Twenty- five Seven – Page 51 – Personally speaking

Goodbye 2023

December 31, 2023
Photo by Alexas Fotos on Pexels.com

Strange as it may sound, New Year on 1st January is not the only New Year that we follow in India. Many of us have a new year in April which is the official start of the Lunar Calendar that all Hindus follow, while some of us mark the New year in October after the summer harvest which is what many of the business community follow. But whatever it is, tradition demands that on the last day of the year, one does a recap of all that has happened in the year. A time to count all one’s blessings, a time to reflect on what went wrong, a time to remember all that happened right and a time to set out the trajectory for the new year.

So like every year, 2023 started with the good intentions of
1. Blogging more regularly - I posted 28 posts in the year. I wrote 26.1k words. I had 35 likes and 16 comments and I have only 24 subscribers. This is a dismal report card and if I were scoring myself, I’d give myself E for Effort.
2. Losing weight – Once again this was a losing battle with disastrous results, I actually gained a pound or two which is par for the course – two pounds every year. If I don’t put a stop to this, I will soon burst.
3. Reading more books – I can’t remember exactly how many books I read because after January, I stopped keeping count of which books I’d read in that month. I can also hardly remember the stories or the content of the books I read. So again this gets a miserable rating of a C
4. Meeting friends I hadn’t met for the past several years- This is one intention of mine that I did manage to succeed in partly because I joined a WhatsApp group where I discovered many friends from my childhood. I also made a special effort to reach out to a friend and am happy that we did reconnect. So for this I would give myself a B.
5. Begin painting again -It’s been five years since I bought myself an adult painting book and sadly I haven’t gone beyond two paintings this year. At the rate I’m going, I will probably be still painting for the next ten years! So once again I score a D for disappointing.
6. Getting back to the piano and playing Hanon’s exercises every day – This didn’t even get off the ground and remains an idea in my head.
7. Bending down and touching my head to my knees – well my Yoga practice was consistently inconsistent and even though my head doesn’t reach my knees, my head is bending lower. I also managed to do some stretches that have brought relief to my aching limbs so even though I am not very regular, I have improved in my flexibility so I can give myself a B.
8. Walking every single day – Once again, my performance was better than 2022 because even though I didn’t walk every single day, I did manage to improve my step count and it is higher than what it was last year.
Well, actually the list can go on and on and on because almost every year, I resolve to become a better version of what I was the year before but sadly it never happens.

But it isn’t all a rabbit hole. There were lots of positives too
1. Managed to see more of the world – Actually this has been the best year ever for me as regards travel. I began the year with a trip to Bhuj. Towards the end of the year, I visited New York and then Egypt. All these trips were memorable and have restored my confidence in travelling whether solo or in a group.
2. Began the process of decluttering – CoVid taught me that many things in my life were unnecessary and I promised to declutter my life. But it was only in 2023 that I consciously began cleaning up. Many of my clothes that were kept in the hope that I would fit into them, were finally given away to other people.
3. Consciously keeping account of money spent – For years I used to spend money and note down very cryptically amounts and items. This actually was meaningless because at the end of the month I had no idea of what the figures represented and what the ‘items’ were. So finally I developed a system whereby I would send a WhatsApp message to Hubby Dear giving a run down of the expenses I had incurred that day. This also helped me control my ‘impulse’ purchases and also helped cut down unnecessary trips to the bazar.
So all in all, I can look back with a sense of satisfaction and hope that things will definitely be good in 2024.

Ciao,
Up in the sky

November 30, 2023

I am the world’s original scaredy cat and quite reluctant to do anything remotely daring or adventurous.

Going in a hot air balloon was the last thing on my mind but since I was among the minority ( the only one actually) who was too chicken to go, I decided to go with the flow.

And I’m glad I did because it turned out to be the highlight of our Egyptian holiday. Balloon rides begin near the Valley of the Kings and Queens and it takes about an hour to get there. So we opted for a later balloon flight because we didn’t want to wake up at 3.a.m to make the sunrise fight.

In semi-darkness we went gingerly down the gangway and got into our van for a short ride to the boat that took us to the Eastern bank of the river Nile.

