this book was on opera show, on all the english bookstores shelves in carefour & green plaza.
and in some websites it has some positive reviews, so i took the decision to read it
and i managed to buy it just before i went to sharm and i said to my self "5 days of swimming and reading only" and yes i managed to finish 75% from the book in those 5 days
and now after finish it all
i want to say something about it.
the book is about "
One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia"
nice introduction, who doesn't want to have everything?
the writer made a decision to have both pleasure and devotion, and balance between both.
the book is divided into 3 sections, first is about the writer journey in ITALY for 4 months, where she went there looking for pleasure, and her pleasure was in learning the ITALIAN language which she considered a musical note and in eating pasta, pizza, .. etc over and over and over.
second is the journey in INDIA for 4 months, in a yoga ashram where she was trying to reach god, and to be connected with the divine power.
third part is the journey in INDONESIA for 4 months, where she was seeking balance between pleasures and devotion.
in the first few pages she tells her story, and it's a misery, she was out of divorce and a bad love affair, but honestly i think we all need this journey despite our reasons or background.
people have zillion reasons to seek balance. most of us in the east and in Egypt are religious people, we took religion seriously BUT we are not good people though
and more we took "tahyess" seriously too :)))
in ITALY part, i was wondering sometimes how eating can be a pleasure that someone devotes 4 months for it, but again it's how she feels not me, anyway in this section she was talking about how she decided to do what she wanted to do always, how to take a decision "i'll have a good time today", she didn't care much about museums or churches seeing, OMG if i was there i'll take a picture of every brick in every wall of every building there
the idea of having fun and enjoy yourself is wonderful and honestly i get jealous (i hope one day i get the chance to do it)
in INDIA part, she spent all the time in yoga ashram, where step by step she learned how to meditate to reach for god. and i think it was something useful to learn about how an ordinary person can get so spiritual. in some points, her description of what she's feeling is really inspiring.
to know how a person can evolve from a very practical down to earth person to be a very spiritual person how can sent a prayer to the divine and get an immediate response
till this point, that woman was my hero, god she had it all, i hope everyone reads this book, i already started to tell my friends about the book
and was extremely anxious to get to the balance part
well, i had 2 questions in my mind while reading the book:1- when facing the real world again , will she be able to keep her level of spiritual? will the jungle get to her?
2-why there's a "love" in the book title, she was talking about being balanced as an individual, is love part of the formula?
in INDONESIA part, she was just living in peace, in this part the writer gave lot of information about the Indonesian community and the Balinese traditions, it was useful part. and this kept going till the half of it, and then BOMB, the love began
the writer met a person and fall in love with him, just like that, in this part i felt disconnected from the book
well, in the journey of balance she was seeking pleasure and she got it, and then she was seeking god and she had a deep strong spiritual experience, now she is seeking balance and instead of taking all her pieces together she starts a romance .. isn't too soon for that?
does she already balanced as an individual so she can make such a decision
plus, it's like a kids book, where you read about the good boy who prays a lot so he succeed in the exam.
this is not a novel, where i can critique it's a true story, so there is no place to change the facts. all i'm saying is, as a balanced seeker, she had to face the real world first using what she gained from her journey before start a new romance
but ending the book by this story did lowing the book to be a classic novel instead of great personal experience journey
Conclusion: the book has LOT of information and great moment of human being evolving to be better, just don't read the second part of indonesia
in August, Magdy ElGalad wrote in Almasry Alyoum newspaper an article series about national danger which is "youth of egypt refuse to defend the country if any war with Israel happens"
article 1
article 2
article 3
article 4
article 5
after reading the articles ofcourse some will agree and others will disagree and both parts have a very convincing reasons to backup their opinions.
