Wednesday, November 30, 2005
First few hours in Egypt!
I have just arrived at Cairo International airport and writing this from the car that is driving me to Alexandria.
I have always maintained that Istanbul is the queen of all cities. The sheer mystic and feel of the place takes your breath away. Just before the plane landed at Cairo, the view from the window was such that for a moment I thought here is a place that offers close competition to Istanbul, which of course I will know as I spend more days here.
As i get on the aero bridge, for a moment I feel I am in Mumbai, the same feel, blue carpets, security men chilling at the entrance gate staring at the opposite wall and not bothered about what they are there for...'security'& a couple of duty free shops. As I walk further and before the immigration there is someone standing with my name card in his hand. 'AAKASH SETHI' I am quite surprised and hesitantly walk upto him and say "that’s me" He asks me if I have a visa stamped on my passport, I was like sure, he takes it from me almost thinking that its his. We then stand at the immigration counter, and suddenly a few fat & important men pass...wonder why the two always go together. My turn comes to go to the immigration officer, I say nothing, the guy with me shows my passport and the immigration officer is talking to him about something important and its not about my passport at all. They continue chatting for 4-5 minutes as the queue starts building up. My main man tells me I can go and stand ahead and after another 2 minutes of waiting I get out of immigration. Now I am very curious as to who the person with me is, I politely ask him, where are you from, he says I work for the United nations, I come here regularly to pick up guests.
AS I got to the customs, the officer starts talking to my man again and after they exchange a few lines they let me go. As I step out of the airport there is another man standing with my name...by then it was getting too much for me, I have never had this happen to me...two different people coming to pick me up !! The guy snatches the trolley from my hands...I am getting used to the snatching by now and we go to the Misr Bank to exchange money. I take out a 100 dollar bill and give it to the person at the counter, he stares at it for about 30 seconds and passes it on to his senior who is dead in his seat, he sees it for a minute and they give it back to me, and explain to my man that they cannot exchange it for me. God only knows why, the only word I understand in their conversation was mushkil = problem. Now my man parks his trolley by the side, asks me to stand by it and snatches the $ 100 from my hand, now this was getting a bit too much, but i know he meant to help, he walks around talking to people at the airport as to where I can go to exchange money since the only bank open at 1.30 am outside the airport wasn’t giving me any money. The only solution seems to re-enter the airport, which I do with a lot of ease, I walk by the security...who is co-incidentally also staring into nothingness, flash my passport he asks no questions and lets me in, next is the customs, I tell him I need to exchange money and that those strikers outside are for some reason not giving me any Egyptian pounds, his gesture is like almost welcoming me back to the airport, next stop is the immigration, there is a half dead security guy who looks at my immigration stamp and lets me in.
Okay, so now I am back to where I started off from, I go to the bank of Alexandria that has 3 people seated inside, one of them gets up and I hesitantly give him my 100 dollar bill again. He looks at it for at least a minute and passes it on to the other two people in the room to examine, after a 7 minute conference and molesting the note completely they decide to give me 575 Egyptian pounds. I count the money, and whiz pass immigration, no one bothers to look at me, leave alone my passport and then the customs guys are also too busy to look at me and so I out again in the open.
The person who came to pick me up was extra nice, immediately took my trolley and warmly shook my hand and welcome to Egypt he said! It makes such a difference to be greeted by someone in a new country warmly; I could have got such a welcome only in India and now in Egypt. Suddenly this place seems like closer to home.
It is 2.48 am right now, I am currently at the Alexandria desert road, driving at a speed of 120/kmph and I am told it will take another 2 hours to reach Alexandria! Quite a first couple of hours it has been.
I have always maintained that Istanbul is the queen of all cities. The sheer mystic and feel of the place takes your breath away. Just before the plane landed at Cairo, the view from the window was such that for a moment I thought here is a place that offers close competition to Istanbul, which of course I will know as I spend more days here.
As i get on the aero bridge, for a moment I feel I am in Mumbai, the same feel, blue carpets, security men chilling at the entrance gate staring at the opposite wall and not bothered about what they are there for...'security'& a couple of duty free shops. As I walk further and before the immigration there is someone standing with my name card in his hand. 'AAKASH SETHI' I am quite surprised and hesitantly walk upto him and say "that’s me" He asks me if I have a visa stamped on my passport, I was like sure, he takes it from me almost thinking that its his. We then stand at the immigration counter, and suddenly a few fat & important men pass...wonder why the two always go together. My turn comes to go to the immigration officer, I say nothing, the guy with me shows my passport and the immigration officer is talking to him about something important and its not about my passport at all. They continue chatting for 4-5 minutes as the queue starts building up. My main man tells me I can go and stand ahead and after another 2 minutes of waiting I get out of immigration. Now I am very curious as to who the person with me is, I politely ask him, where are you from, he says I work for the United nations, I come here regularly to pick up guests.
