So my boss gave me this book called "Taxi" by Ahmed Al-Khamisi, which is an arabic book about the experiences that the author had with Taxi dirvers in Cairo.
We all share a common dislike for Cairo Taxi drivers since they a) ask for a lot of money b) never stop for you c) feel free to pleasure themselves while looking at you in the mirror d) do i really need a d?!
This book shows a side of the poverty stricken population of Egypt that it leaves you confused.
You cannot excuse their bad behaviours (nothing is an excuse for sexual harrassment) but you get to see the other side of the coin.
I think the book is a marvelous read - good realitiy check, good time to think about how lucky you are and what you want your role in society to be; it's also funny and interesting, gives you a great insight on the egyptian citizen and what goes through his/her mind.
I wish there was a translated version for all international readers, i would translate it myself if it weren't illegal.
If you can read arabic, i advise you to check it out...
5 comments:
I've read about this book and it made me so excited to read it, though I'm really criticising the driven negative image about the country that Egyptians are having these days, though the country is going on a very right path and the economy is getting a strong boost......it's just needs a pause and rational perception of the country for people to discover that Egypt actually is not that bad, in fact it's getting better.
cheers loul :)
Aly, nothing is getting better - you are too optimistic. I find it strange that you think so!
Inflation is up the roof - unemployment is still horrific - transportation is becoming more of a problem - freedom of speech are more suppressed - the new proposed constitutional ammendment is a catastrophe, and the fact that people think it's good is even more horrific - nothing is better...
ya Luli, it's only our negativity and ka2aba that Egyptian are good at, which increase our bad feelings toward the country and makes us feel that the problems are bigger than their sizes. All the problems that you mentioned are true, but they're not as big as people think.
over the past few weeks, I was meeting some people from the construction industry at some international firms, and everybody told me that the Egyptian economy is booming in a way that all international companies are expanding branches there, and that within a short time, there will be shortage in engineers!!
about freedom of speech, it is going big in Egypt, and the incident of arresting some bloggers, is simply because you can't say some bull shit about the country and drive rumors and get away with it. you know how scared the people became when some blogger said about the heliopolis series killer, or same for maadi, and anyway contempt of religions, all of them, is a crime in Egypt. deformation, or insulting the president is a crime in most developed countries. I mean if you insult your friend on your blog, you can get sued for deformation, right?
i liked the one about "el metro hedeyet mubarak le sha3bo"
it's amazing how diverse they are.
which bit was your fave?
uhhh i love the one with the taxi driver who falls in love with the prostitute.
And the face veiled girl who takes off her clothes in the taxi..
priceless!
I also loved the one with the driver who has a dream to drive all the way to south africa - it made me smile
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