The End of the Ancient Egypt civilization:the Mystery

There are huge similarities between the Ancient Egyptian religion and Hinduism.  The temples of Luxor and Karnak remind me of Indian temples.  Of course the Egyptian temples are at least 2000 years older than the oldest surviving Indian temple, and are built on a much grander scale than any existing Indian temple.

And then there are the other similarities - especially the startling parallels in the various forms God is depicted in  the ancient Egyptian religion, and in Hinduism. In fact there are so many similarities between the 2 religions, that it is not possible to cover all the similarities in a small blog post.

What puzzles me is : How did a religion that existed for more than 3000 years simply suddenly disappear by the 2nd century AD? The Egyptian civilization was supposed to be the most powerful and wealthiest - but it just crumbled away suddenly, and not a living trace exists of it now.  Only a few of the temples survived thanks largely due to being buried under the sands for thousands of years, before being re-discovered recently.

I checked with our very knowledgeable Egyptologist guide - but he could not come up with any convincing reason.  The only explanation he could come up with was that the ancient Egyptian religion was not a religion, but was a degenerate civilization which crumbled in the face of a superior monotheistic religion (Christianity - which was largely supplanted by Islam later.)

To me this does not seem like a convincing explanation for the sudden death of the ancient Egypt religion/civilisation.  If that is indeed the explanation, then how come Hinduism still survives as a vibrant way of life despite its exposure to Islam and Christianity over a thousand years ago when Hinduism was in an advanced state of decline? Is it because Hinduism has a strong philosophical under-pinning (e.g. the Bhagwat Geeta and the Vedas)?  But then possibly even the Egyptian religion too might have had it in the ancient times - though no evidence exists.  Or is it Hinduism's famed flexibility to adapt to existential challenges, and to be re-born in new avatars that is responsible for its survival e.g. the famous 13th century revival movement (the Bhakthi movement) which cleaned up many of the ills plaguing Hindu society?

Anyway this is not a discussion on India.  For me the puzzle is about why a religion which flourished for 3000 years just completely vanished abruptly in a matter of less than 100 years. So far I have not found any convincing reasons for its demise anywhere on the net.  My own personal hypothesis is that the ancient Egypt religion had - just before it vanished - degenerated into a personality cult for the kings - and that the temples were just a means to propagate their own divinity.  And as with any personality cult, when the personality dies, the cult too dies, and a new thought/belief system rushes in to fill the vacuum.

There is a lesson to be learnt here.

Anyway, I hope one day I will know the real answer.

Egypt Luxor Cruise - worth doing it again?

So many places to see in this world and so little time and money - is it worth repeating places that you had  already visited?

There are a few historical destinations that are worth a repeat visit.  The Taj Mahal in Agra is definitely one such destination - every visit exposes you to a different facet of the magnificent mausoleum.  The other historical destinations worth re-visiting are the ancient temples of Egypt in Aswan and Luxor.

We are just back from such a visit - our previous visit was 7 years ago. This time we did this during peak summer - and got virtually baked under the 45 degree heat.

I am glad on hind-sight that we did this again - everytime I see these magnificient temples (most of which are more than 4000 years old), I am amazed at what this ancient civilization achieved - and about how mortal even the most powerful civilization is.  As usual we ended up taking a lot of photographs - but unfortunately photos do not do any justice to the scale and grandeaur of these temples.

So to all those who have already made the Aswan-Luxor trip once: please do it again.  You will pick up details which you had completely missed out in your 1st visit - and your appreciation for this culture - even if you are not a history buff - would go up manifold. And of course if you combine it with a Nile Cruise, then you could also chill out taking in the beautiful Nile scenery.

However, please do it between October-March - pleasant weather does indeed enable one to study the details better.

Et tu - Standard Chartered?

The news that Standard Chartered Bank allegedly has violated US laws caused me a bit of distress.  My links with this bank go deep : my father spent his entire career with this bank, and such was his passion for the bank, that the whole family developed a lot of very happy associations with the bank.

The pride was for its then caring nature - and for its reputation for integrity and fairness - both to its employees and to its customers (It never sold anything to customers if it was not good for the customer).

It was a conservative British bank, and my father proudly used to say that the bank will never ever violate laws, and has entrenched value systems unlike the "cheeky smart-alecs" - a reference to the aggressive American banks.

A lot began to change in the bank towards the end of my father's retirement in the late '80s as it started imitating the American banks.  However, when Standard Chartered came out relatively unscathed from the financial scandals of the recent years, it seemed to reinforce - much to my pride - what my father used to say about the deeply embedded values of Standard Chartered bank.  It was almost as if this bank was immune to the big G (greed).

Until now, of course ....

For me, growing up as a kid - this always remained the aspirational employer (though I landed up in a different career).  I hope that this pride will return, and children of existing employees of Standard Chartered would feel the same pride that I once used to feel.   

