Scribblings from Tripoli Hi friends,
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah, Wish you a very happy Independence Day, and hope this would find you in good health and high spirit. It is almost two weeks since I came here. Started picking up the duty*. * I feel loneliness; but for me, loneliness is no monotonous state. You would have got my point; I can spend hours in solitude knowing no exhaustion. I miss you all and feel I am far away from my loved ones. This separation was decided by the fate the day we met or even before, as I quoted one urdu couplet in my last post, *har mulaaqaat ka anjaam judaaee kyon hai? *(Every meeting ends up in separation). It’s OK. No problem, I got many new friends. One Egyptian, that funny guy from Cairo Mr. Ihaab, Libyans like Fuqhi, Abdul Majeed, Ali Ma’atouq, et al from Tripoli, Anil Jha from Delhi, Nirmal Rai from Chandigarh, Faisal from Lucknow, Murthy from Vishakhapatnam, Arshad from Kashmir and Unni and Pillai from Kerala are a few to name. It was not my intension to write all these; still I wanted to share my own experience of the elegant, melancholic city of Tripoli with you. Tripoli, I felt, is a meeting point of antiquity and modernity. I spend hours in the old city namely, *al madeena al qadeemah, *which takes you centuries back. Its monuments are preserved very well. Since there is an old city there must be a new one. True, like our own Old Delhi and New Delhi. But right now I tell you about the old city, though I don’t know where the so called fault line between old and new cities is. The old city or the Medina lies along the harbour and is dominated by a 16th century Spanish castle. As you are walking down the aisles of the rush areas of the medina you feel you are dropped in ancient time. But the showcases of the city’s shops are filled with modern items ranging from computers to costumes. Again sir, no English language daily newspaper is published in Libya. What about the Tripoli Post then? Oh it is only a weekly sir. I get two Arabic dailies everyday; *Alshams *(The Sun) and *Alfajr aljadeed *(The New Dawn) Nothing particular, a notice board for the subject of the “Q-Land” in two different names, that’s all. People wear pants-shirt, very few wear long cloak (thob, kandoorah, dishdsha and so on and so forth) even for Juma prayer. Youngsters are commonly seen in their jeans-Tshirt combination. They do any work even what we call mean jobs. The only problem is their sloth that is identified with them, in stark contrast with their Indian counterparts. 30% of the total work force of our company is reserved for them; it is a norm in Libya. Blaming Libyans is the favourite pastime of even the laziest Indian in the company. It is already 11.00 in the night i.e. time to wind up. Insha Allah, next week on the first day of Ramadan I shall come to you with the new strips and tips. *PS: Ramadan is declared here beforehand as Libyans don’t wait for hilal to be seen bare eyes; directly resort to astronomic calculations. * Bye, -- Wassalam Arif Zain Tripoli, Libya 00218927291274 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! Visit: sultan.org Subscribe: [email protected] Post to group: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
