The lure of the land of the Pharaohs changed the trajectory of my trip to India from its regular course over Europe to one passing through Cairo, the capital city of Egypt. My Air France flight from Paris flew over the Alps, the French Riviera, the island of Corsica on the Mediterranean sea, and finally into Cairo at 8 in the night.

I had requested accommodation at a budget hotel via email a week earlier. The hotel was located in the city near a junction called Midan Talaat Harb. I caught a cab from the airport and started experimenting with the art of bargaining, necessary to survive in Cairo. The cab driver wanted 35 Egyptian pounds for the 22-kilometer drive. We settled for 30.

I started testing the waters with the few words of Arabic that I had learnt. I asked the cab driver what his name was (ismak eh?). The driver became friendly and started talking about the orientation of the city and pointed out landmarks during the drive.

I asked to be dropped at Midan Talaat Harb and started searching for my hotel, a city map in hand. I found a dilapidated ancient building at the hotel's street address. The stairs were dark and deserted. After climbing a few flights, I saw a light in a corner room where a girl sat sewing. I communicated in sign language that I was looking for a hotel; but failed to elicit any response. After climbing around 12 flights of stairs, I found the place that I was looking for - a set of four rooms in a portion of a floor. The owner of the hotel was a friendly man named Yousif, who was in his mid-thirties. He recognized me from my email and welcomed me. He had an internet-connected computer hooked up in his tiny office. My room had tall windows embellished with Arabian-style curtains and a tiny glass enclosure containing a shower. There was a common toilet outside.

I took a shower and set out into the night to get a first feel of Egypt. I had heard from an Egyptian friend about a vegetarian dish called koshari - a mixture of lentil, rice and chickpeas, topped with fried chips and sauce. After a search that elicited a series of musical la (no) responses, I found a roadside shop that served the dish. The shopkeeper asked me whether I was Turkish. When I responded that I was from India, he proclaimed his admiration for Amitabh Bachchan. Amitabh Bachchan is popular in Egypt, but his films are not the only Indian hue in Cairo - one can also occasionally spot Bajaj Chetaks and Maruti cars on the roads.

Cairo seemed a bit more expensive than India. A liter of petrol was costing around an Egyptian pound a little less than 8 Indian rupees. The koshari cost 2.2 pounds, while a glass of banana juice was worth 1.75 pounds. Egyptian pound fractions like 25 pts and 50 pts are widely circulated as currency notes - a tourist needs to be careful not to mistake the pts notes for the pounds.

Egypt has a land area of one million square kilometers, approximately a third of the size of India. The country has a population of around 65 million, so there are around as many Egyptians as there are Tamilians. Ninety nine percent of the Egyptian population inhabits five percent of the land area. More than a quarter of the population lives in greater Cairo.

I took a walk past Midan Tahrir, the main downtown area, to a bridge over the legendary Nile. Egypt is called the Gift of the Nile since her culture and fortunes have always been inextricably linked to this river.

I lay down on a bench on the riverbank. It was 10.30 in the night. A man was fishing nearby. An Egyptian dressed in flowing Arab attire was walking past. A boy entrusted with buying tea was staring absently at the Nile and stealing occasional sips from the glasses on his tray. I lay gazing at the stars till I started to get drowsy. I trudged back to my room and went to sleep.

A Bridge Over the Nile

The next morning I walked to the famous Egyptian museum, known locally as Al-Mathaf. The museum contains over a hundred thousand relics from every phase of Egyptian history.

Egyptian history starts around 5000 years ago in the year 3000 BC when Menes unified Upper and Lower Egypt and established a kingdom with the capital at Memphis, twenty-four kilometers south of modern day Cairo. This period, referred to as the 'Old Kingdom', lasted for a thousand years and witnessed the construction of the remarkable Pyramids, which were funerary complexes for the Pharaohs. The step pyramid at Saqqara was build around 2630 BC, while the famous pyramids at Giza were built around 2500 BC. The period known as the 'Middle kingdom' lasted for the next 500 years and saw more temple and tomb building. The 'New kingdom' followed the Middle kingdom and is generally regarded as the golden age of the Pharaohs. The mummies in the Egyptian museum belong to various kings of this period.

