News
 International
 National
 Embassy News
 Arts & Living
 Business
 Travel & Hotel
 Medical Tourism New
 Taekwondo
 Media
 Letters to Editor
 Photo Gallery
 News Media Link
 TV Schedule Link
 News English
 Life
 Hospitals & Clinics
 Flea Market
 Moving & Packaging
 Religious Service
 Korean Classes
 Korean Weather
 Housing
 Real Estate
 Home Stay
 Room Mate
 Job
 English Teaching
 Translation/Writing
 Job Offered/Wanted
 Business
 Hotel Lounge
 Foreign Exchanges
 Korean Stock
 Business Center
 PR & Ads
 Entertainment
 Arts & Performances
 Restaurants & Bars
 Tour & Travel
 Shopping Guide
 Community
 Foreign Missions
 Community Groups
 PenPal/Friendship
 Volunteers
 Foreign Workers
 Useful Services
 ST Banner Exchange
  Travel
Reminiscences of Egypt
Special Contribution
By Shobha Shukla
Reminiscences of Egypt

Aha! To be in the land of the Pharaohs and of Cleopatras; to breathe deep the air of ancient civilization; to marvel at the pristine blue of the Red Sea; to let the senses reel under the inexplicable experience of a cruise on the Mother of All Rivers.

My stay in Egypt was a mixture of discovery and pleasure. It was difficult not to be overwhelmed. The sheer mathematical precision and design of the Pyramids at Giza at once awed and humbled me. Did the Kings really ascend to the after life to find a place amongst the gods? Or were the elaborate preparations (started by them in their lifetime on earth) for the journey to the next world, all in vain? These and other questions will remain unanswered forever.

Pharaoh Khofu, who built the biggest tomb for himself, also has the dubious distinction of being represented by his smallest sized statue at Cairo Museum, as he was supposed to be very ugly and not liked by his people. This is just one of the many contradictions I came across. As I drank deep of the air over the River Nile, I was denied the basic human right of free drinkable water. No hotel (big or small) across Egypt provides free drinking water. A one litre bottle of water costs 5 Egyptian pounds (approx. Rs.40) or more. Petrol is much cheaper at 2 pounds a litre (Rs.16). But the body cannot survive on petrol. So buying water was one of my major expenses.

Reminiscences of Egypt

The dazzling display of artifacts at the Egyptian Museum was overpowered by the tell tale signs of abject poverty spilling around me. Outside an alabaster factory, a worker gave me a piece of polished limestone (with a figurine etched on it), in return for a pen. He said he had three school going children. This he did with other tourists also.

Although Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Hurgadha, still retain an old world charm and have very few high rise buildings, they are all very high on smoke. Despite signing and ratifying the global tobacco treaty (formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - WHO FCTC), the Egyptian government seems to have done nothing to curb the menace of tobacco. Of course there were ¡®no smoking' signs everywhere, with people puffing away merrily under those signs. At the entrance to Karnak Temples, I clicked a policeman smoking close to a ¡®No Smoking' sign. He really got angry at me and said that I was not allowed to photograph a police man. When I pointed to the 'no smoking sign' he just walked away.

Different types of tobacco in very attractive packing are sold everywhere. I found it impossible to walk even a few steps in the market and other places, without encountering cigarette smoke. Another very common sight was that of a hookah smoker.

Inside the Ramses Perfumes Palace , the air was thick with the fragrances of flower perfumes. A delicate touch of the pure essence oil of lotus, narcissus, jasmine, lilac, golden water, behind the ear or on the hair assured a fragrance lasting for several days. Blends, going by exotic names like ¡®secret of the desert,' ¡®thousand and one nights,' ¡®omar el sherif,' ¡®papyrus flower' and ¡®queen Cleopatra' arouse the sensuous in you. Then there is kohl to beautify the eyes and incense to perfume the apartment.

Papyrus painting is to Egypt , what ¡®chikankaari' ( a special form of hand embroidery) is to Lucknow . It was wonderful to watch the making of papyrus paper from the stem of the plant. And the beautiful paintings of Egyptian gods and goddesses and floral designs executed with finesse, similar to our own madhubani paintings. I found a lot of similarity between them.

The trip to Egypt can never be complete if one has not savoured the delights of bargaining in a typical Egyptian bazaar (like the khan khalili market at Cairo). Haggling indeed is an art form in Egypt . It is perhaps expected and, from the local point of view, encouraged as a way of communication and human contact. Being an Indian, I enjoyed it immensely. The shopkeepers have a habit of touching you, praising your beautiful face and hair, cajoling you to buy their goods with all the vile trickery at their command. Once they knew that I was an Indian, they even took the name of some bollywood movies and expressed their admiration of Amitabh Bachhan and Shahrukh Khan. I had been warned by my guide not to fall in their trap, but I did. I bought a pair of ear rings for 60 pounds, which were quoted at 250 pounds. When the bargain was finally struck, the old shopkeeper said to me, ¡®God Bless You,' ¡®For what?' I wondered. Perhaps, for allowing him to cheat me.

Of course, how could I leave Egypt without buying a cartouche, the oval shaped good luck charm. It has symbols of eternity, love and protection etched on it. One can also get one's name etched in hieroglyphic script on it. It is generally worn as a pendant or as earrings.

My senses are still spinning like the Tanoura Dance, the Egyptian version of the Sufi whirling dervish dance, performed mainly at Sufi festivals. It was awesome to see the male dancer spinning non stop for nearly half an hour, juggling with 5 tambours; twisting and turning as his multicoloured long skirt created the illusion of a human kaleidoscope.

