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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Pack of Cards
By Madame Sosostris
Well, dears, all this is behind us now, and if I were you I would hang on to all these lovely millennium cards, which are really all that remain of the celebrations. At least they are sure to become collectors' items by the time the third millennium rolls in. If, like me, or like Fadi's grandmother you have a handsome grandson, you may entrust him with the task of preserving them to pass on to future generations.
Did you see the mammoth celebrations launched to welcome the new millennium? Awesome is the only suitable word I can think of, really, even though I have rarely been at a loss for words. Of course, some of my petty-minded friends snickered at the thought of the thousands of dollars going up in flames with every burst of mega-fireworks; but what the heck, I told them, the chances that they will be around for the third millennium are rather slim, at best, whereas poverty will still be with us when the dust of this one settles. There will be plenty of time to call in the experts then.
As a matter of fact, the UNISEF always at the fore when it comes to bringing remedies to the injustices of the world are already hard at work preparing for their general assembly which will convene in autumn. The welfare of children,and their state in the world I hear, will have the lion's share in the new programmes.
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Of course, the distinguished members of the Society of Writers for Environment and Development (SWED) could not have foreseen this envelopment, which considerably minimised the visual effects of the sophisticated laser beams being trained on the only survivor among the seven wonders of the world. Had they polished their crystal ball before the event and carefully looked into it instead of preparing for their Iftar-cum-millennium celebrations, they still would not have been able to spot the offending smog. Anyway, their Iftar, which brought together State Minister of Environmental Affairs Nadia Makram Ebeid, Ibrahim Abdel-Gelil, executive director of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), Wagdi Riad, assistant editor-in-chief and head of the environment department at Al-Ahram, as well as a number of prominent personalities, went quite well and was full of pleasant surprises. In a press conference immediately following the Iftar, Ebeid announced that a decree had been issued appointing famous Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama to the board of the EEAA. The venue chosen by all these environmentally-friendly personalities was Al-Andalus tent at the Opera House, where smoking was, of course, prohibited. I was quite upset when the security personnel asked me to extinguish my pipe and hide it in my pocket.
photos: Adel Ahmed
Anyway, having shied away from donning my electronic disco boots -- in case they had not been properly fumigated and still contained traces of the Y2K bug -- I abstained from doing some cross-country hopping and decided to do a little channel-zapping -- just like you, dears. By midnight, I was ready to twitch in sync to the eerie rhythms of Jean-Michel Jarre's magic synthetiser and, as the blanket of haze obstinately veiled the Pyramids, I patted myself on the shoulder for wisely staying at home.
