Tuesday, November 07, 2006

chicken innard projectile

Brian took me to the Friday Market in Cairo. In the market, you can buy fish:


and birds:


and view impressive feats of balancing:


A cluster of four women in dark Muslin garb were cutting up a chicken. You can see the chicken on the table in this photo:


The woman furthest away saw my camera and spoke in Arabic to the others. They turned to look. Five seconds later, one of them hurled a piece of chicken innard at me, missing me by only a couple of inches.

JTR asked me which chicken part they threw. I didn't look! Something told me it wouldn't be a good idea to chase down the chicken part, and then lean way over to take a photo of it, with my back to the women and their chicken carcass.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you feel bad for dropping in and acting in a way that (apparently) upset and angered people, or was it just more wacky hijinks for you?

Anonymous said...

you said: "Something told me it wouldn't be a good idea to chase down the chicken part, and then lean over to take a photo of it with my back to the Muslim women."
Did you mean to imply that Muslims are somehow more dangerous, especially with your back turned. I am sure your first reaction, will be something like "Of course not, I am not a racist". But think about it for a moment afterwards.

N said...

re: Khalid's racism question. No, it was supposed to be funny and evoke the image of a foolish tourist holding very still and leaning over, in prime position for the women to aim another chicken innard. I will reword it to be more clear.

Anonymous said...

I am a woman and from a minority.. and I cannot believe that every little comment can be taken as a racist one now!! Come on people, Please! we have to be more tolerant and that also means not being paranoic all the time analyzing everything to find something racist. Let's enjoy a good reading as it is! Almost every little phrase can be ambiguous now and be taken according to other ppl interests! We cannot live always like that! Is not sustainable! We are all humans... that share the same air and drink the same water! Let's respect each other for what we are and be more open minded please!

Anonymous said...

Khalid: not only that, she would be aiming her bottom at those women. Seriously.

Aakash Mandhar said...

Shoo.. tourist don't you dare take snaps of me cutting chicken. I don't want no competition in the business. This business ain't big enough for the both of us.

I wonder why she threw the chicken at you?

Anonymous said...

too bad she only throw pieces of chicken. Imagine if after missing you with the chicken innards, she threw the whole chicken at you. *Thwack*

LoL. that'll be funny... but maybe she will go bankrupt soon if she threw one at tourist each time. Lol.

Anonymous said...

Thank you and I am quite sorry if I over-reacted. I did not mean to be ungracious. It really is about all the other times that we have to remind others that Muslim does not equal dangerous. I know that group does not include someone as well-traveled and thoughtful as you.

I do enjoy your writing. That is why I visit so often. Keep up the great work.

Anonymous said...

Khalid: I don't think she decided they were dangerous because they were Muslim. I think she decided they were dangerous because they threw chicken innards at her!

Anonymous said...

Khalid is one of those annoying people who insist upon "political correctness" over logic. It's hypocritical and stupid.

Anyway, my point is that Niniane, you wear too much blue eyeshadow. Blue eyeshadow is for blonde/blue people. Brown is much more flattering on dark eyes. Actually, I've seen a few pictures of you with no makeup on at all, and I think you look better. Painted faces are so weird.

N said...

To the last anonymous:

Khalid posted a followup comment with a gracious explanation, so don't be so hard on him!

Regarding eye shadow, I look terrible in brown eye shadow. It looks like someone hit me in the eye. Blue is much better.

Thank you for the kind comment re: no-makeup. From trial and error, I've decided light-makeup looks better than no-makeup, which looks better than too-much-makeup.