Are you a cat person or a dog person ?
This topic divides the populace, just like India and Pakistan. And despite the extremist views that exist on the K issue , there are several Indians and Pakistanis who like each other . Not convinced? Think again...how many of you liked Nazia Hassan and crushed on Zoheb when Disco Deewane raged in the early 80s? How many of you like Junoon and Adnan Sami? I absolutely adore Mohammed Hanif ( those of you who like to read, check out his Case of Exploding Mangoes ) and Mohsin Hamid. Likewise, some people love cats and dogs almost with the same passion but I don't belong to that category. Sure kittens look cute , adorable and all other adjectives that cat lovers come up with but for me , a cat is a cat is cat..I don't want to hurt feelings of my dear cat lover friends. But this ginger cat that moans ( or whines ) eerily in the evenings near my home gets me..Oh no, I don't hate cats , rather I tolerate them to the extent that I remember feeding a cat every day at my hostel after my cat lover friend left . But that was for a dear friend and not for the cat! Yet I did it without any ill feeling. And one confession-I never liked Garfield !
My Egypt trip was full of cat encounters..There were cats just about everywhere.In the evenings, they would wander around parks and public places ,to share the iftar meal with families who liked to break their fasts in picnic mode ( wonderful aromas of kebabs and biriyani would fill the air..can't blame them !) . Egyptians are tolerant of cats as they are traditionally the people who domesticated cats in the first place. Cat has a place in their pantheon of gods too. Bas or Bastet, a goddess with the cat's head and a woman's body is the goddess of the home, fertility, women among other things.. The Egyptians loved their cats to the extent that there are even they were mummified like their masters Besides cat mummies , we saw other aninal mummies too dog, croc ,cow, baboon , horse, all at the wonderful museum they have at Cairo. And before you ask-no camel mummies! Ahh..that cat it's begun making that creepy noise again....
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
An Egyptian sojourn
A lot of pressure for this one so I shall., though personally I'm still absorbing what I saw and heard a week ago.Our much planned -put off yet-again trip to the Pharoahs' land finally happened ..A ten day trip complete with an unforgetable cruise down the Nile.
Egyptians are an amazing people..rather I speak for the ancient souls who lived over 3000 years ago . What they left behind is a series of awe inspiring temples and tombs..and ofcourse their mummies ! Since, they were only concerned about their after life rather than the one they spend on earth they didn't bother too much about their homes in this world..Apparently all home (palaces include ) were built of mud so didn't last the passage of time. The Pharoahs set about building their tombs and preparing for after life as soon as they ascended the throne! We visited the Valley of Kings ( and Queens) where we saw the elaborate hyroglypic art . By now, I can deciper some some of the symbolism and representations though the Robert Langdon amongst us is clearly daughter dearest who says her back up plan , in case she doesn't make it to NASA is to become an Egyptologist !
Entering the tombs you feel a sense of guilt for the ancients had not meant them for us to visit..It was only for the soul Ka, to return to the resting place and identify the mortal remains (by reading the cartouche -the name written in hyroglyphics-incribed on the sacrophagus ) The ancient Egyptians believed that whatever age one shed the earthly body the Ka returned and one continued one's afterlife aged 20! Ah, that's a nice thought..to be twenty again.....Ofcourse for King Tut twenty was an age he hadn't reached as the teenaged Pharoah was mysteriously killed(died ) aged 17. Seeing his mummy at ther Valley of Kings was a poignant moment...his love story is there for all to see in various Papyrus paintings. At the Egyptian museum in Cairo later, we would see the treasures from his tomb, his jewellery, his throne, his bed, all the things they packed with a Pharoah in his tomb for his after life..Contrary to popular belief the Pharoahs didn't kill their servants to add to their retinue for after life.Rather they made statues of them which would come to life when a magic charm (also inscribed in the tomb ) was uttered once the Ka came home as it were..King Tut and his young wife Ankhsenamun made a goodlooking young couple sitting in the Karnak temple .They looked alike which can easily be explained as they were siblings. To be a Pharoah you had to marry royal stock of blue blood pure, therefore, the Pharoahs always ended up marrying sisters (in this case half sister, she was the beautiful Nefertiti's daughter ) stepmothers or aunts ! Imagine the plight of some who had to marry old women just so they could be Pharoah! The price of Power! The famed Pyramids were huge by any standards, we did manage to go inside , bent double , breathing in the musty odour of those airless mausoleums..Aren't we disturbing the dead , asked little Ms Langdon as we almost crawled through the length of the Pyramid..I guess they were long disturbed by the tomb robbers who left nothing behind.
Cairo is not as alluring as the historic towns of Luxor or Azwan.Downtown Cairo is like bits of East Delhi, crowded and packed choc-a -bloc with sad looking apartments..At Cairo , we did as Romans do and observed the Ramadan fast as food was scarce at lunch hour..But that was okay since there was so much to see and so little time...Everyone on the street wanted to know if we knew Amitabh Bachchan ( at one point S replied "no, I don't know him" ) Some even shouted Shahrukh's and Aamir's names , but that was just once or twice..Khans , take note Amar Akbar Antonio rules!!!!Wound up our tour in the Grecian city of Alexandria..another place altogether by the beautiful Mediterrenean Sea. There's something about beach towns that get me.. That way am glad for this Madras sojourn for now...come Puja weekend a trip to Pondicherry for a little bit of French flavour...Something tells me I haven't seen the last of Egypt though.....
