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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 September 1999 Issue No. 447 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 September 1999 Issue No. 447
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Pack of Cards
By Madame Sosostris* With my youthful heart yearning for years gone by, how could I miss the opportunity to mingle among so many undergraduates? So last Monday off I trotted to the second conference for Arab students' creative activities, held annually on the Ain Shams University campus under the auspices of my friend Mufid Shehab, Minister of Higher Education. In snazzy denims and pink top, and accompanied by my young friend Riham Hussein, I marched right into the crowd, gazing at the exhibition through my new sun glasses and offering a winning smile to people here and there. Well, dears, you know my propensity for creative energy and the fires of youth: a combination of the two is everything I could hope for. And who is there to thank but my good friend Mahmoud Ouda, vice president of Ain Shams University, who was enthusiastic enough to invite 150 students from 15 Arab universities. While he inaugurated the proceedings, students from the Faculty of Mass Communication took on the role of ushers, giving their Arab peers a warm and noisy welcome. By 15 September, dears, when the conference ends, a select group of top-notch academics will have evaluated the paintings, sculptures, photographs and ceramics on display and four lucky winners will get $1,000 each in prize money, while 10 other students will receive LE 500 for "distinctive works". Yes, of course I know who they are but to keep the excitement going, I shan't reveal the names just yet.
Creativity at Ain Shams; Ouda
photos: Tony Fares
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Profile Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
* Creative activities notwithstanding, it is the electronic revolution that holds sway over the minds and hearts of most of us millennium-ridden human beings. Last Wednesday, to my delight and exaltation, I attended a beautiful gala dinner in the Marriott where, amid much elegant aplomb and confident determination, the multinational information technology company GartnerGroup celebrated its premiere launch in Egypt. Accompanied by dear John Clements, the vice president of GartnerGroup, and joined by his eminent colleagues Amund Fjeldstad, director of GarntnerGroup in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, Nezar Abu Ismail, chairman of our very own Egyptian GarnterGroup, and Ashraf Iskandar, chief executive officer of the company in Cairo, we embarked on our very own electronic revolution on Wednesday night.
GarntnerGroup launching dinner; Iskandar
The technical breakthroughs that a company like GartnerGroup can make possible, as the four speakers so clearly explained, will help Egypt catch up with the latest world trends in business and production. Optimitic and excited, I ate a hearty dinner, but unfortunately I couldn't stay to the end, for the time had passed very quickly and it was already quite late before I realised it.
Hala and Shawqi; Khaled and Rasha
* The dinner not quite over I had to run to attend yet another heart-warming event taking place on the exact same night. For lo and behold our treasured colleague Hala Saqr has found true love, and is getting married to dear Eng Shawqi Aql. In the true spirit of a family gathering, their delightful wedding took place aboard the Imperial ship, with the Nile adding a peculiarly romantic flavour to the scene. Spirits were high and several members of the family gave exciting impromptu performances. The Weekly family and other journalists also had a part to play, and were really quite revitalised in such a charming atmosphere. But since I'd already stuffed myself on the Marriott menu, regrettably I was unable to touch the gorgeous food I was offered.
Strange, it was only two days earlier, dears, that tears of joy trickled down my cheeks at the sight of Hala's brother, the economist and charming university professor Khaled Saqr (now working with the International Monetary Fund), son of my dear friend the late Ibrahim Saqr, next to his beautiful bride, Dr Rasha Ebeid, in a grand Nile Hilton celebration attended by my friend Naguib El-Hilali, head of Cairo University, as well as the medical community of Cairo and the Economics staff of Cairo University. And now I had to weep again. While Khaled went to Hawaii for his honeymoon, Hala took off to Greece, to tour many an enchanting island with her husband. What bliss. I can only wish both siblings happiness with their partners, and years of propitious family life.
* Speaking of which, dears, I have a charming little secret to disclose, so prick up your ears. Our very own Samir Sobhi, head of the treasured layout department, has become a grandfather for the second time -- you wouldn't have guessed it from looking at him, would you? Last week his daughter Maggi and her husband Yassir had a little girl, Maria, and since then Samir has not stopped doting on the beautiful baby, abandoning everything else, I am told.
Maria
* Don't pore over the picture for too long, though, for there is a very special event this afternoon which only I can attend. In such a lovely venue, the treasured Cairo Capital Club, Moataz Al-Alfi, trustee of the American University in Cairo, will announce the winner of the international architecture design competition, taking place on the occasion of building a new campus for the AUC. And I shan't forget to tell you what I was wearing; just wait till next week.
Sherif's photographic wanderings * And while on assignment in Aswan, our very own and much treasured photographer Sherif Sonbol had an altogether fascinating experience. A passing felucca suddenly caught his attention but, to render his vision more striking, he focused his camera on the rigging of the boat he was aboard instead. But Sherif is always getting up to weird and wonderful things with his camera, capturing the strangest views to astonish us.
