"la la" land!

Yes I am living in "la la" land...

Where do I live again? Heliopolis. And when I go out of that district, I go to others of similar standard. Mohandessin, Maadi, Zamalek... Aren't they all just the same? All people ride cars. The best and worst cars. But at least they have cars.

Where do I hang out? I do in the best resturaunts. You can always find me at City Stars either shopping, at the movies, eating, or again SHOPPING...

I go everywhere by car. I work in down town Cairo, which I consider way different from the district I live in. There, I meet all sorts of people. High and low income earners, tourists, beggers, informal workers, street vendors. And I consider that a change of culture. I simply consider down town Cairo to be exposing me to the other side of my country.

But then, I had the courage and the opportunity to visit the "Cairo Exhibit". It is an annual event, where all brands of electric devices display their products at discounts. And I was told that I should go and buy my stuff from there cause it would save me money and I would find new models there. And I was surprised to find that size of human beings entering the exhibit. Are all those Egyptians actually buying electric devices? Aren't we facing a global economic crisis?

People were pushing as if they are running so as not to miss something. As if the exhibit will run out of products. "Hey, stop pushing" I said, and I couldn't take her hands all around me telling me "yalla ya mama"... "Where should I go, its a queue. I have to wait. So stop pushing"...

I found people in "galabeyas" walking through the display booths of Panasonic, Toshiba, and Ceramica Cleopatra, where I found things I cant actually afford. So why were they going inside?

People find it amusing to go watch the displays, eat something cheap, spend some time together in the gardens that seperate the booths and go home at the end of the day. Its like a picnic for them. Where is actually isn't. And I guess Toshiba is basically paying all this money to display their products to actually sell them not for such sector of society to come with their kids and walk around touching the devices and making all the noise in the world.

I felt all ikkie and weird and out of this world. I felt like an alien in my own country, in my own district, in my own world. And that's when I realised I'm living in "la la" land. I am not part of the community who suffers. I am part of the community who enjoys the best out of the country's resources. I eat the best food, and take the best ride to work, and go watch the best movies at the best cinemas, and buy good expensive clothes. I am not Egyptian. I am a minority.

I don't go around searching for food in garbage cans. I don't go watch a movie with Tamer Hosny starring in it. Or another named "3al2et moot". I don't wear so many unmatching colors and glittery things. I don't ride the metro, and I don't take the public bus. I don't eat ta3meya every day and I don't love Kushary El Tahrir. I am simply not part of this country. I was born here but never lived like any of it's people. And it's not just me, it's all my friends living in my same circumstances and getting their education at the best international schools and ending up non-egyptian just like me.

I was always thinking, "why would any person go watch the ridiculous movies that the Egyptian cinema produces every single year?". But the exhibit answered my question. People need something to make them smile and forget. Something that would ease their pain and doesnt remind them of the continuous shit they are going through. Something they; simple & uneducated people, can understand and grasp. And the money of those people goes to Tamer Hosny, Hamada Helal, and Ramez Galal...