let us gave color blue to the agree, and color green to the disagree
the blue team says: corruption is killing the future, who have everything are 5%, the rest 95% are very poor or at least semi poor, so let who take all pay for what they took and defend the country in war
the green team says: it's our homeland after all, and war will not hit one group and spare the other
thinking of all this, let us take a look on the Nassr TV show, in the first couple of episods, we see the kid Nassr who protests the english occupation
well, it wasn't only Nassr who did it
it was the culture back then, people were into politics from the moment they can distinguish right from wrong
I remember that my father had a mark in his forehead, and once i asked about it
he answered me with 2 words " من بنادق الرش فى المظاهرات"
ok, he dealt with it as it was nothing, he used to tell me stories about him, family, history and lot of things
but the demonstrations part was so brief, because for him, it was a normal thing to do at this time, "lot of my friends were in the demonstrations, different political parties"
so let us analys this: when egypt was occupied by a foreign army, the PEOPLE were politically educated enough to demonstrate and express their opinions
but when egypt is free country, PEOPLE aren't politically well educated to express themselves, and more they hate the country and are willing to watch Israelis take it over
N.B: politically educated is a term used by the prime minister before, explaining why the goverments interfer in the election
conclusion: corruption is always there, people are not the same. Egyptians are overwelmed with problems (bread, inflation, real estate, ... ) to think about politics
one day years ago, one girl who was in school class came one day and said:
hey girls, there's this new novel that i read, it's cooool you all should read it
so she gave it to A who gave it to B who gave it to C and so on
i had my turn
it was Alchemist but in an arabic cheap translation
and when i read it, i like it but ...
all i remember is it ends when the boy is trying to turn himself to wind
the last line is that no one could see him where he was stand
so, what i get from the story is:
a boy was searching for a treasure under the pyramids but in his search journey he learned lot of things and become richer (in knowledge, ..etc)
so the treasure was the search journey itself, but there's no money or treasure or anything like that
so for me it was like a Sunday school lesson
getting wealthier is about knowledge and wisdom not money
in Shelfari people talk a lot about how great the novel is so i decide to read it again one more time
but this time in English
WELL first of all i found out that there's a real treasure
so it's real dream of having wealth and money
secondly, in the arabic version when you read the word "مكتوب" you think it's normal
but to read it in the english version "maktub" it gives the story more magic
the writer had chosen the right word to describe what we sometimes feel or think
in the second reading, i saw new things
what got me deep is the contradiction between "maktub" and how the person has to pursuit his dream not knowing what he 's going to
i mean is't maktub that a young spanish shepherd work in a crystal shop and connect with the hand that writes all and get to the pyramid to return back to spain,
/**** OR ****\
all this happened because he was trying to fulfill his dreams, and it's all about the personal will
so in brief is't Maktub or it's the will?
the fundamental question we used to ask a lot in high school (especially during thanaweya 3ama)
mossayareen or mo7'ayariin?
in the story the wirter managed to make it both and to prove it's both of them
that's why i like the story
the most famous line of the story is "when u desire anything, the universe conspires for u" ..... i disagree with this, not all our dreams can be fulfilled, and no one found any help in achieving his goals, i mean if the universe is conspiring for us it would be more easy and fun to make dreams come true, but this isn't what happening in most cases
finally, good book to read, glad i read it one more time
الناس تتمنى ان يحترق الأعضاء ايضا
أما هبة الله إبراهيم، فقالت إنها غير مهتمة بالحريق أو
نتائجه موضحة: «تكفينا مشاكل الغلاء»، معتبرة أنه لو أرادت الحكومة إطفاء الحريق لتمكنت من ذلك إلا أنهم يريدون أن «يشغلوا الشعب» مرة بقانون المرور الجديد ومرة بحريق مجلس الشعب، وقالت إنها سعدت للغاية بسبب الحريق، ولكنها كانت تتمني أن يكون في وقت جلسة يجتمع فيها كل أعضاء المجلسين معاً.
رجل اطفاء مات دون جثة
كشفت التحقيقات والتحريات الأولية في حريق مجلس «الشوري» عن مصرع مساعد شرطة يدعي «فواد نصار» داخل المبني، تواصل أجهزة الدفاع المدني البحث عن جثته بالداخل وأكدت مصادر أمنية أن الشرطي التابع لوحدة إطفاء المجلس، كان أول من دخل إلي المبني للمساعدة في الإطفاء، وقال زملاؤه بأنه اختفي عن أنظارهم بعد ساعة من الحريق وأكد آخرون أنهم شاهدوه يصعد إلي الطابق الثاني
خوفا من حدوث انهيارات داخل المبني المحترق, وحرصا علي حياة رجال الدفاع المدني وفريق التحقيقات, تم إرجاء جميع المعاينات الفنية داخل المبني لحين رفع المخلفات وتأمين الحوائط, واقتصرت المعاينات علي الأجزاء الخارجية
in one day:
- more then 9 hours to fight the fire in the parliament
- websites are closed for users in the area
"Due to high fraud in your area, this website is currently inaccessible to you. If you feel you have been blocked in error please contact a representative at (phone number) or via email at (email). Please present this value as your IP address: (my IP)"
ما أَقول لكم ؟
كان يمكن أَلاَّ أكون أَنا مَنْ أَنا
كان يمكن أَلاَّ أكون هنا ...
