I walked down the Muski last night, that very busy shopping street, fewer people than usual because of the black out but mostly business as usual under gas lanterns, the crowd moved in slow motion and I almost floated through. I was very light headed, maybe because it was twilight but a good feeling and I was happy to be where I was. I wait a long time for moments like that, but I wish I’d had some hash to smoke.
-Letter Home, November 5, 1978
In Cairo, in a slow-moving Crowd, a Zahma, me just going with it, me just pushed by it, was like a tree in a lava flow burning to ash, a glacier stone scratching all in its path, a big wave surfer hotdogging in froth. If you didn’t mind stepping on people and saying, Āsif, Āsif…Sorry, Sorry.