The Found Treasure

I was reading my diary, and I stumbled across some interesting things I wrote back at the beginning of this year. This part was entitled “A Walk Through My Memories” it was basically memories of 2009 I had during walking to have my hair cut at the Barber Shop near home! They were really not very happy memories, but I learned a lot from them. Here are some excerpts straight from my Diary:

“I believe it's very important to remember the painful experience a person goes through because these are the experiences that teach us facts about life. It's the hard way to learn, but the most effective and time standing way.

I went walking down the street. I haven't walked down that street for so long. In the last few months all I did was rush into my car and drive. This time I decided to slow down and simply walk down the street, even if it wasn’t that much of a walk, as the Barber Shop is only a few blocks away.

I was enjoying the winter spirit, when people wear heavy clothes to keep warm, couples walking closely to warm each other, people at a gift shop buying presents for their loved ones.

As I passed them by, I remembered a lot of happy and sad moments that passed away last year. I remembered how someone managed to penetrate her way into my heart, just to rip it out afterwards. How I was living in a dream of happiness, caring and respect, only to wake up discovering hidden facts, and half-truths. How I decided to give her a chance to be a friend, after it didn’t work out between us, but she refused to take that chance. Could people who were really soulmates become just friends? I still remember her voice in the phone. The hours we spent together on phone, the time we spent together studying. The day I went with her to that Burger restaurant near her home, that day I felt things would be just perfect. “She is one of the good ones” I thought back then. Nobody knows what could have happened if she had been honest with me. It just was not meant to be. She gave me the courage to express what I felt towards her without hesitation, gave me the courage to meet her father and speak to him, let him know who I am. It was a great night, that day I met her father. I though things would go alright. That's all in the past now. A life time relationship can never be built on lies or half-truths.”

After this part in my diary there is a part where I wish her good luck, and pray that she’d be better off. Then there is a part where I write about how she positively changed me. Then the important part below:

“I would like to call 2009 the year of "The lost Hearts". I hope that when this year ends I'll call it the year of "The Found Treasure" or something. I'm too busy lately, and I can't seem to find anytime to find anything. I hope the situation gets better through the year.”

Reading this part of my diary, I wondered if the year 2010 was, as I thought it would be, the year of “The Found Treasure”.

I reflected on the year 2010 with all the memories I could recreate in my imagination, images of pleasant memories came to mind:

Al-Khalifa tower- Dubai

·         My trip to Dubai with all the glamour, gift haunting, and site seeing.

·         Meeting the most wonderful girl, and helping her, only to discover she doesn’t speak English well! It didn’t really matter, I was glad to help, anyway. That was on my trip to Sharm El Sheik.

·         An evening with friends at a restaurant, and movies; where we laughed, joked and got to know each other better.

·         The Trip to Al-Ain Sokhna; it was hilarious. We had a lot of laughs.

Beach at Ain Shokna road, Egypt 

·         A group Iftar with my friends, when we also, celebrated the birthday of one of my very close friends, and visited the Citadel; my first time to visit it.

·         A series of walks in old Islamic Cairo with all the fascinating thoughts it carries.

View at Ibn Tulun Masged
Cairo

·         Going to International Bowling Center; to have fun with friends. With all the competitiveness and hilarious photography.

·         Horse riding trip at the Pyramids, where the horse refuses to run like a normal horse and insists on walking and spiting around for no apparent reason. A funny horse really!!

·         Flashes of Jazz concerts at Citadel, and old Egypt. My visit to Indian Embassy with all the Indian food, and music.

·         Going out with non-Egyptian friends at Zamalek, hanging out at a café exchanging ideas, Ice cream, and eating at Dessouki (Not a glamorous restaurant; just a very down to earth simple and pleasant one).

·         Flashes from weddings, engagements, and funerals of friends and relatives. A chance to meet relatives and get updated on where they are in life. Share happiness, and sadness.

·         Flashes from my first engagement. I was really glad that almost all my close relatives came. Also, the after-engagement party; where almost all my friends, living in Egypt, came, even old friends from school; who I haven’t seen for ages!

I realized how blessed I am, El-hamdo Lellah (Thank God). The year 2010 was truly the year of “The Found Treasure”, not because I found the girl I want to live the rest of my life with; I actually did not, but because I meet a lot of very interesting people who eventually became my good friends, and because I enjoyed a lot of fascinating experiences this year. Sometimes, we go in search for something and end up finding something else; that we didn’t know that we needed.

Even the sad, painful moments of this year, were parts of my Found Treasure, because they have inspired me to widen-up my circle of friends, get exposed to more points of view and eventually inspired the ideas in this blog.  

