Day 114: Wait! So Are We Supposed to Live ‘Normally Ever After’ Now?

Day 114: July 18, 2020
Global Cases: 14, 414, 659; Deaths: 604, 243
Egypt Cases: 87, 172; Deaths: 4, 251

Omar El Mor
Multimedia Journalism Alumnus 

It’s a typical scorching day in mid-July in Cairo, and I can’t stop contemplating my life. The curfew might have ended but I can’t say things got back to the way they used to be. I now have this impulse to stay at home more often, to consciously extend intervals between different groups of friends, and I avoid sitting with more than three people in total.

This became my protocol now. And this has been truly a blessing for my inner peace. This virus made me realize I can work without having to rely on an office or a company. After all, writing has been my guilty pleasure.

These past few months peeled through things I somehow seemed to take for granted. I’ve got to spend more time reasoning with my internal dialogues. I am guilty though, it has been a while since I last read a proper book. I even found a better companion in YouTube videos. Metal music started becoming more and more soothing [Editor’s note: Yay!] to me although some of my friends would wonder how do I even tolerate listening to such “violence”.

I don’t blame them, they like techno but, I like metal. After all, if it wasn’t for different tastes, no one would ever bother and create art.

I took the past few months as a chance to take one closer step to becoming a better human being, by gradually cutting down my smoking. It’s not easy, especially if you’re a former swimmer who knows what a healthy lung is capable of. It surprises me sometimes that going up the stairs takes this much effort.

And then it hits me, I’m 25, I’m not getting any younger! “I’ve got to do something with this miserable body,” I said to myself.

And if it wasn’t for my new bike, I would still be contemplating the void of my room walls. It’s truly a hidden gem. It gave me the conviction that I don’t really need a car. Most of the cruising is done within Masr el Gedida (Heliopolis) and at a really moderate speed.

Why do I need a car, when I can burn some fat, gain some muscle, and work that body more efficiently?

It’s not the fitness though that was the appealing part of being a cyclist, there is some degree of freedom that comes along with it. I mean, imagine you’re going downhill without any resistance or inclination, just flowing. Imagine the fresh breeze of early morning and you being from the first few to catch it before it gets polluted with car exhaust and loud noise.

I found liberation in late-night cycling. It’s a joy that perfectly fits my hyperactive nature. And it comes too natural to me that the peak of my activity is at night. I’m not Batman, but I’m not a morning person either.

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.

Getting out of the mental stalemate as a result of the virus for the past three months was on top of my agenda. I did not come here on this planet to just sit still, wear a mask and wait for a virus to go away. And statistically speaking, I’m more likely to die in a car in Egypt than dying by COVID-19.

I deliberately waited until the curfew begins just so I can go out and break it. Of course, I was responsible, I was breaking it alone, an act of individual rebellion against the tyrannical virus. “Damn you corona, how dare you ruin my nightlife?” so I thought.

Yet a part of me saw an opportunity to change what is deemed to me as unacceptable … that I learned one or two things about myself; if I don’t like something, I change it. If I can’t accept a certain imposed reality, I rebel.

You see, during the curfew, they would pull you over if you were riding a car. It is more encouraging for me to commit to my schemes of rebelling against the virus by riding my bike playing rap music and cycling like a gangster.

I know it might sound like a cliche, but seriously, I can’t do sitting still. My ADHD doesn’t allow it. If I stay longer than half an hour in the same place, I start slowly getting anxious. I have to keep moving.