Seen on the Scene
Before we know it was Thursday again, and after a mundane existence of a 9 to 5 routine every single day of the week, any change was welcome, or rather anticipated.
And then between a glory long passed its prime and a group of francophile fairies trying to revive it, there at the old colonial part of downtown, a renovated bar became the next hot gay spot in the past 5 years (which is like 100 years in gay years).
Thanks to the efforts and discipline of those fairies, this fancy bar became a hot spot and for months now the entire gay scene was spotted either going there or going out of there.
I dismissed the whole notion as ridiculous.
I despise the wistful nostalgia to a past long gone and holding to its decaying vestiges. Colonialization came and went, and it was consistently fought and removed, and soon withered away. Deal with it!
But holding on with dear life and trying to recreate a whole setting that is no longer there is deeply disturbing.
I think no one really overcame their colonialization. Everyone internalized it and keeps projecting it in different prisms.
Colonialization or not, I was coaxed by Kiki to actually go and check out the place. She insisted that if we didn't like it, we can always get trashed somewhere else.
I grudgingly agreed.
I was secretly very curious to see that new "it place" and where all the queens are convening!
And in a very classic spot, with a very neo-classical interior, reminscent of Jacobian Building and with the same exacting trepdation that the police will raid the place any moment, we went in.
The place was packed with queens.
I haven't seen so many gay people in the same place since the party of the season, the entire scene can be seen right there!
It was a surreal moment.
The place, the history, the people, me and Kiki and our friends.
All of it.
I was slightly taken back, a little intimedated too as well. I am not used to witnessing all these people being present in a "public domain".
It was a contestation of space, I have not experienced in Cairo before, and the only time I did experience it was in Berlin, in the Christopher Strasse parade.
But Berlin is a gay heaven, and haven, both at the same time.
And I never felt so safe in my life, like I felt in Berlin.
Cairo is a whole different matter.
So witnessing that in Cairo, was a whole different experience.
After enough booze anything is interesting and fun, and I had my share of poison and was ready to sink in the scene.
It felt like being in a virtual reality game, suddenly cyber-identities materialized and took shape and form, depth and dimension before my very eyes.
There was the elusive Cancerian, the psychotic Capricorn, the old Leo friend, the twisted Scorpio, all of cyberspace was transferred to the downtown space!
And I still felt awkward, and it still felt eerie.
I was dreading the fact that this steamy joint might get busted soon.
Who knows, some vicious queen might go report it, just to spite everyone!
Kiki wasn't thrilled with the scene, I was getting weary of all the memories and the people I wish I could smash their skulls with an axe.
So off we go!
Just about the time, when the party was "kicking in".
My awkwardness aside and the psychotic gentlemen who populate the scene, we must applaud the efforts of all those queens out there who made this reality possible, way to go girls!
And then between a glory long passed its prime and a group of francophile fairies trying to revive it, there at the old colonial part of downtown, a renovated bar became the next hot gay spot in the past 5 years (which is like 100 years in gay years).
Thanks to the efforts and discipline of those fairies, this fancy bar became a hot spot and for months now the entire gay scene was spotted either going there or going out of there.
I dismissed the whole notion as ridiculous.
I despise the wistful nostalgia to a past long gone and holding to its decaying vestiges. Colonialization came and went, and it was consistently fought and removed, and soon withered away. Deal with it!
But holding on with dear life and trying to recreate a whole setting that is no longer there is deeply disturbing.
I think no one really overcame their colonialization. Everyone internalized it and keeps projecting it in different prisms.
Colonialization or not, I was coaxed by Kiki to actually go and check out the place. She insisted that if we didn't like it, we can always get trashed somewhere else.
I grudgingly agreed.
I was secretly very curious to see that new "it place" and where all the queens are convening!
And in a very classic spot, with a very neo-classical interior, reminscent of Jacobian Building and with the same exacting trepdation that the police will raid the place any moment, we went in.
The place was packed with queens.
I haven't seen so many gay people in the same place since the party of the season, the entire scene can be seen right there!
It was a surreal moment.
The place, the history, the people, me and Kiki and our friends.
All of it.
I was slightly taken back, a little intimedated too as well. I am not used to witnessing all these people being present in a "public domain".
It was a contestation of space, I have not experienced in Cairo before, and the only time I did experience it was in Berlin, in the Christopher Strasse parade.
But Berlin is a gay heaven, and haven, both at the same time.
And I never felt so safe in my life, like I felt in Berlin.
Cairo is a whole different matter.
So witnessing that in Cairo, was a whole different experience.
After enough booze anything is interesting and fun, and I had my share of poison and was ready to sink in the scene.
It felt like being in a virtual reality game, suddenly cyber-identities materialized and took shape and form, depth and dimension before my very eyes.
There was the elusive Cancerian, the psychotic Capricorn, the old Leo friend, the twisted Scorpio, all of cyberspace was transferred to the downtown space!
And I still felt awkward, and it still felt eerie.
I was dreading the fact that this steamy joint might get busted soon.
Who knows, some vicious queen might go report it, just to spite everyone!
Kiki wasn't thrilled with the scene, I was getting weary of all the memories and the people I wish I could smash their skulls with an axe.
So off we go!
Just about the time, when the party was "kicking in".
My awkwardness aside and the psychotic gentlemen who populate the scene, we must applaud the efforts of all those queens out there who made this reality possible, way to go girls!
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