Whither Sarcasm

"Apologies - there will be no further delays.  My cable technician has neared your home, and will be at your home in precisely 7 minutes" said the clipped military voice from the cable shop.  And typical of a person who values and measures time precisely, he hung up before I could ask him anything else.

I can understand if a person says "5 minutes" or "10 minutes" - it typically means in Egypt (as in India) anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours.  But the "7 minutes" had a ring of authenticity to it - nobody can be so precise unless they know for a fact that it is indeed going to happen in 7 minutes.

I waited.  And waited.  Finally he turned up almost an hour later.

After the repair man left, I called up the cable shop owner to give him a piece of my mind.

I (in my most sarcastic tone) : "Your cable guy finally came to my house in PRECISELY 52 minutes 37 seconds after your phone call".

Cable shop owner : "He came, did he?  Good.  Good night" and then he hung-up before I could slip in another word edgewise.

I am losing my faith in sarcasm.

Precision

There is something formidable about precision.  We all love Swiss watches, and we all love precision in our Market Research data.

I was visiting Muscat and was having dinner with a client, and another person called CS whose agency conducted the fieldwork for us in Oman.

During the course of the dinner, the client - who had a reputation for being a stickler for accuracy - said:

John (the client) : "it is unfortunate that none of you Market research agencies seem to be able to give me precise market shares of the leading lube brands ...."

I : "Yes, it is difficult to assess that unless we carry out a large quantitative study"

CS (field supplier): "Your market share is 93.56%"

Stunned silence at the table.  The client's mouth was agape.

The client : "From where did you get this figure, CS?".

CS : "I know that for a fact".

I : "John, there is some soup on your collar".

The change of topic helped.  But the client was silent for the rest of the dinner, raising his head from the plate only to dart quick suspicious glances at CS.

After the dinner I took CS aside.

I : "Where did you get that number from?"

CS : "The client's brand is everywhere - it is obviously the leader"

I : "Yes, we all know it is the leader, but where did you get that number of 93.56% from?"

CS : "What is the problem? That is just a number to indicate that the client brand is the market leader.  I have seen lots of you researchers presenting such kind of numbers to clients in their presentations, and clients don't question those numbers"

I : "You cannot make up a random number like that.  We researchers present such kind of numbers only after we carry out fieldwork".

CS  : "Yes, and it is I who carries out all your fieldwork".

The conversation was getting into dangerous territory, and I thought it is better to beat a hasty retreat than probe into the implications of that statement.

There was one client though who seemed to have forever lost his taste for precision.

Egypt Elections - Tail Piece

Tail Piece 1

I love pulling my driver Mehmood's  leg - and knowing that Mehmood is quite religious, I put on a straight face and told him that I am ordering him to vote for Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate.  He reluctantly refused, and said that he will be voting for Fatouh - an independent candidate who is slightly more liberal compared to the orthodox and bearded Morsi.

He then turns to me, and tells me with a straight face : "If Morsi comes to power, all of us will have to take on 4 wives".

And after a very pregnant pause he adds: "I don't think I can afford 4 wives."

1st class Egyptian humour.

Tail Piece 2

I went to the hair cutting saloon today to trim my hair.  After he finished cutting my hair, the barber politely asked me whether I would like a shave (I had a 3 day stubble owing to the long Election weekend).

I thought I will practice my Egyptian humour on him, and told him "No thanks - I am now following in the footsteps of Morsi and am growing a beard", and expected him to smile.

Too late - I realised I had put both feet into my mouth. The room suddenly turned very quiet, and all the 4 barbers looked at me with a very somber expression.

Oh oh - with Morsi topping the 1st round elections, the fear that Egypt might soon turn into a country of bearded men must be causing deep agony in all the hair cutting saloons in the country.

Egypt Elections & After

So the results of the 1st round of the Egypt Presidential elections are out.  The 2 final contestants for the final run-off round are Ahmad Shafiq and Mohamed Morsy.  Many Egyptians perceive Shafik as linked to the old regime - he has been campaigning on the platform of order and stability. The other candidate Morsi - a Muslim Brotherhood candidate - is expected by many secular minded Egyptians to bring about a religious flavour to the government - thereby possibly putting at risk the secular nature of Egyptian society.

Hence for that reason I could not see too much of happiness on display on Cairo streets - Egyptians will now be forced to choose between the 2 extremes, a situation that could only favour Morsi who has a strong party machine working for him.

For a person coming from a chaotic democracy like India, this still seems like a good situation to be in.  Unlike in India, the Egypt Presidential system will not bring about the kind of paralysis and logjam that characterises Indian democracy.  I am sure whoever wins the elections will follow pragmatic policies and work towards strengthening law and order, and putting Egypt economy back into the growth path.