Paulo Coelho @ El Saqeya

I attended the event of Paulo Coelho @ El Saqeya yesterday, following are my comments:

- I may be harsh in this, but I can't understand why the youth were screaming and yelling loudly for the man?
They may clap strongly yes, great and needed, but screaming as if he is a pop singer or a famous movie star, why? Or just we are "sha3b ye7eb el heesa"?

- The man's talk was reasonable; his talk was centered around the idea of "Achieving dreams", and how to go on your life trying to succeed with faith. Also he was asked about his belief about if marriage kills love, his conclusion was that "It is like your land, it may contain difficulties and problems, but you have to fight for it always", meaning that marriages yet have problems, but everything is solvable at the end.

- The organization in El Saqeya was ok, I thought it'd be more unorganized, but they did their best actually, the only thing was missing is putting additional speakers in the end of the hall, as the sound was low.

- The event took around 1:15 hour, I thought it'll be more than this, but it was cool.

- I was really proud of the lady who was interviewing Paulo, asking him the questions and translating his answers, I love it when there is a Muslim respectful lady, wearing a long veil, proves that she has a very confident, cultured, presentable personality. I see in her the symbol I wish to see in every veiled lady, breaking the known stereotyping view of the veil that is a “veil” for mind as well as hair. I was just proud of her.

- The contradiction you can see; some guys and gals were there just for fun, or being attending the event, and they were talking a lot throughout the event. On the other hand, some were writing down all the man was saying in Arabic and English, they were so enthusiastic actually.

- Bahaa Taher (An Egyptian novelist that I respect too much) attended for some minutes; his presence was a nice touch.

- Diwan book store took the advantage of the event, and made a booth near the hall to sell all Paulo's books, it was smart of them -business-, and they sold a huge amount of books.

- I chose to sit infront of the Nile and not on a chair in the hall, and it was very lovely indeed, the cool breeze on your face with the accompany makes events more special.

- I didn't read for Paulo except "The Alchemist", which I couldn't finish before attending this event unfortunately, but when I went back home, I finished it, I will send my comments about it in another blog.