Saturday, January 29, 2011

My Egyptian Adventures - Egyptian Museum

I woke up the next day and decided to spend the day in Cairo. (One of the best things about my holiday was that I planned each day as it came. I would wake up and decide where I wanted to go. No fixed itinerary.) I had to go to the local visa office to get a re-entry visa. I wanted to come back to Cairo from Israel because my flight back to India was from Cairo. I went to the Mugamma Building which was very close to my hotel. It was a HUGE building that immediately had the stamp of a government building on it. (Incidentally, it is outside this very building where there are massive protests happening as I write this.) I expected an orderly office where I could get my visa processed smoothly, but inside the building, it was complete chaos.

As you would expect in any govt office, they asked for lots of papers and proof and after half an hour of arguing that I just wanted a transit visa for half day(!!), I decided to give up. Heck, I was on a holiday and didn't want to waste time running to government offices.

I grabbed a quick bite from a road-side shop and crossed the road to step into the Egyptian Museum. Some four guides appraoched me one after the other, each with better sounding English than the previous. "Sir there are more than 1,00,000 items on display inside. I can show you exactly what is important and what you don't want to miss", the last one said. I refused politely and went inside. "If you change your mind, I will be right here sir", the last one shouted after me.

In your dreams.

If there was ever something called Musuem of museums, it had to be the Cairo Egyptian Museum. The museum is an antiquity in itself and about 100 years old! I went inside and immediately got lost. I had no clue if I had to start from the left or from the right! There were huge statues with long stories beside each of them. I started reading them and I could hear the guide's words in my mind "There are more than 100,000 items sir".

Was I going to read all of them?

I swallowed my ego and asked a guard to help me find a guide. And you guessed it right. It was the same guide who said be would be waiting for me. "I told you you will change your mind", he said, offering his hand. "Mahmud". "Balajee", I offered my hand, smiling weakly.

"The charge is 100 pounds per hour sir." He looked at his watch and said "We still have 2 hours before closure and I can show you a lot of stuff before that. Would you like to go for a one hour tour or full two hours? I would suggest you go for the full tour."

Of course, you would suggest that.

My mind was in a confusion. I was just in my third day of my holiday and I had already spent quite a bit of money. But I was also in a world famous museum with someone who could probably give me inputs that could help me understand everything that I would see in the next two weeks.

I made up my mind. "Ok, show me around for two hours", I said.

"Excellent", he said. "You will not regret this. This way, please. Would you like some gum?" he offered and led me to the left side of the museum. (I was about to begin from the right side on my own).

"This is a statue from 2700 BC..."

And yes sir, I did not regret my decision. For the next two hours, the guide took through a fantastic ride back into history. He started with the old kingdom, explained the meanings of different types of crowns, beards, Upper and Lower Egypt (which meant southern and northern Egypt respectively because the Nile flows from south (Up) to north (Down), the meanings of Papyrus and Lotus, how Ramses II became close to God, why King Tut was so famous, what each position of statue meant (walking, standing, sitting, in the sphinx position). Phew!

It was worth every single pound spent. This info helped a lot when I went to Abu Simbel and Aswan to understand the Egyptians obsession with the Nile and the mummification process. Speaking of mummies, the museum was the only place outside of the Valley of Kings and Queens that had mummies.

There is a whole section of the museum dedicated to King Tutankhamon and it is nothing short of spectacular. In 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter stumpled upon one of the most brilliant discoveries ever made in the history of mankind. Everything that King Tut used in his life is displayed in this section. Pots, jugs, jewelery, weapons, dress..it was nothing I had experienced before. In the middle of the room is King Tut's mask made of pure gold staring at you with its blue eyes. I cannot find enough adjectives to describe that look.

The Egyptians loved this king so much that they wanted him to live after he was dead. So they made an exquisite mask that looked exactly like him, so that the gods of afterlife would recognize him immediately and bring him back to life without wasting any time (All this for a king who ruled from the age of 9 to 19!). I could not take my eyes of the arresting blue eyes of the mask. Reluctantly I stepped out of the room where my guide was waiting. He asked "Did you enjoy it?" I nodded, somewhat still in a daze. "Are you ready for the mummies?"

"Mummies?"

"Yes sir. In there", he said pointing to a different room. "There are 11 mummies in there, including Ramses II. But you have to buy a separate ticket for that 100 pounds. Or I can give you a CD that has all the pictures of the mummies plus a lot more about this museum."

By this time, I had suspended my thoughts on my budget. I was still in a daze.

How could the Egyptians have been so advanced 3000 years back? I have been boasting India is an ancient land, but I could not recollect anything parallel in Indian history (India supporters, including myself, please hold your defense for sometime.)

I wanted to see the mummies. "Ok sir, you have to buy the ticket here. The mummies are on your left. I tell you sir, you will not be ready for it when you see it", he said. The warning sounded funny because I thought I was primed to see the mummies after seeing King Tut's mask. I was ready.

I went inside a room dimly lit with orange light. I deliberately avoided looking inside the glass cages until I was close enough to see clearly. I turned a corner around a pillar and I looked down at the first glass cage.

I was not ready for what I saw. It was a scene out of a horror movie. The thing inside was lying with protruding teeth and sunken cheeks. Scrawny fingers were pointing upwards and it looked like a tightly clothed skeleton.

MUMMY OF RAMSES II said the little sign on top of the glass cage. I could not bear to see the mummy yet I could not take my eyes away from it. It was nothing like I had seen before. It looked like a corpse of an old man. All its features were clearly identifiable. Eyes, mouth, fingernails, toes. I could even see the white hair!

This was RAMSES the second! The greatest king to have ever ruled on earth! The king whom Moses treated as his brother as shown in The Prince of Egypt! The king whose statues are there all over Egypt!(See his mummy here).

There were 10 other mummies in the room but nothing was as arresting as Rameses'. Everything else that I saw after that was all hazy and I can barely recollect what I did after that, except that I paid the guide, thanked him profusely and left.

I was still in a daze...

...to be continued (Pyramids!)

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