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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Focus International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Plain Talk
By Mursi Saad El-Din
I remember a BBC Radio Programme from the late 1940s and early 1950s with the title "I was there." Using modern reporting techniques, the programme reenacted historical events as if they were happening then and there. The title appeals to me because now that so many years have passed, I feel I too was there on many and various occasions.
History is not only the business of historians. Equally, it can be written by individuals whose love for their country makes them take the trouble of searching deeply into its past. They visit museums, libraries, record offices, newspaper archives, they even try to tap into private correspondence.
One such figure is Maged Farag, a controversial intellectual who has developed just such a passion. I say "controversial" because his activities have been interpreted in a number of ways, one being a nostalgic yearning for royalty. But Maged is really only an Egyptian enthusiast, always seeking to put the past in perspective. His own record library, for one thing, stands up to, and surpasses many official reference libraries.
Whether it is a collector's fascination with the past or a thinker's disenchantment with the present, I do not know. Maged, who wears an ensignia of the old Egyptian flag, has produced a series of beautifully illustrated books depicting glorious events in our history, crowning his activities with the publication of a Misr Al-Mahrousa, "Egypt the Guarded", a magazine subtitled "An outlook on a nation's memory".
The magazine collects facts drawn from articles published in the past; even the casual reader goes away with a store of knowledge about an Egypt he doesn't know. For people of my generation, the magazine offers the opportunity to re-live an entire period of one's life that is practically no more. One interesting facet is the advertisements of the 1930s, which are contrasted with their present counterparts.
Examples include Nabulsi Soap, Nestlés, Brilcream, Nivea, Palmolive. The most notable difference is that in the 1930s those goods were imported, while now they are made in Egypt. There are also advertisements of EgyptAir, Saudi Air, KLM, TWA, Mea, the Semiramis Hotel (both old and new), Misr Bank, Barclays, Mobil and Esso. One brand of soap, called Nabulsi Farouk after the king, had Umm Kalthum advising customers that it was the best. Though Umm Kalthum, unlike present-day stars, did not do it for money, at least we know the appearance of stars like Omar Sherif and Youssra is nothing new.
One article -- about the building of the Khedive Ismail (now Qasr Al-Nil) Bridge (1896-1871), which cost an exorbitant LE108,000 -- is exemplary. Maged runs an article that appeared in an Egyptian paper on the occasion of re-inaugurating the bridge following renovations on 6 July 1937, under the reign of King Fouad, with photos of both the old and the new bridge, both of which show the two lions perched at the entrance. Crossing the bridge apparently entailed a fee for both people and animals.
Maged's pet subject is the Egyptian flag. A long illustrated article traces its development from the original Ottoman flag (red background with one star), used during the reign of Mohammed Ali (1805-1867), to the Egyptian version (green background with three stars) which, developed in 1867, was a sign of independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Then follows articles on the wedding of Khedive Ismail's sons and daughter and on Egypt's minarets. The deep and illuminating insights that they provide serve to do far more than simply inducing nostalgia. Indeed they bring to life a world that is to many only present in the deepest folds of memory, even as they belong to it too.
Maged is an amateur historian. Through his books and, now, this magazine, he reconstructs an Egypt of the recent past. Yet Maged did not, in fact couldn't have savoured the kind of life that existed then. He is like someone seeking some kind of utopia, a utopia people like myself really knew.
