Charmingly Chaotic Cairo

It was my 6th visit to Cairo -- my first was sometime back in 2004 and it left an indelible mark on my mind and heart -- I was terrified to travel on the street, even when I was chauffeured by a driver from the Singapore mission. Every vehicle on the street was dented with scratched marks almost giving the impression that it had gone through a rite of passage, a baptism of sorts.

Traffic was chaos at best -- every car or vehicle was zig-zagging between each other and squeezing in between two vehicles to pass through. With almost 24-hour of honks from cars on the streets in a city that never sleeps, I thought I would never be coming back to the city and that the first visit would be my last.

But as I made my second and subsequent visits, I began to appreciate Cairo better: the Egyptians I met and worked with, the chaos on the streets, the intellectuals whom I had the privileged engaging, and the beggars and peddlers near the famous Zainab's mosque and Khan Khalili. Indeed, I was also enriched by our Singapore students who are studying at Al-Azhar University. These young students were able to withstand the difficult living and travelling conditions to seek knowledge. Often, they had to endure demanding landlords, unsafe homes, and ambiguous procedures to live in the city and gain admission to the university.

Neither these challenges nor the less than satisfactory reception of the city affected their yearning and passion for knowledge. Many had graduated and returned to Singapore to serve as religious teachers in the community. Like a vow to their alma mater, none will speak ill of the city and the university.

Cairo is almost like an acquired taste -- you may begin to like it after several tries. Many will find the city chaotic, particularly those who are bent on regulation and governance. I find the city charming, or perhaps charmingly chaotic because while regulation as we know it, through traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, overhead bridges and bus lanes does not exist, a good and careful observer will discover that self-regulation is intrinsic in the dynamics both on the streets and in society. Otherwise, how could some millions of people and millions of vehicles (including donkey-carts) negotiate to ensure everyone get to where they are going and avoid a standstill.

As I looked over the Nile from the balcony of my hotel room in Zamalek, I am convinced that beyond the noise, dust and crowded streets, Cairo and indeed Egypt, are rich with historical significance and certainly intellectually vibrant yet no less, spiritually uplifting.

Here I am again, Cairo.
Let me discover your treasures and deserve your bounties.

1 Apr 08