Valentine’s Day at the Pyramids, Egypt — A Prelude
By: The Filmy Couple
Tags: Travel, Bollywood, Romance, Valentines Day, Egypt

Valentine’s Day at the Pyramids — Did it really happen?

Honestly speaking (in the most common corporate-ish style), NO! Even though we had planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day at the Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt, that was not to be. Though, for now let us take a few steps back, and get back to the why’s, what’s & where’s of our journey to the mystical land of the Pyramids itself.

So, why Valentine’s Day is important to us, The Filmy Couple? Well, actually we first started texting (that’s right) each other on Valentines’ Day. This was the era almost 10 years ago, when no WhatsApp or any other free messaging tools existed, and the only mechanism was to text. And it was a service offered by the telecom providers in India that we had to pay for. And since then we officially celebrate 14th February as the day we got to know each other, and hence the significance of Valentine’s Day (for us). Also, in a true filmy style, we texted poetries & filmy dialogues, that eventually became the very reason we got together. That was the starting point (looking backwards), of our filmy journey & a strong foundation of an interesting partnership. They say opposites attract, but we believe it on the contrary, all your life you try finding someone who is exactly like you. Hence, the seemingly trivial habit of texting each other film related dialogues, and lyrics from popular songs, kick started our likeness of each other.

What influenced us to celebrate Valentine’s Day at the Pyramids?

The answer lies in the song “Suraj Hua Maddham” from the movie Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (or K3G as popularly acryonmised). Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol romancing in this song with the backdrop of the mighty pyraminds, and the Black and White Deserts of Egypt, is a golden memory that every true Bollywood movie fan would revisit from time to time. Whether you are a romantic or not, this song has always remained as one of the top Shah Rukh Khan songs of all times. It has a big fan following the world over, and with 70 Million+ views on YouTube, 12,000+ comments and a song that attracts engagement even today from world over, it has surpassed expectations of everyone. When this song and movie released in the year 2001, it’s as if Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol almost climax after their romantic overtures in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) & Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Well, at least until almost two decades later when they got together yet again to do “Gerua” in Iceland, and it started an active discussion among fans, as to which song was better of the two. Many music aficionados praise Suraj Hua Madhham for it’s original melody, and Sonu Nigam who is our favorite singer as well, and some like Gerua more because of it being a superb visual treat. For history buffs, Egypt’s locations were the preference, however for travel and nature enthusiasts, Gerua did it! It’s always a topic of active discussion between fans, and even Quora. For us, both are inspirations to travel and we did travel to both locations to recreate the magic. “Suraj Hua Maddham” has stood the test of time, and remains a romantic classic for young and old, Indians & non-Indians Bollywood fans and die-hard romantics the world over.

So, is this reason enough for us to decide our next destination? You bet, it was. Destination Pyramids!

Date: 14th February

Time zones can play havoc with your sleep patterns, and to compound the effect if you take an early morning flight without much sleep the previous night (obviously the anxiety of travel & the fear of missing the flight, keeps us mostly awake!), you can imagine what can happen.

We planned to arrive in Cairo on the 14thFebruary just before noon, taking a Gulf Air hopping flight from Mumbai to Cairo, via Bahrain.

Landing around noon, and not having slept much on the airplane due to the excitement of actually being at the Pyramids on Valentine’s Day, we were quite sloshed out when we reached Cairo.

In Cairo

Not wanting to waste much time, using public transport (as we usually prefer even in a foreign land) was bypassed as an option, as there would be waiting for the bus to arrive, and the stops on the way would take more time than a direct point-to-point taxi ride. Hence, we took a very expensive 100 Egyptian Pound taxi ride to reach Zamalek, an uptown & supposedly hip locality where our Airbnb apartment was located. However, the Airbnb adventure was not without some drama. The host had actually put in a wrong address on the Airbnb website (same building, but wrong apartment number), and not having any local SIM or Data Cards, we were unable to reach the actual apartment. We walked around a bit, and no one was available to help out at the apartment reception. The only couple of people we bumped into didn’t understand a word of English, and we didn’t speak Arabic.

Help from Egyptian Ajnabi

We went to a small shopping complex that was next door, and chanced upon an antique/souvenir shop, and had a look of confusion and lost on our faces. Looking at us, the owner of this shop asked us if we were lost, with some broken English words and using hand gestures. We asked him (in fact, gestured), whether we can use his phone offering to pay for the services.

