In The Land Of The Pharoes.

I felt bad for ‘Egypt Air’. I think they did not even recover the fuel cost of our flight to Cairo. The Airbus A330 has a capacity of about two hundred and eighty passengers and there were hardly one fourth of that on the flight. The flight took off at 3 am on the dot from Mumbai and as the passengers were preparing to catch some sleep and make the best of what was remaining of the night, ‘dinner’ was served. It was 3.45 am! I never imagined that I would ever attempt eating anything at that time. But I was hungry and found myself looking forward to it! I had eaten my regular dinner at 9 pm as usual but the lack of sleep associated with the unusual activity during the ungodly hours - travelling to the airport, checking in, security check, immigration check etc etc - make one hungry. I greedily ate the hot dinner of rice, bread, vegetables, salad and dessert and felt much better.

We had left Goa in the  afternoon and had taken the 3pm flight to Mumbai.

I was extremely impressed by the facilities at the Mumbai airport and the

ease of hiring a taxi. By the time we reached my cousine’s place in Mumbai,

it was six in the evening. The Mumbai skyline lit by the setting golden sun looked

beautiful from their tenth floor flat at Mazagaon docks. I never thought that

Mumbai was capable of looking so good! 

Now, after the dinner, at a time which was closer to my breakfast time, I tried to

settle my head in as comfortable a position as possible and get some sleep. Many

passengers had stretched out full on the middle row of four seats and so had my

wife. I spent two uncomfortable hours trying to sleep and gave up. Then I paced up

and down the aisle for half an hour and kept myself busy with isometric exercises

till the breakfast was served and it was followed by the announcement

that we were approaching Cairo.The ground lights looked beautiful from the top and

we touched down at 6am Cairo time. I was impressed  by the courteous service of

the cabin crew and received some bonus bows on complimenting them. The Cairo

airport was a pleasant 17 degrees (as announced, but chilly for me) and appeared

un cluttered and peaceful.

We finished the arrival formalities and were soon on our way to Port Said. It was

about three hours of comfortable drive and even though the highway was very busy

and everybody were driving at breakneck speed, there was some order and it felt

good to be on the move. The road cuts through the desert but closer to the cities it was

a polluted desert with plastic trash littered everywhere. Inevitable result of the present day

living style and indifference towards nature and environment. Cairo was smart but the

small town ships we came across were as unkempt and shabby as any

small town in my own country. Bajaj three wheeler auto rikshaws appeared to be a

favourite mode of transport. After a break for coffee on the way we were home by

ten in the morning.

The town appeared to be asleep. Later I learnt that the town was really asleep. I

believe life begins here around one in the afternoon and goes on till two in the night.

I entered the house, looked out from the balcony and caught my first glimpse of the Suez Canal

and a ship just entering the mouth of the canal beyond the minarets of the local mosque.