IN THE LAND OF PHARAOHS

IN THE LAND OF PHARAOHS

        Since early childhood when we were told in the Primary School about the seven wonders of ancient world, I wanted to see them. In high school, I learned that only one of the wonders remains intact, the Great Pyramid; the others are either missing or exist only as ruins.

The dream laid dormant till I became a doctor and had enough disposable money but by that time due to other responsibilities, other holiday destinations and the political situation in Egypt, I kept postponing the visit to the Great Pyramid.

This year Bibha, my wife got the brochures on classical Egypt tours and booked a guided tour as a new year gift to me.  Our trip was booked to start on 10^th of March.

We were eagerly looking forward to this trip, reading the travel guides, checking the weather in Egypt and discussing what clothes to take there. Everything was going smoothly and as planned. And then….

Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu started  a war against Iran 12 days before we were due to fly. Soon the whole of middle east was engulfed.

Up to the last day we nervously kept on checking the U.K. Government Foreign Travel Advice page and avidly watching all the news and relevant social media channels. Fortunately, Egypt remained quiet, no missiles or drones transgressed its skies, and no immediate threats reported. We reached our hotel in Cairo in the midnight on 10^th as planned.

 In the morning we were greeted by a nice sunny warm day and a cheerful local guide, Mohammad, who remained with our group of eighteen, throughout the whole trip.

Very first morning we went to see the Great Pyramid, situated in the Giza plateau at the edge of Sahara Desert. I was so excited. Many a times a much-vaunted iconic tourist place fails to rise to the expectations, nothing like that here!

The Great Pyramid made for Khufu, 2^nd Pharaoh of fourth dynasty was as majestic and commanding as I had imagined since childhood. The perfect geometric proportions of this ancient monument at this grand scale lets you awe-stricken. The pyramid is 146 metres tall and each side at the base is 230 metres. I touched a stone at the base and imagined it being carved by a stonemason 5000 yrs ago!

There are two more huge pyramids in the vicinity, one made by son of Khufu, the 3^rd Pharaoh Khafre and the other by his grandson Pharaoh Menkaure. There are many smaller ones for their queens and important nobles.

The massive, Sphinx which have the body of a lion and a human head (said to be of pharaoh Khafre) is nearby.  After the great pyramids, this is the next most magnificent structure here. You cannot but admire those ancient architects, sculptures and engineers. 

One wonders how these people 5000 yrs ago built such massive structure.  Next day this mystery was solved.

Early morning next day, our guide took us to much older burial monuments in Saqqara and Dahshur areas of Cairo. There he showed us the Stepped Pyramid, and with a great flourish said that this pyramid holds the key to the mystery of The Great Pyramid. 

The Stepped Pyramid was built about 200 years before the grand pyramid. It was
the burial ground of Pharaoh Djoser the founder of the Third Dynasty, it was designed by his chief architect, Imhotep. It is made of six rectangular platforms of diminishing size, creating steps and reaching up to 60 metres. Each rectangle had evolved from earlier tombs (mastaba)which were made in the shape of rectangular mudbrick boxes with a flat roof and were only a metre or two high.

We saw another pyramid in Dahshur, Bent Pyramid. This was built after the stepped pyramid in a bid to create a smooth sided pyramid. It appears bent because the architect had to decrease the angle half-way for stability. This was built by pharaoh Sneferu father of Khufu. Its height is 104 metre.

From the experiences gained from these pyramids; architects were able to design and create the perfectly smooth surfaced Great pyramid for Khufu!

The Pyramids were not built by aliens or magic but by the unsatiable ambition and inquisitiveness of human beings. Their ability to learn from both, the successes and failures of past and their determination to persevere to reach their goals.

After 3 days exploring Cairo, we flew to Aswan for our Nile cruise for exploring the rest of the wonders of Classical Egypt along its banks.

 

 

NIGHT FESTIVITY: PRE AND POST LED STRINGS.

 

NIGHT FESTIVITY: PRE AND POST LED STRINGS.

Christmas is just three days away. Our small neighbourhood has turned into a fairy land. In the daytime it just looks as it always looked but as soon as the daylight is gone, it changes as if by magic. Almost every house is decorated with strings of twinkling lights in various configurations. Looks like millions of fireflies have descended and settled on every balcony, window, and bush.

In the town centre, things are even more exuberant and heavily illuminated.

Overhead strings of lights line every street, forming shapes like stars, angels, reindeer, Father Christmases, and flowers, all shining and twinkling. It looks like the whole town is beating excitedly, in anticipation of Christmas day. Despite all the problems which are still exactly as before, one cannot but feel happier when these little gems start twinkling at the sundown.

Decorations and lights were common in the past too, but never to this extent. There were much fewer lights and decorations in private homes except for a few very enthusiastic households.

This occurs worldwide, not only in developed countries. Of course, the occasions are different, according to the prevailing culture and religion. I remember as a child in India on Diwali, we used to count how many lights were put on ours and our friends' houses. But now they are countless on every building!
What made this possible is the invention and improvement in production of LED lights. It is safer and brighter. It is cheaper to buy and easy on electricity bills.