Embalmed in the museum's mummy room, were the bodies of eleven of Egypt's most illustrious Pharaohs - the nails, skin, tooth and hair were clearly visible. One of the mummies in the room was that of Ramses II. It was hard to believe that right before my eyes was the body of the man who is believed to have been king during the time when Moses led the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land. Ramses was ninety-six years old when he died. He is said to have fathered more than a hundred children. The room also contains the mummified body of his father, Seti I.

The King Tutankhamun section of the museum exhibits the fabulous treasures found inside the tomb of the child king Tutankhamun, who ruled for nine years in the 14th century BC. Tutankhamun became famous when his tomb was discovered in 1922. The star attraction in the Tutankhamun section is the death mask that was found on the head of his mummy. It is made in gold and weighs 11 kilograms. Also impressive, is the innermost of the three coffins that held the body - it is made in solid gold and weighs 110 kilograms.

Other major exhibits in the museum include the statue of King Zoser, statues of Sphinxes, Greco-Roman artifacts, ancient Egyptian jewelry, Pharaonic technology, and animal mummies.

The museum also houses relics of later Egyptian history. Here is a nutshell of post-pharaonic Egypt:

Alexander invaded Egypt in 332 BC and founded the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria. Ptolemy I, one of Alexander's generals succeeded him and founded the Ptolemaic dynasty. The transfer of power from the Greeks to the Romans is centered around the legendary Cleopatra. To survive against her brother Ptolemy XIII, she sought the help of Julius Caesar and they became lovers. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, she married Marc Antony. In 31 BC, Caesar's nephew Octavian defeated the Egyptian fleet and the Romans established themselves in Alexandria. During this period many Egyptians turned to Christianity. Around 640 AD, Arabs conquered Egypt. They brought Islam into the country and established themselves in present-day Cairo. Vasco Da Gama's discovery of an alternate sea route to India via the Cape of Good Hope in 1497 was bad news for Egypt, which was raking in taxes from ships sailing to the Red Sea through the Nile and a connecting canal. In 1882, the British took control of Egypt. During the Second World War, the German army under General Rommel pushed the British till Alexandria. After the war, the British continued their unpopular rule till Egypt became independent on the 26th of July 1952.

Gamal Nasser became President. He became an icon for the developing world after he successfully resisted European powers and nationalized the Suez Canal. Anwar Sadat succeeded Nasser. In June 1967, Israel mounted an attack on Egypt and destroyed the Egyptian air force. Egypt lost all its territories east of the Suez in the Sinai Peninsula. In October 1973, Egyptian forces launched an attack across the Suez and made gains against the Israelis. Though they were later beaten back, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for Egypt's acceptance of Israel's right to exist. One of the bridges over the Nile is named the '6th of October bridge' to commemorate the Egyptian army's attack on Israel in the Sinai. Another bridge is named the '26th of July bridge' commemorating Egyptian independence.

Sadat's successor, Hosni Mubarak, is the current President. One can see portraits and cutouts of Mubarak all over the city. The political system is still repressive and intolerant to dissent. There have been terrorist attacks in front of the Egyptian museum and in Luxor by dissident Islamists.

In the Egyptian museum, the exhibits were in chronological order, but most of the artifacts were not labeled. I had a guidebook which helped me sort through rooms and rooms of relics.

Having had my fill of the museum, I made my way through the '6th of October' bridge to the Cairo Tower, which stands on Zamalik, an island on the Nile. The tower is 187 meters tall, fifty meters higher than the highest pyramid. I climbed up the tower to get a panoramic view of the city. There was a telescope at the top and someone pointed out places like Mohammed Ali's Mosque and Al-Hussein's Mosque. The imposing bridges over the Nile could be seen close by. I took a few photographs of the sprawling scenery.

