the nile will always win

around cairo, they keep building all these new sights
the city is extending and sprawling.
new couples are considering bigger houses outside the city clutter.
many have moved ten years ago and found peace in solitude.

new ring roads keep being built that bridge gaps between worlds that were once so apart.
trucks are everywhere and microbuses are like insects running all over the place.

taxis with teddy bears in the back and so many things hanging from the front mirror.
signs of islam or christianity mark every cab , beads or pictures of saints fill the cabs,
everyone wants a sign of their lord on their car. it makes them feel safe, as egyptians we live with faith.

prayers in arabic on every back of each and every truck
or funny jokes and proverbs that make you smile in the traffic jams
so many accidents, so many lives lost
but so many new babies too carried on shoulders of walking mothers in big black
robes and colorful head scarves that tend to hide the hair of the walking women
who is usually going to work or leaving work and heading home
she satisfies her hunger by eating so much bread that she gained so many pounds
she is the bread winner after all
nowadays low income families in egypt depend on the women to bring home the bread and butter

pedestrians every where and kids selling vegetables around your car
donkey carts, horses with carriages, along with mercedes and beamers too all take the same roots
you will find the porsche, the toyota, and the fiat along side with the tok tok that is the most recent
edition to our traffic circus.

watching the roads in cairo you understand so much about our city
it is chaotic and catastrophic, people are going in the wrong way
people can not afford good rides
over populated
over polluted
and yes nobody knows where they are going
nobody knows if they are really going to make it

children on motorcycles with their mothers and father's all on the same bike
young men speeding and switching sides like maniacs

traffic has become more like a circus
you have to give your self credit if you can drive here
you are brave
you are strong

all these new compounds stretching at the ends of cairo from every side
all these good looking sales people we know trying to sell them to us
everyone is buying into a brighter future away from the drama
away from the populated city of cairo
away from the failed experiment of living in the midst of the circus

children will grow up within the fences of compounds in these places that are so different than cairo and what it is
the nile remains to be the single most beautiful thing in this diminishing city
the slums keep growing and un painted buildings keep appearing
built haphazardly and in attempts to shelter the growing families.

on your way to kattameya heights you pass by the millions of houses that will never be properly finished and maybe never will they have electricity or water

on your way to palm hills you will also witness the slums and you will smell the smoke of the burning garbage and rice that makes the black cloud darker every day

these perfect compounds away from the city that were built on the desert land in hopes of a better future with cleaner air, for children who can run and play and not worry about being hit by a crazy driver are the only escape for the high egyptian high class

these houses are all worth millions and everyone is willing to pay for a better life or for the closest thing to a normal life.

golf courses and brand new cars parked in front of huge castles, with more space to breathe and walk and talk.
new universities and schools keep building over there.

the future screams: go live there, but still so many things remain in the city, like all the government buildings and legitimacy remains in the city.

the nile is in this city, the real authenticity is in this city, in between the struggling masses, in the zoo, in the jungle, in the traffic, between the old buildings. however it is exhausting and overpopulated.

something is refreshing and yet sad about a place with no old buildings, a place with no past, a place with no history, a place that does not tell a story other than the story of the family living there.

a place that tries so much to copy the lives of the suburban families in the states and people labeled and gathered under a certain compound's name. You become another consumer on a list, another client, another person on a land with a fence and a name, a clone to all your neighbors. a truman show feel to the compounds can be felt.

children playing, parents discussing life over coffee in the club house, you feel like everyone is acting like they were expected to, behaving perfectly, feeling smarter than those who still inhibit the city.

suburban life in Egypt is something that requires one thing for sure loads of help!
from maids to drivers, from butlers to security, you need staff and a manager
you need a good supply of things and a schedule
you need to be a good driver
you need to be organized
you need to be a mother or else sitting all day in suburbia will seem stupid
everyone else initially moved for the kids

february in cairo the weather is hot
dust is in the air
the elite are running away from the city lights
they discovered that there is nothing cool about the crowd

the poor are struggling to get to the mansions in the deserts that they serve at
they take millions of rides and they run in the streets with plastic bags in their hands instead of hand bags

they still live in the city
i wonder if one day soon zamalek, mohandseen, heliopolis and maadi will be like down town cairo an ancient place that was turned into something else, because the original residents have escaped and left it to the others to turn every basement and first floor into a shoe store, a sandwich place or a lingerie store.

the masses of the egyptians spend most of their shopping cash in shoes, food and lingerie.
cairo is starting to look more like New Delhi every day, you feel like you know how the new visitor must feel, you know how crazy it must seem and also exciting. Traditional, superstitious, over crowded, loud and busy is what it is.

although the life in the circus is disturbing, looking at the nile makes it worth while.
makes it all good, makes you strong again.
when you breathe the air around the river nile you know living here is crazy and so amazing too.
this nile will always win, think about how long it has been running and flowing, who witnessed it who drank from it.
from cleopatra to omar el sherif, this river is great and it will always win.

you might be confused and torn should you go back to the city?
should you run away from it?
do not be confused it is all equal in the end
the trapped are struggling from claustrophobia
the isolated are also struggling in the traffic trying to reach home
or make it to the appointment downtown

personally i think the nile will always win, however there is a price to pay for having grass under your feet instead of sewage.
there is a price to pay for having cleaner air and more space to walk, it may be a longer ride home, but once you get there you know it is worth it.

listen to your heart, not to the sales person, you do not have to give in to all those people making it seem like the norm to move out and move in