Egyptians are an amazing people..rather I speak for the ancient souls who lived over 3000 years ago . What they left behind is a series of awe inspiring temples and tombs..and ofcourse their mummies ! Since, they were only concerned about their after life rather than the one they spend on earth they didn't bother too much about their homes in this world..Apparently all home (palaces include ) were built of mud so didn't last the passage of time. The Pharoahs set about building their tombs and preparing for after life as soon as they ascended the throne! We visited the Valley of Kings ( and Queens) where we saw the elaborate hyroglypic art . By now, I can deciper some some of the symbolism and representations though the Robert Langdon amongst us is clearly daughter dearest who says her back up plan , in case she doesn't make it to NASA is to become an Egyptologist !
Entering the tombs you feel a sense of guilt for the ancients had not meant them for us to visit..It was only for the soul Ka, to return to the resting place and identify the mortal remains (by reading the cartouche -the name written in hyroglyphics-incribed on the sacrophagus ) The ancient Egyptians believed that whatever age one shed the earthly body the Ka returned and one continued one's afterlife aged 20! Ah, that's a nice thought..to be twenty again.....Ofcourse for King Tut twenty was an age he hadn't reached as the teenaged Pharoah was mysteriously killed(died ) aged 17. Seeing his mummy at ther Valley of Kings was a poignant moment...his love story is there for all to see in various Papyrus paintings. At the Egyptian museum in Cairo later, we would see the treasures from his tomb, his jewellery, his throne, his bed, all the things they packed with a Pharoah in his tomb for his after life..Contrary to popular belief the Pharoahs didn't kill their servants to add to their retinue for after life.Rather they made statues of them which would come to life when a magic charm (also inscribed in the tomb ) was uttered once the Ka came home as it were..King Tut and his young wife Ankhsenamun made a goodlooking young couple sitting in the Karnak temple .They looked alike which can easily be explained as they were siblings. To be a Pharoah you had to marry royal stock of blue blood pure, therefore, the Pharoahs always ended up marrying sisters (in this case half sister, she was the beautiful Nefertiti's daughter ) stepmothers or aunts ! Imagine the plight of some who had to marry old women just so they could be Pharoah! The price of Power! The famed Pyramids were huge by any standards, we did manage to go inside , bent double , breathing in the musty odour of those airless mausoleums..Aren't we disturbing the dead , asked little Ms Langdon as we almost crawled through the length of the Pyramid..I guess they were long disturbed by the tomb robbers who left nothing behind.
Cairo is not as alluring as the historic towns of Luxor or Azwan.Downtown Cairo is like bits of East Delhi, crowded and packed choc-a -bloc with sad looking apartments..At Cairo , we did as Romans do and observed the Ramadan fast as food was scarce at lunch hour..But that was okay since there was so much to see and so little time...Everyone on the street wanted to know if we knew Amitabh Bachchan ( at one point S replied "no, I don't know him" ) Some even shouted Shahrukh's and Aamir's names , but that was just once or twice..Khans , take note Amar Akbar Antonio rules!!!!Wound up our tour in the Grecian city of Alexandria..another place altogether by the beautiful Mediterrenean Sea. There's something about beach towns that get me.. That way am glad for this Madras sojourn for now...come Puja weekend a trip to Pondicherry for a little bit of French flavour...Something tells me I haven't seen the last of Egypt though.....
Friday, September 18, 2009
Begin the beguine, once more
For those of you clueless about the title, Begin the beguine is a Cole Porter song.Decided today that enough is enough, one has to start right Now..Everybody I know seems to have a writer's block ..Seriously- authors,journalists, fellow blogger comarades...is it a contagious disease giving flavour of the season swine flu a run for its money? (Talk about swine flu, glad the panic is over atleast in the media .and more positively, I think I've recieved the last of the swine flu alarm forwards and SMS jokes...) Anyway, good to be back and work has piled up..writing ones I mean and I can't afford to continue on block mode,,
Excuses are many. Comp crashed ..a trip abroad and simply lethargy of mind...But I guess one has to begin again..In the meantime acquired a laptop but I must confess I can't wait to get back the hard disk of my battered old PC..My life is there...
Will begin a series of musings shortly so friends and followers,( I mean literally the blog followers!) this is just to let you know I'm Back! See you soon for a cafe au lait !
Excuses are many. Comp crashed ..a trip abroad and simply lethargy of mind...But I guess one has to begin again..In the meantime acquired a laptop but I must confess I can't wait to get back the hard disk of my battered old PC..My life is there...
Will begin a series of musings shortly so friends and followers,( I mean literally the blog followers!) this is just to let you know I'm Back! See you soon for a cafe au lait !
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