07.10.09
On the charm of history… A 100 years of Egypt!
I just finished one amazing night watching one remarkable documentary movie written and directed by Dr. Madkour Thabet, documenting the history of a nation in a time of 100 years…
100 years of Egypt in one movie that lasted for more than 2 hours… I’m talking about: “سحر ما فات في كنوز المرئيات” documentary movie…
The exciting thing about this is the fact that it was screened on the “old-new” TV show; “نادي السينما”… presented by the superb Doreya Sharaf El Din…
If you’re one of the followers of Mona Al Shazly’s TV show “العاشرة مساءً”, you would have probably watched her episode hosting Doreya Sharaf El Din, in which the latter was offered, live on air, to revive her amazing TV show on Dream TV …
I can’t describe how much I was excited about this, mostly because this woman seriously had generations raised on watching her TV show among other limited programs at that time when the week was divided into days identified by certain programs that one used to wait for and anticipate the flow of info she used to provide before the movie…
Cinema Club was never about a movie showed on TV, but rather it was about a history of a movie, and info that you enjoy listening to as much as you enjoy watching the movie itself… I’m just glad it’s back in show!
Back to the movie itself ba2a… well… what can I say…
A full coverage of Egypt’s history from 1897 to the late 1990s… From Ismail Pasha, till Mubarak… At times you will see same angels of screening… but different people… different scenes… The amazing thing about it, is that it’s not only about scenes… it’s also about the amount of info given throughout the movie… in all aspects of our history…
Amazing and rare scenes from the late years of the 19th century; a 1898 scenes of “Al Bosat Al Moqaddas” caravan, Qasr El Nil bridge, Soliman Pasha Square, Opera House, Azbakeya Garden, Attaba Square, Sayeda Zaynab Square, Mohamed Ali square and Mahatet el Raml in Alexandria, AL Qanater, the island of Zamalek…
Pyramids and Sphinx, Saqqara, A boat trip in the Nile, tourists at Meet Raheena village; where the famous Ramses status was laid on the ground, before putting it in Ramses square 60 years after….
Kum Ombo, the first Israeli colony in Egypt, where the Jews bought its land for 20 pilasters per Fadden…
Abdeen square after 25 years from its construction during Abbas Hilmy II reign, Parade of Abbas Hilmy II…
Moving to some outstanding scenes during the 20th century… Denshway, return of Saad Zaghloul from exile in 1923 and people’s celebrations… Mustafa AL Nahaas, and Alwafd… the reign of King Fouad in 1932… Arrival of 16 years old Farouk to Egypt in 1936 after his father’s death, and the people’s celebrations… Formal celebration in Abdeen square for Farouk…
Different scenes of Egypt during the 40s and the 50s… Groppi and downtown, Streets, Egypt’s railway station…Horse races, Cotton scenes…First Arab summit with King Farouk in 1946… Division of Palestine in 1948… Farewell of the Egyptian army heading to Palestine in 1948… Gaza people receiving the Egyptian army…War scenes in 1948… Israeli captives during the 1948 war…King Farouk in the front in Palestine during the cease fire phase…
King Abdallah of Jordon visit to Egypt visiting the injured in Cairo hospitals… Princesses wearing military cloths and visiting the injured with Farouk…
Fallujah siege scenes… Hedar Pasha in Fallujah with the army… Officer Nasser in the scenes… Fallujah martyrs names… Celebrations of Fallujah heroes…
1952 revolt and Farouk’s leave on Al Mahrousa…
Mohamed Nageeb speech and the oath by Abd el Hakeem Amer and the army… Gamal Abd el Nasser speech after he became the president…
Nile flood… High Dam building scenes…
The 1956 war…
Abd El Nasser during the Arab Republic… and visiting Al Golan heights…
The 1967 relapse… The War of Attrition… Nasser at the front…
Nasser death and funeral passing by Qasr El Nil bridge…
October war 1973 real scenes… not the poor ones we always see in movies… Sadat and the victorious troops… Reopening of the Suez Canal…
Mubarak rules… Getting Taba back… Toshka project… Al Salam Canal…
Princess Diana in Cairo…
A FULL coverage of Egypt’s recent history in 2 hours… amazing narrations in the background… heartfelt music played with every scene…
In short… A must see documentary movie! Don’t miss the replay tomorrow!