Once there, I began having second thoughts since getting in to the balloon basket seemed quite complicated. Where was the gate? I thought to myself as I spotted two notches on the side of each section, which we had to use to clamber in. I did manage though and was quite pleased with my agility and ability to overcome the first hurdle.

A new dig in progress

View from th etop

A sunrise balloon coming down

The Valleyof the Kings

New temple with the Colossi of Mnemon being restored

Green fields below

Now I had to face the butterflies in my tummy that would accompany the ascent. But wait! What happened? By the time I finished listening to the Captain’s welcome address, we had already left mother earth below us.

What a spectacular view it was. And what a wondrous feeling it was to be up in the sky Below us there was a new excavation going on with workers getting an early start to get the numbered pieces in place. It turned out to be a new find of the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III.

Surprisingly, my fear and apprehension just vanished and I actually enjoyed being up in the sky but we had to get down as rides were limited to just two in the day and only for 45 minutes each.

We met up with Ahmad at the Ali Baba Cafe which turned out to be remarkably nice for a restaurant in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, situated as it was in front of two colossal statues known as the Colossi of Memnon.

The Colossi of Mnemon

The Valley of the Kings

After a quick breakfast that was packed for us by the cruise ship, we made our way to the Valley of Kings to see the much awaited mummy of King TutAnkhAmun.

The tomb was one of the tombs which had all the artifacts intact and would have remained so had it not been for accidental discovery of the water carrier during the dig of Howard Carter an English archeologist. It seems that this young lad was digging a hole to balance the pitcher of water and came upon the first step of what turned out to be the staircase to the intact chamber ofTutAnkhAmun’s tomb!

This discovery led to the discovery of several other tombs and is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site. It is beautifully maintained with a museum in the complex and has golf carts to ferry passengers and well maintained pathways. Inside the tombs, the walkways were well made and passages well lit.

The Valley of Kings has around 52 tombs and it is quite difficult to see all of them at one go. So we just saw two tombs before going on to see the Valley of Queens on the other side.

The guide pointed out to the mountains in which the tombs were made. They were natural pyramids!

Did the later Pharaohs become lazy too lazy to construct Pyramids? Or were they just too practical and made them in mountains to prevent tomb raiders from destroying their after life homes?

The natural pyramid shaped mountain

The Valley of the Queens

There are many nobles and queens buried in the Valley of Queens but we were more interested in the mortuary temple of Egypt’s famous female Pharaoh. Hatshespsut . She was the only Royal descendent of King Thutmose I so she married her half brother Thutmose II who was born of a secondary queen. Thutmose II died leaving a son born of another secondary wife so Hatshepsut ruled on behalf of her stepson Thutmose III. Hatshespsut was a powerful ruler and was depicted as a male with the false beard in all her images but traces of her rule were almost wiped out by her stepson Thutmose III who immediately over threw her once he came of age.

The funerary temple was another grand two storied structure with traces of painted ceilings and walls.

The Karnak Temple

The true grandeur of ancient Egypt is only apparent when you see the temple of Karnak with its tall columns, obelisks and the grand avenue linking it to the Temple of Luxor.

These two temples must have indeed been imposing and majestic in their hey day. Unfortunately, it was not only high noon and too hot to really wander around the temple complex, but we also had to make our way to the airport to catch the flight back to Cairo. So we had to make another rushed visit through this temple which is still being reconstructed.

No flight to Cairo

Finally, after a quick lunch at McDonald’s overlooking Luxor Temple, we made our way to Luxor International Airport.

Ahmad was in a rush and didn’t even look back once he dropped us off at the airport . Of course, this is normal at normal times but we found ourselves unable to even enter the airport as the guard told us that our flight was cancelled! With great difficulty we contacted our Egyptian tour operator and managed to convince him to let us sit inside.

Our original 1.30 flight would now be taking off at 7! This put paid to our plans of seeing the Son-et-Lumiere show at Giza. It also put paid to our plans of having a grand Egyptian meal .
By the time we reached our hotel all catering service was closed so we asked Tifa ( terribly late again this time) to arrange for some Shawarma. I have to admit this was the first time ever I’d eaten a Shawarma and was pretty much hooked.

