Early February this year, my computer engineer who often tells me things not connected with my computer, told me that from September of this year I’d be flying round the world. I found it hard not to laugh it off. Nothing in life is certain not even my daily trips to Bhaji Gully! But come September, I found myself jetting across to the other side of the world with an unexpected trip to the New World. And then, upon my return, I found myself in Egypt in the Land of the Ancient World .

Of course my trip to Egypt was planned much before Hamas set the Middle East unravelling and as our departure date came closer and closer, the number of WhatsApp messages from various well meaning friends and acquaintances increased.

This did of course create some confusion, anxiety and hesitation about going right into the dragon’s cave as it were, but then I thought that at the best of times things can go wrong so I might as well go ahead and face whatever it was that was to come my way.

Besides, Ms. Papaya was quick to point out that Egypt was in Africa and the conflict was in Asia! I didn’t want to burst her bubble and tell her that Gaza shared a border with Egypt. This fertile delta basin is as old as the hills – or rather as old as the sands of the deserts of Arabia.

So just after our Diwali Party, we made our way to Mumbai’s Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport where we boarded our Gulf Air flight to Bahrain.

Stepping off the plane at Bahrain, we were amazed at how wonderful the airport was. Here we were gloating about our very own Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at Mumbai but this airport far outstripped our pride and joy. ( Sorry) .

But before we could appreciate the wonders of the airport, it was time for us to board our next flight to Cairo. Once again we got on the plane, a smaller plane for a shorter ride and when we reached Cairo, it was still broad daylight.

Luckily we had someone meet us at the airport itself which we realised was a great boon as we soon found that it was very hard to find anyone who could understand us. English isn’t very widely spoken even though Egypt was part of the British empire.

Driving to the Hotel we were amazed that the whole place looked like we were in a war zone. There was building after building that looked ready to crumble with buildings looking like they’d been sliced off! It was weird seeing staircase outlines leading to nowhere and painted walls of bedrooms that had been chopped off. If this was wasn’t disturbing, the uncleared rubble was even more disheartening. I couldn’t believe that people were actually living there! But they were our guide told us – remnants of a recent past that saw rampant building of illegal constructions that fell due to faulty constructions and were ‘regularised’ for lower income group residents.

It was a long drive to our hotel which was at Giza but we were happy to settle in and relax a bit before starting out on our hectic trip the next day.

I’ll be posting more about my trip to Egypt so keep looking out for this space.

Ciao,