He gladly handed over his mobile phone, and helped us dial our host Kareem’s number, which was answered within the first few rings. After that, things were smooth. The shop owner realized that we were smiling in relief at having found the apartment number, and he smiled back at us. When asking him how much we should pay for the phone call, he only smiled back and uttered the word “Ajnabi” a few times, and throwing some air kisses. Being from India, and having heard this word in Hindi music as well as movies by this name, we thought “Ajnabi” is a stranger, however in the Arab world it means foreigner, and what he meant was that he loved to help a foreigner in his home country. He just handed over his business card, and gestured he would love our business if we wanted to buy something later, and drop by. We insisted on paying some cash, however he denied totally, and then asked “India India?” When we answered in the affirmative, he screamed “Ohh Amita Bachchan, Jackie Shroff”!! We knew he meant Amitabh Bachchan, of course (though he pronounced it differently) and that was just the first surprise we got from an Egyptian knowing about Bollywood film actors, even without understanding or speaking an inkling of Hindi. We smiled back, and thanked him profusely, as we would have been completely homeless if we were not to find our Airbnb hosted apartment. We were taken aback by the simplicity and helpful nature of this “Ajnabi” (a stranger for us). Such acts of kindness, is what makes the world go around, we truly believe!

After this drama, we checked in & met our nice host Kareem who apologized a lot, since he had missed out updating the address on Airbnb website. We were tired, and wanted to go see the Pyramids in the evening around 4 PM (so that we could be there when the Suraj i.e. Sun was actually setting, and becomes Maddham (mild, dim). We wanted to be there during the golden hour, see the sun set, and hold hands as Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol do in the song. Hence, we decided to take a quick nap, so that we will be fresh in the evening & look our best!

Big Mistake!

Correct, that afternoon nap happened to be our biggest mistake on Valentine’s Day. We were actually so sloshed out ,that we didn’t wake up to the alarm bell set on our mobile phone. We overslept, and how! Wait until you hear this! We actually got up with a start, almost past sunset realizing it only when the room was nearly dark (before sleeping, we had kept the curtains open just in case, to let the sun rays in as a part of our strategy to not get jet lagged into sleeping extra — apparently that didn’t work!). With the sun setting really fast, and engulfing the outdoors into golden hue, our chances to celebrate Valentine’s Day at the Pyramids also went down, with double the speed!

Hence, on the Valentine’s Day we realized the true meaning of “being in the moment”. We looked at each other, rubbing our eyes in disbelief, as well as coming to terms with reality

and thought, what if we couldn’t go to the Pyramids, what mattered most that we are together in this magical city of Cairo. So, we decided to shower, dress up in our best and walk around Zamalek. We started walking in the golden hour just after sunset, taking in the Egyptian culture, watching the local people move around. We selected a nice restaurant on the roadside, and sitting on an outdoor table by the calm waters of the River Nile, laughed at our crazy idea of sleeping for a short while, and ending up missing what we had planned for so long.

Longest Valentine’s Day Ever!

We watched the people pass by, doing their daily routines, and had a sumptuous Egyptian pizza. We also had our first sip of Mint Shai (Black Tea, with lots of sugar and fresh Mint Leaves served in cute little curved glasses), just as the locals do, and chatted up remembering our years of togetherness.

The wind picked up a bit and slowly the crisp air turned chilly, and while having the third cup of Mint Shai, we realized that we were actually in the longest ever Valentine’s Day of our lives. Since we woke up at 4:00 AM to catch the Gulf Air flight at ~6:00AM from Mumbai, Egypt being 3.5 hours behind India, and it was 7:30 PM Egypt time, apparently we had a Valentine’s Day that was 19 hours long, and we were still not done celebrating! For us, it was indeed a Wonder that happened right near to one of the ancient Wonders of the World i.e. The Pyramids, though we were not quite there yet!

Of course, the next stop was Giza & The Pyramids, one of the key reasons to visit Egypt, and it was the very next day — when the Suraj (Mr. Sun), decided to be full on Maddham, the whole day!

Watch out for Part 2 of this blog — Main Thehra Raha, Zameen Chalne Lagi — The Filmy Couple @ The Pyramids

Originally published at thefilmycouple.com.