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!

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.