Too tired to think, we collapsed into bed hoping that there wouldn’t be any hiccups the next day.
Passing through the Locks

November 28, 2023

As the crow flies , the distance between Aswan and Luxor is 181 km but we were on a boat and depended on various factors, chief among them being the locks at Esna. We were scheduled to dock at Luxor around noon but there was heavy traffic at the locks and we only got our slot by around 1 – 2.

While the boys played pool, the rest of us spent the morning on deck sipping wine and munching on some munchies we had got from home. Carrying nibbles is very important because we didn’t find any shops close to our hotel. Nor did the ship have any stuff on board. Ms Papaya tried sunbathing.

A strange shopping experience

Have you ever had your goods tossed at you from a distance of about 25 feet below and then tossed the money back?

Well this unique shopping experience can only happen at Esna while you are waiting your turn to go through the lock. As the cruise boats are line up on one side of the river, tiny row boats with one or two men come paddling alongside with bundles of cotton goods – table cloths, caftans, shirts which they fling up to the upper deck of your ship. Suddenly you may find something flying past you and when you pick it up it could be a shirt or a skirt. If you choose to keep it, you can ask the deckhand at the railing to bargain for you or toss it back and ask for another. This tossing back and forth goes on till both sides are satisfied and the deckhand finally seals the deal by throwing the money to the merchants below.

The land alongside the river was fertile and lush green with vegetation

A village perched along the hillside as we sailed to Luxor

The locks are essential to maintain the water levels for agriculture that is prevalent along the banks of this ancient river. The lock is as ancient as the Ptolemaic era whence it was built and has been modified and updated over the time. Old Esna lock was built in 1908 during the reign of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II ( The the great-great grandson of Muhamad Ali Pasha) . Then, it was renovated and reopened on January 1st, 1996.

Sellers of textile

Esna Port

sunset at Luxor

Esna a city on the West bank of the Nile is definitely worth a visit . Unfortunately, we had too few days so we had to be satisfied with just passing through the locks.

Light show at the temple of Luxor

So by the time we actually docked it was once again sunset and we had to see the much awaited Luxor temple in darkness. Of course Ahmad told us that we were lucky to see it in the dark as it is quite spectacular all lit up. Besides, he said that all the temples were similar in structure and we could also see it in the day time as we would pass it again. But if we wanted a proper tour of this grand ancient Temple, it was now or never.

The avenue of the Sphinxes

The nmagnificent Temple with the Obelisk

The avenue that led up to the Karnak Temple

Part of the Temple walls were defaced with Christian imagery

The writing on the wall the cartouche of the Pharaoh

So, I joined in with the rest of the ship who got off to see the Temple.

Ahmad explained to us that that this temple that was built in the 14th Century BC and though it was a major temple made in honour of the god Amun Ra, it somehow lost its importance and lay abandoned and buried in sand for centuries till it was discovered by a French Archeologist Gaston Maspero in 1884.

AHmad told us that no one had the faintest idea of anything so grand existing below the city and locals often used bits of stone that were from the ruins in the construction of their own homes. He claims that his own grandfather had used some stones while building his house.

This seemed quite logical because the temple is actually in the middle of the town square and the Abu Haggag Mosque which is still in use has a doorway half way up proving that most of the temple was buried under sand till it was completely excavated.

The Abu Haggag mosque with the original doorway on the left is halfway up the wall showing that the mosque was built on top of the Temple that was buried in the sand.

And sure enough the guide was right. The next day on our way to the Balloon ride, we passed the temple again. As a matter of fact, we had our lunch later that day at a McDonalds actually overlooking the Temple.

But even though it was really dark and at times we had to shine our phone torches to see our way, it was a wonderful , magical experience walking down the Avenue of Sphinxes. This UNESCO designated Heritage site is also marked as the largest outdoor museum in the world.

Undoubtedly, the night light made for splendid photography like the panoramic view of the Temple taken by none other than Ms. Papaya. It is beautiful isn’t it?

We returned to the ship for a good night’s rest, looking forward to our balloon ride the next day.

Ciao

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