AS I got to the customs, the officer starts talking to my man again and after they exchange a few lines they let me go. As I step out of the airport there is another man standing with my name...by then it was getting too much for me, I have never had this happen to me...two different people coming to pick me up !! The guy snatches the trolley from my hands...I am getting used to the snatching by now and we go to the Misr Bank to exchange money. I take out a 100 dollar bill and give it to the person at the counter, he stares at it for about 30 seconds and passes it on to his senior who is dead in his seat, he sees it for a minute and they give it back to me, and explain to my man that they cannot exchange it for me. God only knows why, the only word I understand in their conversation was mushkil = problem. Now my man parks his trolley by the side, asks me to stand by it and snatches the $ 100 from my hand, now this was getting a bit too much, but i know he meant to help, he walks around talking to people at the airport as to where I can go to exchange money since the only bank open at 1.30 am outside the airport wasn’t giving me any money. The only solution seems to re-enter the airport, which I do with a lot of ease, I walk by the security...who is co-incidentally also staring into nothingness, flash my passport he asks no questions and lets me in, next is the customs, I tell him I need to exchange money and that those strikers outside are for some reason not giving me any Egyptian pounds, his gesture is like almost welcoming me back to the airport, next stop is the immigration, there is a half dead security guy who looks at my immigration stamp and lets me in.
Okay, so now I am back to where I started off from, I go to the bank of Alexandria that has 3 people seated inside, one of them gets up and I hesitantly give him my 100 dollar bill again. He looks at it for at least a minute and passes it on to the other two people in the room to examine, after a 7 minute conference and molesting the note completely they decide to give me 575 Egyptian pounds. I count the money, and whiz pass immigration, no one bothers to look at me, leave alone my passport and then the customs guys are also too busy to look at me and so I out again in the open.
The person who came to pick me up was extra nice, immediately took my trolley and warmly shook my hand and welcome to Egypt he said! It makes such a difference to be greeted by someone in a new country warmly; I could have got such a welcome only in India and now in Egypt. Suddenly this place seems like closer to home.
It is 2.48 am right now, I am currently at the Alexandria desert road, driving at a speed of 120/kmph and I am told it will take another 2 hours to reach Alexandria! Quite a first couple of hours it has been.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Egypt calling !
First time in Egypt, there from the 30th Nov-8th December. Alexandria for two days and then Cairo for 6, the pyramids, the mummies, the nile, the sheesha...and more, cant wait!
Going to speak at a conference on Youth Education and the role of business
Representing Microsoft at a major conference for the first time, excited & a few butterflies, hopefully all should be smooth!
Finished a year in Turkey yesterday which ofcourse requires a separate post, but as a side note, I was cooked a surprise dinner by a bunch of sweet portuguese girls !
Going to speak at a conference on Youth Education and the role of business
Representing Microsoft at a major conference for the first time, excited & a few butterflies, hopefully all should be smooth!
Finished a year in Turkey yesterday which ofcourse requires a separate post, but as a side note, I was cooked a surprise dinner by a bunch of sweet portuguese girls !
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Its been a while...
A few highlights from previous months
- Did a small strategic planning workshop with Bosphorus university to start up a CSR NGO in Turkey
- A buddy zealot/nomad and family visited me :)
- Lunch in a boat on the Bosphorus
Some interests that have I been pursuing of late
- Sufism: Reflecting, reading and understanding the sufi way of life, it has been rewarding to experience the meaning of the whirling dervishes and go closer to the life of Rumi. I will have to dedicate a seperate post for my insights on that!
- Technology & Development: Working closely on various projects in the middle east and africa on ICT4D, I have begun to understand the role technology has in development and how it is going to be a key enabler to achieve the millenium development goals. It helps to be working in an area that is of genunie interest, keeps me going everyday
Few things I am going to do over the coming weeks
- Go to Konya, the place where Rumi the sufi poet settled down when he was 25, his death aniversary is celebrated by the gathering of sufi musicians from all around the world. Should be fun
- Going for the Global Alliance summit in Alexandria, Egypt organized by the International Youth Foundation, for those who are interested in what it is, check it out here
- Shop at the Grand Bazaar !
Looking forward to the last lap !
GO KAKA !!
Very excited, going today to watch AC Milan live ! not a very big match, but the Fenerbache stadium is as good as it gets in Istanbul, with the thousands of crazy turks cheering their team, watching Kaka in action live for the first time is going to be a delight! cant wait
Go Kaka...!!
