Za7ma ya donia Za7ma

“Za7ma ya donia Za7ma” is an Egyptian folk song, I don’t know who is the singer and I am not really interested to know. Whoever he was, he was absolutely right when he sang this song. The song crossed my mind today, when I was in the car….thank God I was not driving, I would have committed a crime. For those who have never been to Egypt, it is really crowded everywhere especially in the rush hour and in the morning where most people go to their work and students to their schools or universities.

Actually, what is really ironic if you found the way to downtown not crowded, you wonder what is going on …there must be something wrong !!.Since I live in Cairo from a long time I am used to traffic jam, however sometimes you just can’t stand it anymore and you feel you want to go home and relax. Cars are everywhere you go, there is no place to walk …people who want to walk can go to the track in clubs or walk on a treadmill in gym.

The average middle class or high class family has more than one to two cars. And sometimes more, which after like 10 years or maybe less it will be a disaster especially in small cities like “Aleppo” in Syria which become too crowded with cars and very narrow roads. Though one cannot compare between Egypt and Syria because of the number of population, however in Syria it is much better. What I like about Syrian traffic is the electric traffic light, where you count the numbers from downwards to upwards then you move with your car, I know it sounds weird, but I like it!!!

Cars are no longer a luxury thing to obtain, it is a necessity in life, and espically if you live in a big city, and public transportations in Egypt are awful, you can’t take a bus or train ….it is too crowded, and not very good. What I really like about Europe, is people there can live without a car because they have good means of transportations like undergrounds which I like or good buses, and people are civilized in a way that no one can bother you…Etc.

While I was in the car I remembered the movie “back to the future” 1985.Where there was this scene for the car that Doc brown invented, it can go back in time and to the future ….the scene was for cars moving in the sky. Well maybe in the future it will be possible to invent such a car that can move in space, and thus we avoid traffic jam …well maybe I am imagining, but everything is possible these days with all the sophisticated and new technology.

Human Rights Watch Fiasco »« Why do they hate us? part 1