Blissful Night,
Rou…
07.09.09
On my reading habits…
Rou…
07.08.09
… now a somebody else’s dream…
Did you see “what women want” movie?
Well… yesterday I felt just the same as Helen Hunt in the movie… that somebody is talking my mind out! Somebody is stealing away my lifetime dream…
My dream is no longer mine… Somebody else took it from me… and turned it into reality… with almost the very same tiny details…
I’m really feeling down!
Rou…
07.05.09
نوستالجيا
من يقصد الكروم…؟
من يملأ السلال…؟
من يقطف الدوالي…؟!”
لكم أفتقد قراءة الخطابات المكتوبة على ورق… ملمسها و رائحتها… لكم أفتقد نشوة إنتظار الخطاب و فرحة إستقباله… أكره تلك الكائنات متبلدة الإحساس التي حولتنا إليها التكنولوجيا… لا أتحمل برامج الدردشة على وجه التحديد… أكره ذلك الإحساس بأني أبتسم لشاشة و أضحك لجماد وليس لبشر… أكثر ما أكرهه في هذه البرامج هذا الكم من الكلمات المختصرة الذي يستخدمه الناس… دائماً ما أتساءل كيف تتحول ضحكة صافية من القلب إلى ثلاثة حروف، “LOL”…
أتوقف عن كتابة الرد على إحدى الرسائل و أخرج إلى الشرفة في محاولة يائسة لإستنشاق هواء الليل المنعش… لا أحب شهور الصيف على الإطلاق… يضعاني الحر و الرطوبة في أسوأ حالاتي المزاجية… و لذلك أتحول في هذه الفترة من العام إلى مخلوق ليلي تواق إلى نسمات المساء الناعمة… أنظر إلى السماء الصافية المليئة بالنجوم بعيدة المنال بينما عيناي تفتش باستماتة عن بقايا غيوم قد تحمل لي معها وعد بليلة باردة… و لا أجد أي منها فأتنهد في سكون و أعود إلى الغرفة محتضنة طيفي…
“بعدنا…
هل تنزل النجوم…
تلهو على التلال…
في هدأة الليالي…؟!”
تسيطر علي الرغبة في السير على قدماي فلا أقاومها… أغادر المنزل لأتجول في الشوارع المجاورة لبيتي حاملة بين خطواتي الذكريات من شارع إلى آخر … نصف عمري تقريباً تحمل ذكرياته تلك الشوارع… بينما نصفها الآخر تحمله شوارع مصر الجديدة حيث يقبع “بيت العيلة” ذاك و “بيت العيلة” الآخر و منزلنا القديم… منذ بضعة أيام كنت أحادث أمي كيف أنه من الغريب أنني كنت مرتبطة نفسياً بمنزل جدتي أكثر من منزلنا القديم… لازلت أذكر ليالي الخميس بمنزلها حيث يتجمع الأبناء و الأحفاد… لازلت أذكر طعم “فطيرة السكر” أثناء لعب “أسطول” و “أتوبيس كومبليه” بالمساء… حتى الألعاب إختلفت هذه الأيام… إذا سألت طفل الآن عن لعبة “تيرو” سوف يسألك بمنتهى البراءة “دي في بلاي ستيشن 1 ولا 2…؟”…
“في سفحنا الريان…
يرف سحر الغصون…
وساحة الأظلال في سجوها طيب حنون…”
إستمريت بالتجول بين الشوارع الجانبية الضيقة لأرض الجولف حتى وصلت إلى شارع بعينه… و توقفت أمام ذلك المبنى الذي كان يمثل حدود الحياة بالنسبة إلي في يوم ما… مدرستي… جلست على الرصيف المقابل لها و بداخلي تدفقت الذكريات بصورة غير مسبوقة، فقط لتتحول في النهاية إلى إبتسامة واسعة تغطي نصف وجهي… عرجت على الحديقة المجاورة في طريق عودتي للمنزل وأنا أتذكر وجوه المدرسين و أسماؤهم… لا أنكر أبداً أن منهم من شكل بداخلي مبادئ أساسية لازلت أحملها بداخلي إلى لحظة كتابة هذه السطور… و أتساءل، أمن الممكن أن يتذكروني كما أذكرهم…؟
“أرضنا هنا وربعنا…
وحيث همنا وانتشينا…
سحرها لنا وحلمنا…
فإن رحلنا ومضينا…
بعدنا…”
أعود براحة نفس وسكون روح إلى أوراقي و كتبي و هاتفي المحمول و جهاز الكمبيوتر قبل أن يلفني سكن الليل وينقلني إلى عالم آخر من الأحلام و الذكريات… أغرق ثانية بين الخطابات و الكتابات و صوت فيروز الشجي حتى يشق الصباح عتمة الليل فأخرج إلى الشرفة… أنظر إلى المدينة الهادئة النائمة من حولي… أرتشف الشاى الأخضر بالنعناع… و أحلم بالحب والمستقبل… الأجمل… ربما…
