Friday, February 13, 2009

Amman's Diary - Iraqi Bloggers' Meeting


Chapter No.4

Meeting Bassam, 24 steps to liberty & Nabil

A couple of days passed after the previous meeting and Anarki smsed me telling me that Bassam (Treasure of Baghdad) & 24 Steps to Liberty had e-mailed us all and want to join the gang. I didn't know about the e-mail myself because as usual I didn't have access to the internet. On the other hand Morbido has received it and updated me about it later.

This time the guys picked a well-known café for our meeting. Morbido, Micho, my sister and I arrived there behind schedule about 20 minutes. But the Kid and Zeyad were not there yet! I've met Anarki, the Kid, Hala and Zeyad earlier but I never worried about the person I'm meeting. I was exited to do so. But this time when we got out of the taxi I told Morbido "I’m wondering if this meeting is going to be successful as the previous ones." She said that she had no worries. Then I remembered she met Treasure earlier. At that moment, Anarki was waiting for us at the gate of the café and he led us to our table. After introducing themselves and ourselves everything thing went fine. As we started to talk I felt relieved. I didn't know why but I guess it's just because their blogs are more like political than personal and I've always hated to talk politics.

Both guys' faces looked familiar and it was easy to talk to them. We talked about everything that came to our minds just like old friends catching up.

Later, a nice shy guy joined us. He was introduced as Zeyad's brother. He was so calm and mute but later I discovered that he was Nabil! He was the youngest of us all. What a polite nice guy.

Being away from Iraq I gained the skill of recognizing Iraqi faces among hundreds. Each time I met one of the gang I say "I know this guy. I must have seen him before" it was true for Anarki and the kid because both of them had showed us a photo of themselves. But for 24 steps to Liberty? I don't know. I felt I knew him.
My sister was sitting next to him and told him that she must have seen him before. She felt the same. He said that his entire family looks the same. After knowing his family name, we knew why we find familiar. His aunt, a famous Iraqi painter, was and still my grandmother's friend and she used to teach Arts in our school. We met her several times and last year we went to her latest exhibition in Amman.

In our next meeting I took my cousin who came from the States. We were talking about names and I mentioned her brother's name. Bassam said that his friend's father is the same and he mentioned the friend's name. That moment I said "May he rest in peace" He stand there astonished. His friend was my late cousin!

What a small world!

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4 Comments:

Blogger David said...

Of these three, I know Bassam best. I have been visiting his blog for a long time and I have exchanged numerous emails with him. I really like the person that he is. I am sure that I would enjoy meeting him in person. :)

I used to visit 24's blog, but he stopped writing. I was also visiting his young friend's blog. I didn't really get to know 24. He had so many visitors to his blog and many of them were very impolite. I think my comments mostly got lost in the mix.

I know a bit about Nabil. I remember when Zeyad was trying to get Nabil out of Baghdad. Last I heard, Nabil was trying to get a Visa to go to New Zealand. I never heard if he left Baghdad.

I am not really surprised that you have some connections to some of the people from Baghdad that you met in Amman. All the people in your gang are very smart and talented. I am sure that many of their family members are also. So, it seems natural that such people would meet and become friends. :)

P.S. I tried several times to download your pictures of Old Baghdad, but I wasn't able. Maybe it is my slow connection. Maybe you could post a few?

2/15/2009 1:29 AM  
Blogger C.H. said...

So Attawie...have you had the chance to meet with just about all of the Iraqi bloggers? LOL

I'd be honored to meet any of you guys one day :D

2/18/2009 5:39 AM  
Blogger attawie said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

2/19/2009 2:29 AM  
Blogger attawie said...

David,

Thanks for your observation :)

About Nabil, last time I was in Amman he was there too. but i'm not sure if he was visiting or staying.

I hope you got my email about the old photos. let me hear from you.

C.H.
I met about 15 bloggers so far. Oh and one was Melantrys, a German blogger friend. so who knows, maybe you'll get to meet one of us someday.

2/19/2009 2:30 AM  

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