I walked back to the downtown area and decided to take a cab to Al-Hussein, the heart of Islamic Cairo. A cab driver demanded ten pounds. I offered to pay him half the amount and we finally agreed at six pounds. Once settled, the driver became very friendly and pointed out places of interest during the drive.

Islamic Cairo is another city by itself. All the trappings of modernity in adjacent downtown Cairo gives way here to images that one associates with historic Arabia. The streets in Islamic Cairo are several times more congested than the streets in Indian cities. This area is said to have one of the densest populations in the world. The drive was like a journey in the tales of the Arabian Nights. Run down, huge, ancient Arab-style buildings lined both sides of streets overflowing with people. The sight was especially unbelievable from the top of a fly-over that almost seemed to pass through the dilapidated houses and buildings that loomed all around.

I asked the driver to leave me at Midan Al-Hussein. I first went to the Al-Azhar Mosque and then to the Al-Hussein Mosque, which contains one of the holiest relics of Islam - the head of Al-Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed. The Prophet founded Islam in the early seventh century. After the Prophet died in 632 AD without naming a successor, the Ummayad clan assumed control of the Caliphate. They killed the Prophet's grandson in the succession war. The followers of Al-Hussein who believed that only the descendants of the Prophet could be the Caliph, came to be known as the Shiias. The followers of the Ummayads are known as the Sunnis. The Sunnis constitute ninety percent of the Muslim world. Most of the Egyptians are Sunnis, but Al-Hussein is respected since he was a blood relative of the Prophet. It was prayer time and I sat with the crowd and joined in the namaaz.

From the Al-Hussein Mosque, I walked to Khan al-Khalili, an immense conglomeration of shops and people. The narrow streets and alleyways were jammed with people trying to buy and sell. Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi seemed very thinly populated in comparison.

The roads were either unnamed or named in Arabic and there wasn't anyone on the streets who could speak English. The time was 5 in the evening and it was already dark. I managed to catch a cab and asked to be dropped at the Mosque of Mohammed Ali in the Citadel area of Cairo. The driver, Mohammed, insisted on speaking fluently in Arabic all the way despite knowing that I was following little of what he was saying.

The Citadel is on the eastern edge of the city and was home to Cairo's rulers for 700 years. Mohammed Ali's Mosque, Mohammed Pasha's mosque and the site of the Mamluk massacre are within this area. Mohammed Ali came to power in the beginning of the nineteenth century when the French left Egypt. In March 1811, he invited 500 Mamluk leaders to attend a grand day of feasting at the Citadel. After the feasting, they were led in a procession through a narrow path, from where gunfire was rained down on them. Not a single Mamluk escaped.

From the Citadel, I returned to my hotel at Midan Talaat Harb. Yousif, the hotel owner, informed us that if everyone staying there was interested, he could arrange for cheap group transportation to Giza, Saqqara and Memphis, the following day.

There were ten people staying at my hotel. There was a couple from Holland - the guy was a journalist and the girl was a spokesperson for a museum. Then there was a ski instructor and his girl friend from New Zealand. The ski instructor had been teaching in England for the past few years and was now returning back to New Zealand. The Kiwis were planning to travel to Luxor from Cairo and later to Port Said to see the Suez Canal. Another tourist staying at the hotel ran a youth hostel in the outskirts of London. After touring Egypt, he was planning to go to Aqaba in Jordan, and then on to Amman and Tel Aviv. Also in the hotel was an American couple honeymooning from Seattle. The wife was a Korean American engineer working at Boeing. She said her main hobby was cooking Indian dishes. All the hotel occupants accepted Yousif's offer.

Giza is only 10 kilometers southwest of Cairo, but the drive took us 45 minutes due to the heavy traffic. When the jeep took a turn, I got a sudden glimpse of the three gigantic pyramids. Having learnt about this wonder of the world right from childhood in school textbooks, it felt out of the world to actually see them right before me.