--------------------------------------
لا دور لي في المزاح مع البحرِ
لكنني وَلَدٌ طائشٌ
من هُواة التسكّع في جاذبيّة ماءٍ
ينادي : تعال إليّْ !
ولا دور لي في النجاة من البحرِ
أَنْقَذَني نورسٌ آدميٌّ
رأى الموج يصطادني ويشلُّ يديّْ
-----------------------------------------------من سوء حظّيَ أَن الصليب
هو السُلَّمُ الأزليُّ إلى غدنا !
مَنْ أَنا لأقول لكم
ما أقولُ لكم ،
مَنْ أنا ؟
كان يمكن أن لا يحالفني الوحيُ
والوحي حظُّ الوحيدين
« إنَّ القصيدة رَمْيَةُ نَرْدٍ »
على رُقْعَةٍ من ظلامْ
تشعُّ ، وقد لا تشعُّ
فيهوي الكلامْ
كريش على الرملِ /
لا دَوْرَ لي في القصيدة
غيرُ امتثالي لإيقاعها :
حركاتِ الأحاسيس حسّاً يعدِّل حساً
وحَدْساً يُنَزِّلُ معنى
وغيبوبة في صدى الكلمات
وصورة نفسي التي انتقلت
إلى غيرها « أَنايَ » من
واعتمادي على نَفَسِي
وحنيني إلى النبعِ /
لا دور لي في القصيدة إلاَّ
إذا انقطع الوحيُ
والوحيُ حظُّ المهارة إذ تجتهدْ
-------------------------------ولاثنين من أصدقائي أقول على مدخل
الليل :
إن كان لا بُدَّ من حُلُم ، فليكُنْ
مثلنا ... وبسيطاً
كأنْ : نَتَعَشَّى معاً بعد يَوْمَيْنِ
نحن الثلاثة ،
مُحْتَفلين بصدق النبوءة في حُلْمنا
وبأنَّ الثلاثة لم ينقصوا واحداً
منذ يومين ،
فلنحتفل بسوناتا القمرْ
وتسامُحِ موت رآنا معاً سعداء
فغضَّ النظرْ !
لا أَقول : الحياة بعيداً هناك حقيقيَّةٌ
وخياليَّةُ الأمكنةْ
بل أقول : الحياة ، هنا ، ممكنةْ
------------------------------------
من أنا لأقول لكم
ما أَقول لكم ؟
كان يمكن أَلاَّ أكون أَنا مَنْ أَنا
كان يمكن أَلاَّ أكون هنا ...
كان يمكن أَن تسقط الطائرةْ
بي صباحاً ،
ومن حسن حظّيَ أَني نَؤُوم الضحى
فتأخَّرْتُ عن موعد الطائرةْ
كان يمكن أَلاَّ أرى الشام والقاهرةْ
ولا متحف اللوفر ، والمدن الساحرةْ
كان يمكن ، لو كنت أَبطأَ في المشي ،
أَن تقطع البندقيّةُ ظلِّي
عن الأرزة الساهرةْ
كان يمكن ، لو كنتُ أَسرع في المشي ،
أَن أَتشظّى
وأصبح خاطرةً عابرةْ
كان يمكن ، لو كُنْتُ أَسرف في الحلم ،
أَن أَفقد الذاكرة .
ومن حسن حظِّيَ أَني أنام وحيداً
فأصغي إلى جسدي
وُأصدِّقُ موهبتي في اكتشاف الألمْ
------------------------------------------
بضع ابيات من قصيدة لاعب النرد للشاعر محمود درويش
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