In the words of Jalaluddin Rumi, ¡®There must be a purpose, a cause for existence, and inside the cause, a true human being.' So be it.



Related Articles
    Are We Putting Money Where the Mouth Is to ...
    Early and Accurate TB Diagnosis Is the Gateway ...
    Long Walk to Transgender Rights and Gender ...
    Strong Local Actions Are Pivotal to Reduce ...
    The Head Must Follow What the Hand Writes
    Ending Tobacco Smoking Is Bedrock for ...
    Asia Pacific Has over 6.7 Million New TB Cases
    Will Shorter, Safer and More Effective TB ...
    Whither Women's Reproductive Health in Asia ...
    Build the World We Want: Healthy Future for All
    New TB Treatment Breakthroughs Must Reach the ...
    How Will Children Living with HIV Grow Up ...
    Writing Is on the Wall: Pictorial Health ...
    Failing on the Basics: Are We Able to Break ...
    A Bouquet of Novel Compounds: New Treatment ...
    One Size Does Not Fit All: Expanding the ...
    Tale of Two Pandemics: Follow the Science and ...
    Governments Must Adopt a Strong Political ...
    What Is the Ring?
    Disability Is Not Limited to the Body, It Is ...
    Accelerating Progress on Sexual & Reproductive ...
    Stop This Shaming of Menstruation
    Complacency Breeds Failure: Consolidate ...
    For Age Is Opportunity No Less Than Youth ...
    New Study Pegs the Number of TB Cases in India ...
    Self-stigma: Let Us Do More Than Just "Ttalk ...
    We Cannot Eliminate TB If We Leave Children ...
    MDR-TB Treatment Rgimen: Short Indeed Is ...
    A Plain Face Can Take the Sheen Out of Deadly ...
    Strike at the Root of the Problem to Kill TB
    Antibiotic Use Is Driving Antibiotic Resistance
    Big Push for Transgender and Hijra Welfare
    Where There Is a Will There Is a Way: Teeja ...
    Lung Cancer: Difficult to Diagnose, Difficult ...
    Long Road to Justice: Human Rights of Female ...
    Medical Malpractices: Is There Light at the ...
    Overcoming Roadblocks in Translating ...
    Management of Respiratory Diseases beyond ...
    Gender Justice to Be at the Heart of ...
    Connecting the Dots: Tobacco Use, Diabetes, ...
    It Is Time To Control Asthma
    Call for No More New HIV Infected Children
    Smoking Goes Electronic
    Break the Silence around Cancer
    How Can You Treat Your Illness Unless You Take ...
    Asthma Medicines Still Unaffordable for Many
    New Technique to Prevent Diabetic Lower-Limb ...
    Cycle Beads: The Bead String for Family ...
    Beware: All Forms of Tobacco Are Harmful!
    Mother's Milk Is the Best Nutrition for the ...
    Where Is The TB Quilt, Nay Mask?
    Hello, This Is Nature¡¯s Call From Garbage ...
    Tuberculosis: Ugly Scar on Beautiful Childhood
    Towards A More Enabling Environment for ...
    What¡¯s Cooking in Kitchen: Peace or Conflict?
    Feed Your Child Well: Prevent Pneumonia
    Costly Medicines Mean Debt or Death for People ...
    AIDS Epidemic at a Critical Juncture in ...
    Watch Your Tongue Mr. Minister!
    Free Trade Agreements: A Threat To People's ...
    In The Pursuit Of Healthy Happiness
    Empowering Rural Women
    Say Yes To Life: Say No To Tobacco
    Homophobia Is A Human Rights Issue
    Viva La Woman Power
    Rubbish Rubbish Food and Embrace Healthy ...
    Of Music and Divinity
    Wake Up Call on Childhood Obesity after Years ...
    A New Hope of Life for Our Ailing Education ...
    Do Not Break the Nucleus
    Whispers of Sanity in the Frenzy of Madness
    Tobacco Cessation Can Piggy-back Ride on ...
    In The Spirit Of Freedom (from Tobacco)
    World Conference on Tobacco or Health to ...
    Requiem for Purity
    Rhapsody 2008 -- a Symphony of Different ...
    'Diabetes Doctor Is at Your Doorstep' in ...
    Activists Decry India's Deferment of Pictorial ...
    South-East Asian Diabetes Summit to Open Up in ...
    Special on Universal Children's Day
    The Wrath Of God
    World Food Scarcity and the Challenges of ...
    Victim of Terrorism -- the Common Man
    Teachers' Day: The Sacrificial Goat
    Hiroshima Day: Let Us Worship Peace and Shun ...
    Whither the Innocence of Childhood?
    Food for Thought -- on World Food Day
    Love Is the Missing Link in War-on-Terror
    Irom Sharmila: The Iron Lady
    India Poised And Shining
    Is It Just Another Day in Life of Indian Woman?
    He Has His Cake and Eats It Too
    To Be Young, to Be Married, and to Be in India
    The Mad Mad World of Ads

Other Articles by Shobha Shukla


Ms. Shobha Shukla has been teaching Physics at India's noted Loreto Convent, and has been writing for The Hindustan Times and Women's Era in the past. She serves as Editor of Citizen News Service (CNS). She can be contacted at shobha1shukla@yahoo.co.in)

 

back

 

 

 

The Seoul Times, Shinheung-ro 36ga-gil 24-4, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea 04337 (ZC)
Office: 82-10-6606-6188 Email:seoultimes@gmail.com
Copyrights 2000 The Seoul Times Company  ST Banner Exchange