Electric Spaghetti| The personal blog of Saaleha Idrees Bamjee; wordworker, idea girl.

February 26, 2010

by saaleha
in Electric Spaghetti
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25 – fi misr

With rain in hair, qahwa in belly and the cardamom still coating the insides of our noses, Cairo soaked through my shoes, socks and skin. Done in by puddle misjudgment, who-knows-what solutes were beginning to squat under my toenails from the dodgy detritus of doings and the leavings of 7000 cats.

After a great dance of squishy hopping about, I felt less eeeghwaikeeooogheey and a bit more 9-years-old-after-madressah-braving-the-oceans-of-the-civic-centre-parking-lot-as-a-keen-stomping-adventurer-on-her-journey-home.

When we got in, I washed my feet with soap. They were feeling kind of furry.

February 17, 2010

Things I probably should’ve given Naeem the heads-up on

via Hamish

1. I have a real problem managing time.

2. Hence I’m a pro-procrastinator.

3. It is difficult for me to wake up early especially if there is nothing pressing to attend to.

4. I sing along to jingles and other tracks when I watch TV or listen to the radio.

5. Chaos is my element.

6. I’m always up for eating strange things.

7. I like the bitterness of schweppes dry lemon and malts.

8. My dreams are often strange and textbook. (There’s one I would like to translate into an art installation; a swimming pool shell filled with condoms that have had little notes placed in them by people writing about their regrets or unfulfilled dreams)

9. I’m easily distracted.

10. I can lose hours on repetitive games.

11. I really, really don’t like conflict.

12. I’m selfish. Not because I want to be, but because I don’t know how to be any other way. (I am an only child)

13. My stuff is everywhere.

14. I speak silly.

February 16, 2010

List on Books and Bikya

“Bikya! Bikya, bikya, bikyaaa! Beeeekya, bikya, bikya, bikyaaaa!”

It goes on for most of the day, the calls varying in intensity and persistence, but always with the quality of stirring Cairo’s kitty population.

When we first heard them, we thought it was an Egyptian-variety Hadeda.

But these weren’t birds, rather men in bakkies or carts looking for old things to buy.

Zakiya and Zaheer told us about them when we first got here. She said it sounded like they were calling out her name. I can’t disagree:)

Clicking through wikipedia and blogs, I learnt that bikya is taken from the Italian roba vecchia – “old clothes”. Egypt has had Italian presence since the Middle Ages and the ‘clothes’ bit has since evolved to include anything that could be re-used. I can imagine the tenacity and resilience of the bikya call puncturing the waking dreams of generations upon generations.

Still, it’s a pretty cool way to upcyle your clutter.

Naeem’s been looking at classified plug-ins for some of his wordpress blogs and tossed the idea of a book swop/sale listing at me. Not even a few seconds into the install when what should we hear from the streets below but the universe speaking to us in the strong and clear directives of “Bikyaaaa Bikya, bikya, bikyaaa!”

So with that, I bring you “Books&Bikya“, a free space for you to list: