The other day I was asked by a recently engaged friend coming from Dubai to hang out with him and a few friends in a place called Katameya Heights Club. I took one wrong turn somewhere and ended up going in circles to find the proper entrance.
After visiting a few incorrect entrances and being told to go around in other kinds of circles, I imagined I found the right one. I parked my car outside the entrance next to a few others and made my way to the gate in order to make sure.
I approached the security guy and asked him, "Is this the gate to the club?"
He answered,"Be7'soos aih?" (What's this about?)
I said, "My friends are in there and I was making sure."
He said, "You need booking in order to get in."
"Sure," I said, "my friend has already booked."
He hesitated for a while, and I wondered what was going on with him, I suspected it, but it was a little far fetched.
"Where is the club exactly?" I asked.
"It's right there," he said, pointing to a place that seemed like a minute's walk.
He then asked, "Did you come by car?"
"Yes," I answered, expecting him to tell me instructions on how to park there or something of that sort. But then he said the improbable.
"What kind of car is it?" he asked.
"What kind of car?" I asked in disbelief, "I don't see how it's any of your business."
I'm not one to get annoyed too quickly, otherwise I would have really burst at him, but I was actually marveling at the question.
"You want to know if I'm of the right class, right?"
"No," he said, "you look like you're of the right class, but I think you should just take your car and drive inside, there's a parking in there."
It was almost unbelievable really. By then I had decided not to take the car. As I walked towards the club, it appeared he was still having doubts and asked me to call my friend before going in. He wasn't worth my breath apparently and I told him he can take his comments and shove them somewhere.
Have we come to that, a car brand being part of entry criteria? The place wasn't even crowded, it was silent, and the last order was at 10 pm, and the service was abysmal and yet they care about the type of car?
Egypt is falling victim to an ever growing divide, and the irony is that the gatekeeper is of the kind that he won't personally allow to get in. Later on in the evening, we were discussing that Egypt is more than just one country, it's countries within a country, at least Cairo seems to be that way.
In the words of Batman, “It’s the car, chicks love the car.”
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Friday, July 03, 2009
Friday, February 16, 2007
Invitation To Ride
So I cycle to work every day. It’s not a long distance really, something like 10-15 minutes by bike or the equivalent of 20-30 minutes by car. Cairo is not at all designed for bicycles but then again neither is it designed for cars or pedestrians or even humans. I used to cycle from place to place when I had my freestyle bike as a child, but all that changed since it broke down and I sort of outgrew the freestyle stuff. Anyway it did take a bit of courage to decide to cycle in Cairo to and from work, especially that I was showered with warnings from everyone who came to know of my plan.
The warnings were concerning many aspects, firstly the pollution in Cairo, instead of actually doing a sport that would benefit my body, I would be augmenting the inhale of pollution to bring about more quickly the ruin of an already deteriorating pair of lungs. Another problem was traffic; driving in Cairo is chaotic enough as it is without the disadvantage of having to deal with it from a vulnerable exposed bike. Being a driver myself I can see how anymore space used up by a bike can cause drivers to go crazy with rage. The pedestrians have left the non existent sidewalk and moved on to the road, but what makes bikers more infuriating is that they move quicker than both cars and pedestrians. They use up little enough road so as to glide through traffic and yet enough to hinder some cars.
One more issue that was raised but that is totally absurd is harassment. Yes even guys can get harassed if walking in shorts, or strange clothes or on a bike. Of course I don’t have a poor looking bike like those carrying bread or running errands, so one can expect the same kind of remarks as those I get while going to play football wearing shorts during the winter. Even more, some have warned that I may get some kind of mockery from the not so accustomed workmates.
But of course that last issue is the least of my worries, relative to the normal population, I’m considered eccentric anyway, and I’ve never cared much for what people say, I’ve been down that road so many times and I discovered that if you’re confident enough people get tired of the strange things you do and eventually start accepting you and sometimes even respecting you.
Despite all these warnings, I still decided to cycle to work, and it does have its perks apart from dodging pedestrians walking like zombies unaware of their own existence and yours, the bigger task was to avoid cars that continuously ignore you, almost run you over and then simply smile and apologize. The perks of cycling though other than it being a sport I enjoy a lot is that I get home faster in the deadlocked traffic of Cairo. I can run errands on my way home and I can decide to leave during rush hour rather than rot away in the office. I can enjoy the cold air in the evening and rid myself of that usual feeling of lethargy at the end of a working day. I can actually go back home and decide to go out, not dreading driving to places since I haven’t been locked in a traffic jam for over fifteen minutes. I can even park right next to the office and not go around 10 extra minutes looking for a parking space, with the car, the process of parking is horrendous.