Putting the lights on, in the long darker and cold nights of winter feels uplifting and certainly increases the feeling of community in the neighbourhood.
But like most things in life, too much of anything is terrible.
This increase in external lighting certainly starts getting on the nerves if it becomes a regular phenomenon all the year around. All living beings have evolved with the rhythm of lighted days and darker nights. Their physical and mental well-being is dependent on this circadian bio clock. The darkness is essential to appreciate the beauty of these twinkling lights!

Christmas Lighting, A London Street

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

DRAWING A LINE IN THE SAND

 

DRAWING A LINE IN THE SAND

Drawing a line in the sand traditionally is a futile endeavour but now is the time when we need to draw a deep red line on its exploitation.

Last week before the winter sets in for good, I wanted to spread some sand on the lawn which helps the drainage of ample rainwater during the winter.

The price has gone up, no surprise there. When looking up for sand prices on the net I saw an interesting fact. Will you believe it! Sand is the most consumed natural resource, second only to water! The sand is an essential ingredient for concrete, asphalt, glass, and silicon, all building blocks of our modern civilization.

 According to a report by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) 50 billion tons are extracted every year and is increasing year on year, enough to build a wall 27 metres wide and 27 metres high around planet Earth. This equates to 18 kg per person per day.

I thought there is so much of it in the vast sandy deserts around the Earth and equally huge amount in the seas. Where is the problem! Those who know these things say these sands are different and are not suitable for making concrete. The desert sand is too smooth and too small and too rounded, and sea sand has a high salt and chemical content. The “Cinderella sand” that is most suitable as building material is the sand from rivers, coastal beaches and lakes and quarries. But this sand performs a vital role in preserving the ecosystems at macro and micro levels. Depletion of these pockets of sands greatly increases the chances of costal erosion and floods. It seriously endangers the marine and riverine fauna and flora, threatens the fisheries and increases the risk of salinization of freshwater aquifers¹.

What is more, in many countries its extraction is unregulated, or the regulations are poorly enforced. This leads to a proliferation of organised criminal gangs adding to people’s miseries.

This immense amount of sand used by us humans is clearly not sustainable. It is surpassing the Nature’s ability to replace it by the geological processes of breaking and grinding the rocks which takes several thousands to many millions of years.

UNEP produced a detailed report on Sand and Sustainability with strategic recommendations for averting a crisis in April 2022². Only lip service has been paid to it by the responsible authorities and the public alike.

Clearly time has come when we stop thinking of sand as an insignificant and of a low value commodity which we, the humans can exploit for our commercial interests without any care or consideration.

We MUST visualise it as an indispensable ingredient for our environment and as an endangered natural resource which demands the utmost respect and attention from us all.

 

 

REFERENCES

 1. “Reducing sand mining’s growing toll on marine biodiversity” by Aurora Torres, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Vera Van Lancker, Arnaud Vander Velpen and Jianguo Liu, 21 February 2025, One Earth.

One Earth | Vol 8, Issue 2, 21 February 2025 | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier

 

2. Sand-And-Sustainability-10-Strategic-Recommendations

Sand and Sustainability: 10 Strategic Recommendations to Avert a Crisis | UNEP - UN Environment Programme

LUCK, RANDOMNESS & PROBABILITY

   

LUCK, RANDOMNESS AND PROBABILITY 

      I was waiting for the result of an MRI scan. My doctor, yesterday, texted me, “got the result of the MRI and will ring you tomorrow in the morning.” No time given. I checked my phone when I got up today. I did not want to miss this call. I checked the volume on my phone. Asked my wife to make a call to me to make sure the network was ok, and my phone was working.

        I kept the phone in my pocket or in hand all the time. At 11:30 someone knocked at the door. The postman was there. He had a registered letter for me for which he wanted my signature. I put the phone on the console in the hallway. The letter was from HM Revenue and Customs. A registered letter from inland revenue. Something was serious. I took the letter in the study. Two pages, it took about five minutes to get through their jargon. It did not make a sense. I looked at the envelope. The letter was not for me! The name and address were for the next-door neighbour.

The postman had made a mistake. I put the letter back in the envelope. I went to the hallway to open the door and to drop the letter in my neighbour’s letterbox. I saw my phone on the console.

I have missed two calls from my doctor in those twelve minutes. Did he have to ring precisely in this time slot when I left my phone in the hallway? Did the postman have to make an error at that particular day and time? And me, why did I leave the phone in the hallway?

Anyway, I immediately rang back on the number from which the call was made. All I got after going through a choice of multiple options interrogations, was a recorded message “we are closed now, ring us between 10am and 12am Monday to Friday.” Tomorrow was Saturday. I will have to wait till Monday. What a bad luck, I felt angry, anxious, and sad.

Thinking calmly, I realised, no one was to be blamed. it has nothing to do with luck. Things happen, mostly randomly. It is we, who as individuals define them as good or bad in retrospect. I do not mean that because things happen randomly, we do not have to make any effort to achieve what we want, like Sant Maluka Daas “ अजगर करै न चाकरी, पंछी करै न काम। दास मलूका कहि गए, सबके दाता राम। “*

But We do have an agency. We must make every effort, take due care and diligence to increase the probability of the result going in our favour. This is what I mean by making one’s own luck. Of course, remember, probability is not surety! But it is far better than absolute randomness. 

 I should have kept my phone with me. I should have checked the address before signing for that letter. If I would have increased the probability of “good luck”!

*The python doesn’t plow, the bird doesn’t work. Maluka Daas says, God Ram is the provider for all”