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Showing posts from May, 2008

the man from earth

What if someone came up to you and said that he is 14,000 years old? Would you believe him if he said that he was once friends with Beethoven , Voltaire and Jules Verne – and showed a painting given to him by Van Gogh himself? Would you listen to this man if he said that he was Jesus himself, who once had been a disciple of The Buddha – and that he had learned methods of stopping pain from The Buddha , which he applied to survive The Crucifixion ? This extraordinary man could tell you the first-hand ‘historical’ accounts of cities like Rome , London and New York , and most of the important events that happened in history. He could tell you about the alteration of landscapes, about the war between Athens and Sparta , about his friend scientists of the past, and about the different pandemics in human history. Would you really be able to believe this man? Would you want to meet this man? Well, here is someone – at least from the imagination of Jerome Bixby – portrayed as Professor

cats of mohandessin

Some years back I used to live in Mohandessin, a neighbourhood in Cairo. On my first visit, I arrived at my apartment late at night from airport. First thing in the morning, I looked out of my bedroom-window and saw rows of cars parked on either side of the four-lane street. Seeing so many cars parked there I thought maybe there was a club or something nearby, but I was wrong. As I came to know, the street was being used as permanent parking space. Public streets in Cairo are kinda parking lots, especially in residential areas - due to over-concentration of automobiles. Of course the streets are four and six lanes but only two lanes are free for driving; the rest - they are used as parking areas. Permament. I wonder whether they are planning to improve this situation or not; but if they do - then certainly, the cats are gonna be angry. Yes, you heard me right. Beneath the multitude of parked vehicles throughout Cairo there is a different world - of cats, who probably ran away from thei