With all these perks comes one that was very unexpected. Owning a bike is like being lost. Not in a bad sense I assure you, it’s just that when people are lost, people are very anxious to help them and get them on the right way and talk to them. That’s what it’s like when some people see me with a bike. I’m talking about the doorman and the security guards and the garage keeper. They’re very excited that I have joined their ranks and run my errands on a bike. One of the security guards was so interested that he asked me if my bike was normal or with “3’eyarat” (gears). The ability to make small talk about the bike is excellent.
I’m not sure why people don’t go to their work on bikes here in Egypt, I mean it may be a bit demeaning, but if more people did it then the traffic won’t be as bad (except on the 6th of October bridge) and the whole biking thing will be generally more accepted. If anything it can attempt to bring closer those rich enough to own cars but choose bikes, and those rich enough to merely own a bike.
The warnings were concerning many aspects, firstly the pollution in Cairo, instead of actually doing a sport that would benefit my body, I would be augmenting the inhale of pollution to bring about more quickly the ruin of an already deteriorating pair of lungs. Another problem was traffic; driving in Cairo is chaotic enough as it is without the disadvantage of having to deal with it from a vulnerable exposed bike. Being a driver myself I can see how anymore space used up by a bike can cause drivers to go crazy with rage. The pedestrians have left the non existent sidewalk and moved on to the road, but what makes bikers more infuriating is that they move quicker than both cars and pedestrians. They use up little enough road so as to glide through traffic and yet enough to hinder some cars.
One more issue that was raised but that is totally absurd is harassment. Yes even guys can get harassed if walking in shorts, or strange clothes or on a bike. Of course I don’t have a poor looking bike like those carrying bread or running errands, so one can expect the same kind of remarks as those I get while going to play football wearing shorts during the winter. Even more, some have warned that I may get some kind of mockery from the not so accustomed workmates.
But of course that last issue is the least of my worries, relative to the normal population, I’m considered eccentric anyway, and I’ve never cared much for what people say, I’ve been down that road so many times and I discovered that if you’re confident enough people get tired of the strange things you do and eventually start accepting you and sometimes even respecting you.
Despite all these warnings, I still decided to cycle to work, and it does have its perks apart from dodging pedestrians walking like zombies unaware of their own existence and yours, the bigger task was to avoid cars that continuously ignore you, almost run you over and then simply smile and apologize. The perks of cycling though other than it being a sport I enjoy a lot is that I get home faster in the deadlocked traffic of Cairo. I can run errands on my way home and I can decide to leave during rush hour rather than rot away in the office. I can enjoy the cold air in the evening and rid myself of that usual feeling of lethargy at the end of a working day. I can actually go back home and decide to go out, not dreading driving to places since I haven’t been locked in a traffic jam for over fifteen minutes. I can even park right next to the office and not go around 10 extra minutes looking for a parking space, with the car, the process of parking is horrendous.
With all these perks comes one that was very unexpected. Owning a bike is like being lost. Not in a bad sense I assure you, it’s just that when people are lost, people are very anxious to help them and get them on the right way and talk to them. That’s what it’s like when some people see me with a bike. I’m talking about the doorman and the security guards and the garage keeper. They’re very excited that I have joined their ranks and run my errands on a bike. One of the security guards was so interested that he asked me if my bike was normal or with “3’eyarat” (gears). The ability to make small talk about the bike is excellent.
I’m not sure why people don’t go to their work on bikes here in Egypt, I mean it may be a bit demeaning, but if more people did it then the traffic won’t be as bad (except on the 6th of October bridge) and the whole biking thing will be generally more accepted. If anything it can attempt to bring closer those rich enough to own cars but choose bikes, and those rich enough to merely own a bike.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
I’m Stupid
Driving through the crowded streets of Cairo, a friend of mine and I got stuck in a small deadlock while trying to go through a one and a half car two-way street. One guy could have just backed off completely and solved it all, but instead, he just held up traffic and kept trying to go forward until, inevitably, he had to reverse into an empty space so that others including himself can move.