مين عارف؟! مش يمكن؟!
صباحك أجمل يا مصر…
رحاب رجائي
في 5 يوليو 2009
07.02.09
Of Satisfaction…
A beautiful lady and a dear friend shared with me and other friends her story with cancer… I can’t start describing how her story made me feel… it brought tears into my eyes, and am not ashamed to say this out loud… and the real reason behind this actually, is not only because of the very touching experience she has encountered and allow me to say prevailed… but it’s more because she reminded me of how dissatisfied and ungrateful I am sometimes…
You see, one gets into the endless cycle of life without giving himself a second to stop and think, to love, and feel, only to wake up someday totally lost with a constant feeling of torn and depression, ones that lead you to questions regarding the purpose of your life…
It is this “satisfaction” or as she called it “El Reda” that makes one survives this life blissfully… A well-off guy might be the most miserable man ever, because money does not automatically bring inner contentment… it’s the satisfaction with the little things that really does… she mentioned that she was celebrating the return of her eyebrows, while a few days ago I was complaining that I took too much tan during my short vacation last week…
I quote her saying: “Healing is not an event, it is a journey!”
Very true indeed… healing is a journey, and not only the physical healing… soul healing is a journey too… it takes power to sit quietly and listen to your soul… and it takes work and effort to work it out till you eventually reach this kind of satisfaction and happiness…
Buddha says: “Everything that is born is subject to decay. Since there is no external savior it is up to each of you to find your own liberation”… I think she has chosen the right way to survive her crisis…
Dear Salwa, thank you for a more than just a positive vibe…
Stay safe,
Rou…
06.25.09
R.I.P. MJ!
It’s not because of anything but the fact that at some point in time almost about all my generation used to listen to his songs…
Who can forget his “Billie Jean” and the famous Moonwalk… his “Who is it”…
His “Heal the World” and “Will you be there”…
And many many others…
No matter how much I got offended by his looks at some point in time… I was a little bit… mmmmmm… mettanna7a keda when I heard about his death…
Well… R.I.P. M.J.
Rou…
06.16.09
Lived to See!
When Egypt won the African Championship of 2008, a friend of mine told me… “We lived to see this, not only heard of it…”
The past couple of days during the FIFA Confederations Cup, I felt exactly the same… that I lived to see Egypt losing from Brazil at the last second 3/4… and I lived to see Egypt’s victory over Italy the world champion 1/0….
2alby hayo2af men elfar7a 
Rou…
06.14.09
Of implementing positive words in real world!