Great pieces of art, music and novels were created by the raging passion under the skin of people who were in pain. Think about that; the Mona Lisa with her mysterious smile painted by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, the other artist famous for all his great paintings Vincent Willem van Gogh; he suffered  anxiety, he cut his own ear off and drew himself with one ear cut off and strapped by a piece of cloth! The great writer Earnest Hemingway; who wrote one of my favorite books “Old Man and The Sea”, he suffered unbearable physical as well as emotional pain, and eventually shot himself!, the French singer Édith Piaf, who sang very fascinating songs like “la vie en Rose”, suffer a lot of pain starting with her childhood, and died of liver cancer. Also, a lot of new ideas in our modern life were inspired by such pain. Watch the movie “Social Network”, and you may get a glimpse of what I mean.

It is because of sadness and pain do we create.

A musical folkloric performance at Citadel, Cairo

I used to say “Forget the sad past, and don’t worry much about the future, live only in the present”… Now, I believe we should always “Live the present, but never forget to reflect on the past; to capture the lessons it holds and pave the way for a better future”. We must also, remember to “Never let the past destroy our future”.

I’m glad to say that the year of “The Found Treasure” is almost over. I hope you all have found your treasures this year, and hope you find more next year.

As for me, I decided not to search for any treasures during 2011, instead I’ll just keep my eyes open while moving around, may be I’ll find a treasure that I wasn’t searching for!

Happy New Year everybody…

Note: All photos and images in this Post are original, and have been captured by the camera of the author, then modified using computer software. 

Places … Sadness …Happiness

As I walked into the funeral of my very close friend's mother, I noticed my friend and his father shaking hands with the visitors and accepting their condolences. I walked to them shook their hands warmly, hugged my friend and gave them my deepest condolences. Then I sat inside the hall of occasions that was attached to the Masged where the funeral was held (I choose this word “Masged” as the word “Mosque” means mosquito in some languages and is found to be offensive to the nature of such holy places).

While sitting there amongst friends I realized that at this exact same hall, two months ago, I was here to attend the celebration of marriage of one of my relatives (Katb El-ketab; The authentication of Marriage process in a registry book; this is carried out by a Sheik in a Masged’s hall of occasions or at home, or sometimes in some hotel's hall of ceremonies. This is followed by the Marriage ceremony on another day or sometimes on the same day of Katb el-ketab).

The same places where we celebrate happiness are also, where we grieve. I let my imagination go astray. I thought of Egypt's Masgeds, Churches, and the Pyramids. All those places along the years have stood and remained, until today and for more years to come, celebrating both happiness and melancholy. Happiness; when people are sacredly bond by marriage, when babies are newly born, when a Hijri or a Christ year ends and another begins, when the time of feast and prayer is due. Grieving in melancholy; when people died years ago in war, and when someone close to us leaves us in this world with all its challenges. The death of one is the dead of all and the life of one is the life of all. We should always remember those people; remember the great things they did, the legacy they left behind, we should also, pass on the story of the great people who died in order for us to live. We should know that the death of someone or something is the birth of someone or something else. With every end comes a new beginning.

I was pulled out of my world of imagination by the service man offering coffee and tea. I took a cup of tea and thanked him. I noticed the Sheikh reciting a verse from the Holy Koran. The verse states “(27) (To the righteous soul will be said :) "O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction!  (28) Come back thou to thy Lord, well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him! (29) Enter thou, then, among My devotees! (30) Yea, enter thou My Heaven!” (Surah 89. Al-Fajr (The Dawn, Daybreak) Translated by Yusuf Ali).

We are all here in this life as visitors, we will eventually come back to thy Lord; Allah. This is a message for us to remember that we should let our visit in this world be pleasant; help others who are in need, draw a smile on faces you meet, and be there with people in their sad moments to give support, pray and thank thy Lord; Allah for all the bounties he has granted us.

We should make the most out of this life, and prepare to leave this world with a calm smile. We should also, remember that our loved ones are there with thy Lord; Allah, and they want us to be ok, and pray for them. It’s ok to be sad for a while, it’s a natural thing. It’s not even healthy to keep all this sadness inside and not expressing it, not shedding a tear, but we must never let our lives be lived in sadness, and let sadness affect our lives negatively.

Be like all those places (Masgeds, Churches, and Halls), embracing both sadness and happiness along the years, remaining solid, but never forgetting to learn the lessons these moments carry within.

Alaa El-deen Esmail Fahmy Sunday, December 19, 2010

This is my first online official Blog, and it’s dedicated specially to my Friend Morad Ezzat; may his life be full of happiness and May peace and blessings be upon his Mother’s soul.

P.S: The Photos Above has been captured by the author the second photo is of El Ghory’s Market (Wekalet El-Ghory) at Islamic Cairo it was a place for shopping, but today a place for holding cultural events and art performances.