This jam was responsible for us running a bit late and so I maneuvered my way through the streets till the main street was at hand. Now as I was approaching the main street, towards the end of my one way street another car came in. Seeing that it was my way and that he had some space to back off (and that the main street was not crowded so he wouldn’t be clipped) I just paused and checked if he would go into reverse. After a little gesticulation and shouts muted by his own windows, he finally backed off enough for me to pass.
As our windows got nearer, he said very calmly, “By the way, you’re stupid.” As I was telling him that he was stupid as well, my friend was said, “It’s true”. He was telling me that I’m stupid because he’d just made a turn and that I had more space behind me, my friend agreed that I was stupid because that man had to back off a bit into the main street and I was saying that he was stupider because he went down a one way street in the wrong direction.
I’ve always thought that the person making the mistake was supposed to provide the solution, but he and my friend seemed to agree that I’m stupid because I didn’t put in an extra effort to correct his mistake. They think I’m stupid because I obstinately and idiotically thought that the road rules were on my side. They think I’m stupid because it would have cost me less effort than him to fix his mistake.
I thought that my friend didn’t know it was a one way street and that it wasn’t stupidity but rather a principle, so I made it clear and this is how my friend replied, “So what? Everybody does it.” Well then that makes it okay I suppose. I must be stupid indeed. It’s alright that people aren’t accountable as long as someone else can fix their mistakes. It’s alright that people break the rules as long as everyone accepts it. It’s alright to accept things as they are because that’s life… I remember in Alexandria before the roads were fixed, people would cross over to the other side speeding and flash their lights at people going in the correct lane so that they move out of the way. I always thought it was only courtesy to get back in the correct lane if you weren’t able to make it… but I guess I was wrong.
I think I am stupid really for thinking that courtesy ever plays a real part in life apart from its existence in books and literature, it’s not deal with your consequences, it’s have people deal with your consequences. Accept things cause everybody does it… well, I guess I really am stupid and that I stand alone in thinking that it means something to stand for something. I stand alone because at the end even though my friend said, “Sorry for the offense,” she added as she left the car, “but you do know that it's two against one.”
This jam was responsible for us running a bit late and so I maneuvered my way through the streets till the main street was at hand. Now as I was approaching the main street, towards the end of my one way street another car came in. Seeing that it was my way and that he had some space to back off (and that the main street was not crowded so he wouldn’t be clipped) I just paused and checked if he would go into reverse. After a little gesticulation and shouts muted by his own windows, he finally backed off enough for me to pass.
As our windows got nearer, he said very calmly, “By the way, you’re stupid.” As I was telling him that he was stupid as well, my friend was said, “It’s true”. He was telling me that I’m stupid because he’d just made a turn and that I had more space behind me, my friend agreed that I was stupid because that man had to back off a bit into the main street and I was saying that he was stupider because he went down a one way street in the wrong direction.
I’ve always thought that the person making the mistake was supposed to provide the solution, but he and my friend seemed to agree that I’m stupid because I didn’t put in an extra effort to correct his mistake. They think I’m stupid because I obstinately and idiotically thought that the road rules were on my side. They think I’m stupid because it would have cost me less effort than him to fix his mistake.
I thought that my friend didn’t know it was a one way street and that it wasn’t stupidity but rather a principle, so I made it clear and this is how my friend replied, “So what? Everybody does it.” Well then that makes it okay I suppose. I must be stupid indeed. It’s alright that people aren’t accountable as long as someone else can fix their mistakes. It’s alright that people break the rules as long as everyone accepts it. It’s alright to accept things as they are because that’s life… I remember in Alexandria before the roads were fixed, people would cross over to the other side speeding and flash their lights at people going in the correct lane so that they move out of the way. I always thought it was only courtesy to get back in the correct lane if you weren’t able to make it… but I guess I was wrong.
I think I am stupid really for thinking that courtesy ever plays a real part in life apart from its existence in books and literature, it’s not deal with your consequences, it’s have people deal with your consequences. Accept things cause everybody does it… well, I guess I really am stupid and that I stand alone in thinking that it means something to stand for something. I stand alone because at the end even though my friend said, “Sorry for the offense,” she added as she left the car, “but you do know that it's two against one.”
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