When a friend of mine first told me about his initiative of sending daily positive vibes, I was thinking “What an amazing idea, we all need this soft breeze reminding us that we’re missing many things in life with our negative attitude!”, and I thought of sharing my own positive vibes too…
Mine are a bit different than normal inspiring stories because I somehow tend to see the positive vibes not only about the inspirational words, but it’s rather about the way we implement such words into our real world; the way we see things around us, even the little things that might not be of any significant importance to anyone…
So, anyways, here’s my two cents of beauty that I have experiences through 3 different situations last week…
Last Saturday, I was getting a birthday gift for my dearest brother and was in a really good mood while I was, mainly because I’m convinced that when I put enough love and care in the process of getting a gift, it somehow reaches its receiver… I was carrying this BIG smile on my face all the time, and funny enough that my smile seemed to act like a “3adwa” to the people I was talking to… three consecutive times into three different shops, the sellers were extremely helpful, generous, easy going, smiling……. you name it! And the best thing about it is that I felt it was genuine smiles keda… not for the sake of selling me some stuff… Someone told me once that when somebody laughs beside you, you’ll find yourself subconsciously laughing without a particular reason… same goes for a smile… it’s hard not to smile to someone back when he smiles to you… that’s part of being positive, isn’t it?
A few days later, in the middle of the week, a dear colleague asked me “Isn’t that building with the minarets and the dome in Salah Salem the Citadel that Saladin built?”… I told him “No, this is Mohamed Ali mosque which is located inside of the Citadel of Saladin”… He was very confused and told me that he was kinda challenging someone that this particular building is the citadel… he then told me… “You must take me to a tour into this place… I feel really ignorant and shocked in myself… I want to know about these places!”… I told him “You pick the date and am all for it!”… then I left… and I can’t tell you how much of excitement I felt afterwards… not because he didn’t know about such a significant historical place… but because he got the guts to declare that he needs to know about it, and he was courageous enough to seek a change within himself… This is being positive!
The other thing that actually happened and it was regarding the citadel too was last Thursday. On my way back to Heliopolis, while driving the autostrad road all the way back from Maadi I passed by the Citadel, as usual… There’s nothing new in this, taking this road I usually pass by it, and it’s always lying out there in the dark like a deserted castle… but the thing is that in this particular day it wasn’t, because for my very own surprise I saw the Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha on the top of the citadel beautifully lightened in a way that I haven’t seen before… I stopped my car at the side of the road, and stood there for a couple of minutes staring at it… and it really really made my day! Why do I consider this a positive thing? Because I believe that most of the people who passed by it haven’t even noticed it… and that’s why I said that part of being positive is seeing the beauty around you…
Well… that was LONG! I didn’t intend to make it that long at all… I guess that I was simply missing how it felt like to write about positive things!
Have a great day, week, month, life!
Rou…
Note:
I wrote something regarding putting enough love into gifts back on the Christmas Eve of 2007… I thought of sharing it with you again here in this context…
http://sleeplessrou.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/tahaado-ta7abbo/
06.10.09
عن وحشة البيوت
أحب البيوت القديمة… حتى المهدم منها و المهجور…
تجعلني أتفكر فيها و في أحوالها…
أفكر عندما كانت عامرة بالناس…
أساءل نفسي كم يا ترى هذا البيت مشتاق لسكنى أحد؟
كم يحن لإحتضان الأصوات بين أركانه…؟
كم يشتاق لأطفال تجري بين جنباته وأجيال تكبر في أحضانه…؟
كم يتمنى لو ضحكة واحدة تهز جدرانه…؟
كم يشعر البيت القديم المهجور أنه غريب بين البيوت…؟
حين أمر بأحد هذه البيوت أقف أمامه في خشوع…
أشعر به يتحامل على جدرانه في حزن راجياً نظرة… ولو من عابر سبيل يقول “كان يا ما كان”…
أتمنى لحظتها لو أستطيع أن أطفئ شوقه… و أعيد بعض أيامه…
أدخل فيه… أسكنه للحظات…
مجرد لحظات… أؤانس فيها وحشته…
رحاب رجائي
في 10 يونيو 2009
06.09.09
On trust…
“The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead, we trust people to be who we want them to be – and when they’re not, we cry.”
– David Duchovny.
