Reflection 60 – The Little Child That (Still) Lives Inside Me

Now this is probably a different and maybe bit surprising reflection for those who don’t know me closely .
As a young child and probably well into my teenage years, I was in love with Egyptian plays (masraheyyat). I loved them so much so that they all got engraved into my mind. Even as I grew older (and more serious for some reason ), I could easily recollect any of them after 30+ years. I honestly don’t know the reason but probably comedy stuff sticks easily into our minds. For some of my school friends (who were similar addicts), it was very common for all of us to drop a line here or there whenever the situation necessitates it. It was basically our common dialogue! I would assume by now that many of you didn’t expect or see this side from me. But for better or worse, this is THE REAL ME . As I grew older and began my professional life, things became different. I didn’t have people, who were on similar wavelengths. This meant that I usually would end up remembering a line or so in different situations, which would keep me smiling or laughing totally on my own. Silly Me .
What made me think of this reflection, some of the situations I go through and that automatically trigger some part of a play. Probably as many of you know me by now, I love to relate between different stuff and events. So here we go… In one of my favorite plays (Sok 3ala banatak), the father “Fouad ElMohandes” has many encounters with the young, naive researcher and student “Sameh or Ahmad Rateb”. The father has a strong personality and the other guy has a pretty weak personality, which the father manipulates somehow. In one of those funny moments, the father displays extreme courtesy by always offering him different options about where to sit, what to eat, etc. Basically, he always offers him two options to choose from, and whenever that poor guy chooses something, the father decides to do exactly the opposite disregarding his choice! I sometimes feel I am like that poor guy . Shortly before I lost my voice, I had a non-Egyptian carer who helped me in different things. Given that my speech was not clear anymore, I would in many times find myself being asked about different stuff, and once I answer, I find myself with something different than what I was looking for!
Of course, this was taken to a different stage when I lost my speech. Now it‘s very common that I get asked by those helping me about what I want from two options. And then the moment, I try to communicate my preferred option, I am usually given the other option . This is when I always remember “Sameh”, that poor guy who was never offered his first option! Next time, if you see me laughing on my own… No, I‘m not crazy; I just remembered one of those funny scenes and I am enjoying the laugh inside of my mind .