Most of the answers came with stories of a sister or a close friend who has suffered or caused suffering. At other times, conversations were interrupted by abrupt departures and arrivals. The train was about to leave. A flood of lifetimes seemed to drown me in dreams and realities.
First impressions are tricky.
You would have thought so too if you had seen the man who said he was 100 years old, married 16 times and the father of over 50 children. He looked 60, was dressed rather humbly, and the fact that he was waiting for the train to take him to Zaqaziq made me wonder about his two cars left back home. THE IDEA of asking people their opinion as part of a general study is a little odd to many Egyptians. Many thought we were salespeople, social security workers, state security or even crooks or pick-pockets. Women from Upper Egypt were especially afraid.