The Picture of Dorian Gray

I've never read the book, nor do I know what it talks about. But the title fits this post, for reasons I prefer to keep to myself…

I first met him at the bank where he was our client, a regular. I’d see him at least several times a week and I’d often take care of his customary banking transactions. He’d always thank me, ending with “God bless you, dear” and inside I’d smile for having satisfied a customer…

He wasn't that old, but he wasn’t young either. He was 73, with the spirit of a man twenty years younger than that. He was accurate and well-organized, always jotting down notes and numbers in his big black notebook. He was a rare gentleman, and sincerely I liked him…

And then I read his name, and the news of his passing. A heart attack…

I shivered. I had just seen him less than 24 hours ago, and he seemed absolutely fine. And now, just like that, I was never going to see him again…

I suddenly became more aware of my own heart beating in my chest cavity. I could feel the blood flowing through my veins and arteries, and all the other organs and vessels inside the human body, how they all function in perfect symmetry with each other… until one day, they stop…

But there’s something soothing about the Quranic verse, “إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون” which translates into “We belong to God, and to Him we shall return…”

Rest in Peace, K.M.A. 1939 - 2012

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Pictures from Tripoli’s Car Free Day!

So, I know this is a few days overdue, but as I’d posted last week, last Sunday was “Tripoli and Mina’s Car-Free Day”, and what a day it was! I spent most of it at our BankMed stand, handing out gapples (organic apples), which were, all bias aside, the best tasting apples I've ever had!

I also got the chance to see Mr. President Michel Suleiman up close in the VIP section, and I got these two shots of him:

All in all it was a wonderful day, and it was beyond wonderful seeing Tripoli actually car-free! And instead of it being an annual event, I really hope it’s done a lot more often than that… :-)

Shoot As You Walk (Ramadaniat 2)

From last night, I have a story to tell. It’s not very often (in fact, it’s the first time) that I come back from a “Shoot As You Walk” adventure with more words than pictures. I’ll be honest, I’m not as satisfied with the pictures I took last night (damn you, night mode! :-P) as I was with the pictures I took last time. But in terms of the path we took, our encounters, and meaning, it was one of my favorite...

I took my brother along, who was surprisingly quite enthusiastic to join us in Shoot As You Walk Ramadaniyat 2 (and I’m really glad he did, as you’ll soon read). We even ended up being the first to arrive! But, to keep our wait entertaining, these nearby dudes (who apparently own a music shop) blasted us some Lebanese Rap Music which I could help but laugh so hard at! It’s a song called “Ashta W 3assal” which I heard for the first time last night. And as vulgar as the song is, it’s quite catchy (click on the name of the song to listen to it in YouTube).

Anyway, after about five or six replays of the song, the entire group had gathered and we took off. But soon enough, we found ourselves being led up a building staircase. Where on earth were we going?! No later than we had reached the first floor, there was an open door which led outside, to the parking lot of another building. “Nour!” exclaimed my brother, “do you know where we are?” The place looked familiar, it was white and relatively new, and then, I looked over towards the building behind the garage, and that’s when it hit me! My paternal grandparents’ (may they RIP) house! I felt a flush of old memories coming back to me and balcony I was looking at was the balcony I used to stand on and look out from, the balcony Gran used to stand on and wave to us from. We exited the garage and I found myself back on the familiar street. I crossed over and took a snapshot of the old entrance. It’s too dark to see, but just looking at that old wall reminded me of good times…

As we walked on to “Bab El Ramel” the streets were starting to get overcrowded with people. Remember the picture I took of the old street with Musa Café? Well, this is the heart of it, alive on Ramadan Nights:

After making our way through the crowd of cars and people, towards the end of the street, a little boy came up to us, asking if we wanted to buy ka3ek. I looked at him and couldn’t help but smile, it was the familiar little souk boy I had seen once and twice before! I asked if I could take a picture of him and he gladly agreed, striking his menacing bad boy pose next to my brother (who asked me to crop him out of the picture, but no can do bro!) :-P

I’ve never had such a meaningful “Shoot As You Walk” adventure. And even if I had taken zero photos, I still would have come back quite satisfied, because to me it’s not just “Shoot As You Walk”, it’s also “Admire As You Walk” :-)

SAVE AYA

So, who is Aya? “_There happily lived a loving family in a below average home outside Beirut and they were blessed with a beautiful little girl called Aya… She was born with a dying liver… With the support of her family she decided to fight, and up until the age of 7, that worked…

Then Aya stopped going to school, afraid her deformities would scare her classmates. But deep down inside, they actually scared her, driving her to pull out clumps of her own hair in anguish…

AYA IS NOW 13 AND SHE HAS NO MORE FIGHT LEFT IN HER…

She has 5 months left to live unless she gets $50,000 for a liver transplant…”

To tell the truth, I first heard about the “Save Aya” campaign through Mind Soup back in mid-October. I read more on the official site and smiled for the running of a good cause. And then, I forgot about it. A couple of days ago, I was reminded of it again through Gino's tweet. And after reading his blog post, I thought “I CAN SAVE AYA TOO!” So without a second thought, I pulled out the donation information and sent an OPO for Aya…

Honestly, it’s through little posts and pictures like the ones found here that inspire you to make a difference. And just like Gino’s post inspired me to help, I hope this inspires some readers to help too…

You can Donate Online through Bank Audi, Offline through Banque Libano-Francaise (Hep Attitude Positive / IBAN LB 48 0010 0000 0000 0001 2291 8939), or if you’re in Beirut through donation boxes available at CashUnited ABC Achrafieh and City Mall…

Only 40 days are left! Spread the word, help save a life… :-)

Time To Run

I woke up at 7:30 this morning, excited to run! Diala passed by my house and we walked together to the starting line where we met Ymn and her sisters and Dina. It was a fun run but the sights and sounds of Tripoli are something else. I’ve selected three of the highlights of our run/walk:

A cow, a robot, and a dancing dude at a marathon… who’d have thought? :-P