Sooted London

The title I originally used for this piece was "To London With Love. Not very original title I am afraid, a bit clichéd drawing on the Ian Fleming book, To Russia with Love. Nevertheless London is a great place of mystery and excitement, a place where you can ravel in its intricacies, its streets, alleyways, traffic jams, people and much more.

Even today I can see the soot on my hands, between my fingers, under my fingernails and on my skin as I cross from one underground to another, and helplessly, tirelessly move from one platform to the next dragging my feet along endless corridors, stairways and escalators.

I remember the ach, the soreness and all the fatigue of its long distance travels in its world famous department stores and bookshops.

I remember Earls Court, South Kensington, Hyde Park and Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus. I remember Leicester Square and yes, Soho, the place noted for its sordidness, but of its Chinatown and flourishing community.

I love London because it imposes itself upon me and my limbs, dominating my being and my existence, my life and my thought processes, how I think, what I think, where I go is connected to its roads and neighborhoods to Westminster, St Paul's Cathedral and its Stock Exchange.

When I am in front of Big Ben I feel small, minuscule compared to its hugeness, awing it reverence, excitement, salvation as it is the bride of the world especially as I touch upon the Thames River and travel through it while viewing the houses of Parliament, richness of the House of Lords with its thick red carpets and the commonality of the House of Commons.

I want to feel that when I look at Arab cities like Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Damascus, Riyadh, Kuwait, Dubai and Sanaa and Aden. Enough of the emptiness, enough of the vacuums in our souls, enough of our hearts being torn asunder as we watch our lives like a film reel disappearing in front of our eyes.

We have to return to God and our identity, to our value system and traditions because in them we become strong and stamp our feet on history and make it.

Then I will love London and Paris and New York even more, I will love their streets , museums, diners and everything thing else about them because we would no longer feel jealous of their past glories, their present and future.

London however, will remain in my psyche because of its traditions and character, its liveliness and headaches, memories that will ever remain in one's mind.