift the ban.