Cairo to Beirut

Beirut
February 28, 22011



It has been raining for the last three days now. Traveling here happened so fast that I had not had a chance to write. One day we are in Luxor, the next in Aswan, and the next back in Luxor to catch a flight back to Cairo. After just 14 short hours in Cairo, I am in a taxi on my way to the airport to come to Beirut.


A warm welcome from my friend Ghas who has fetched me from the airport the last three times I have arrived here, and a short visit to bring birthday cake to his daughter, I meet up with my friend Rawya whose home I will be staying at while I am here.


The first day is sunny and blue skies with scattered white clouds. I take a beautiful afternoon walk across town to my favorite hangout to meet a friend. Sitting at the bar, I hear a familiar voice behind me (it is a very small place). I turn around and catch the eyes of a blonde woman. After staring at each other for a minute or so:


"What are you doing here?" "What are YOU doing here?!"


It is Arwa, a CNN news correspondent that I had met just a week prior in Cairo. Turns out all the foreign correspondents in the region are taking their R-and-R in Beirut these days. Now that’s a fun twist of circumstances.


That was the 24th. The next day it started raining and it has not stopped except for brief periods. I took a walk around Hamra the other night to visit some friends who were working in various pubs in the neighborhood, and had the pleasure of bumping into two very dear friends whom I have not seen in years. I thought they were in Canada. It is a small world after all, especially in Beirut.


There are a few changes here; about a dozen new pubs and bars, major construction of apartments and other buildings all over town, people actually following traffic signals, but for the most part, it is still that familiar Beirut. I have become so accustomed to it now, that it doesn't even feel that much like a foreign country to me, except for the language barrier of course.


I look around as I walk through town and think to take pictures, but then realize I have taken all those pictures before. I think to describe what the city is like when it rains, but I have written about this in a previous Blog years ago. So, I sit with Rawya and her family watching the news in Arabic and bad American sitcoms waiting for the rain to stop.


We were supposed to join a protest that happened here yesterday against the sectarianism that is meshed into the political system. President has to be Maronite; Prime Minister, Sunni; speaker of parliament, Shia, and so on. I am sure that there was a certain logic to it when they set it up that way, but it has complicated things a bit and there is a certain segment of the society that would like it to change, have people elected on their Merit, rather than their religious lines. It is really way to complicated to explain in the short run, especially if one is not so familiar with it to start.


Beirut is its same beautiful self. Some things are very easy to sort out, like getting my earring soldered back together the first day by a jeweler friend; and others are not, like solving the complicated political problems. But life goes on.


It feels so calm here compared to Egypt, which really reminded me of the chaotic New Delhi streets; dirt, people, traffic, shouting, noise, over population…I was really starting to get worn out from it. Who knew one would come to decompress in Beirut of all places. Though it is a much different city since its Civil War days, the stigma from that time has never seemed to reverse itself in the minds of many in the West.


Downtown is thriving again, where just in the spring of 2008 saw the end of the 2-years-long tent city protest of the opposition movement. Pubs, bars, and restaurants are popping up like a chain of mushrooms nearly over night, and they all seem to get business. There are a lot more foreigners here these days, like it was in the summer before the start of the 2006 war.


I went with a bunch of friends Friday night at 3:30 am to catch Nick Warren who was DJing a party in BO18, a club here. We missed his set, but the place was packed like sardines as usual even though tickets were $70 a pop. I didn't pay of course; even in Beirut, I have my ways of getting in for free. I didn't get home till 6:30 am. I think it took me till this morning to fully recover. My body just can't do it like I did when I was 20, dancing for 8 hours non-stop and doing it again the next night. Thank-God those days are over.


I am going to my old place of work today to meet with my old supervisor and check on the progress of the programs we worked on together. It is nice to see some of my efforts being put to use after all these years. (www.dhiafeeprogram.org many of the photos and descriptions are mine, but labeled 'ANERA Staff').


I am waiting for Rob to come from Cairo, as he has got some things he is working on there, and I was eager to come here. That won't be for at least another two weeks or so it seems. Until then, I have to figure out things to keep me busy, lest I end up in the house all day.


The rain has let up now, hopefully the sun will even come out today for a little while. Maybe I will take another stroll across town and get my boots fixed. You never know who I might run into this time. There are plenty of friends who I have yet to see. Every time I manage to get out of the house, it turns into an adventure.


Just what I live for.


In case you are interested in that earlier piece I wrote about rain in Beirut, or my writing from before, its in my old Blog on myspace: www.myspace.com/sathari