The Pyramids at Giza

The biggest of the three imposing pyramids in the Giza plateau is the pyramid of Cheops, which was built 4600 years ago. It is around 138 meters tall (it is estimated to have been 146.5 meters when it was built). The second biggest pyramid is that of Chephren, son of Cheops. This stands 136 meters tall. The smallest is the pyramid of Chephren's son, Mycerinus and has a height of 62 meters. Adjacent to each pyramid are funerary temples, pits to store solar boats, and a causeway to the Nile river. The boats were believed to be the means of transport to after-life for the Pharaohs. Each stone block used to construct the pyramids is over 5 feet high. Napoleon estimated that the blocks of stone that were used to construct the pyramid of Cheops were sufficient to build a wall three meters high around all of France.

To enter the interior of a pyramid, one has to climb down narrow steps through a low, dark passage. The long flight of steps leads to the tomb. Adjacent to the three big pyramids are the smaller Queen's pyramids.

Near the pyramids stands the legendary Sphinx - a structure with a woman's head and a lion's body. It is said to be carved out of one huge limestone, left over from the Cheops pyramid. It is 50 meters long and 22 meters high. The nose and beard are broken. A part of the beard is now in the British Museum at London.

From the 'Panorama point', one can see the three pyramids in a straight line on one side and the desert on the other. Sitting at the top of a nearby sand dune were two people wearing flowing Arab dress. They turned out to be Korean tourists. They said that the Taj Mahal was next in their tourism wish list and asked about visa procedures to visit India.

Egyptian traders sat in the sand selling cool drinks, while their camels relaxed nearby, their humps adorned with colorful clothes. Many tourists take camel rides, some all the way to the pyramids at Saqqara, which is 20 kilometers from Giza.

After wandering around for a few hours in Giza, I made my way to Saqqara. Numerous palm trees could be seen en route. The star attraction at Saqqara is the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, built 4700 years ago. The pyramid was built in six steps. With each step the architect gained in confidence and used newer techniques. Finally the pyramid was covered with fine limestone.

Zoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Located 20 kilometers south of Saqqara in a desert patch, is Dahshur, famous for the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid, built by Snefru, father of Cheops. The architect of the Bent Pyramid changed the incline of the pyramid halfway through construction. Some say the incline was changed to speed up construction because of the Pharaoh's sudden death.

I returned to Cairo in the evening and wandered around for a few hours. People sitting in front of roadside hotels smoking long hookah pipes were a common sight. The lawn in front of the Arab League building seemed to be a favorite haunt of students. I sat there till nightfall, watching the surrounding activity. The following day I was flying out of Egypt, but before I left I wanted to travel on the Cairo metro trains. I went to the Sadat station at Tahrir and bought a ticket to a station on the outskirts of the city.

The metro trains run underground only in the heart of the city. The trains are similar to Mumbai city trains, but much less crowded. There were two lines - someone said a third line was under construction. I got down at a station on the suburbs after spotting a fruit and vegetable market that reminded me of India. Business was booming even at that late hour. Later I caught a train back to Sadat station and walked to the banks of the Nile for one last time. Back at the hotel, I washed my shoes, which were filled with sand after the trip to the pyramids.

Early next morning, Yousif's driver dropped me at the airport. The exit formalities went on smoothly and soon I was on board my flight. The lady sitting next to me was a British widow in her eighties, who had spent 12 years working at the British High Commission in Karachi during the time of the partition of India. She told me how she had met her future husband at a function in Karachi. He was an Englishman working with the Imperial Bank of India (now the State Bank of India).

From the mummies in Cairo that dated back several millennia, to the grand old lady in my plane who charmed me with her stories that occurred half a century ago, this trip into time was fascinating. Equally intriguing is the fact that seemingly routine affairs of today will awe people several decades down the road and obsess mankind several millennia into the future.