Issue No. 609
Opinion
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24 - 30 October 2002 Issue No. 609 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Coffee at Ali Baba
I have always loved walking which may be one of the reasons why I have never owned a car. And for me walking has always been much more than the simple taking of exercise. I think of it as being somehow akin to practicing an art form. It furnishes an opportunity to allow the soul to soak up the sounds and scents of which experience is made.It is an activity that serves to free the mind, allowing the imagination to visited a wide variety of otherwise unanticipated locales.
Over the years, I must have walked down every back road, every alley in old Cairo. I came to know them down all, to recognise their every detail., even the smallest.
One particular walk that I regularly embarked upon was from Nile St in Agouza, where I live, passing through Zamalek and along Gabalaya St, down to Andalusia Park and then across the Kasr El- Nil Bridge. The entire walk, from my home to Ali Baba Cafe in Tahrir Square, wouldsometimes take more than an hour, so it was a leisurely stroll.. Usually the air was crisp,if only because I was careful, whenever possible, to set out at early, often at 6am, at which hour the streets had yet to become clogged with the exhaust fules pumped out by cars.
Winter or summer, on work days, weekends and holidays, I never missed my walks. I would read the newspapers over coffee at the cafe, then head to work, or return home to read or write. These walks always gave me the clarity of mind I needed for my work.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
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