By Kumkum Chadha
The Grand Egyptian Museum is making news, and one person who cannot stop talking about it is Kamel Zayed Galal, Egypt’s ambassador to India. “It is a very old project that was inaugurated recently. It is the largest museum in the whole world that is dedicated to a single civilization. It has over a 1,00,000 Egyptian artefacts. What do these represent?. It is not about the monuments, but about the Egyptian wisdom that they symbolize. It is a message to humanity: a message that there is a place for everyone on this planet: a message of co-existence. And this message is crucial at this point in time because this is an era when the world is facing several geo-political challenges, economic and social challenges. Among all this the only constant is Egypt”, he said in an interview to a prominent national daily.
Talking about the major takeaways, Galal said that the main draw of the Museum is the “entire tomb” of the boy-king Tutankhamun, displayed for the first time. Apart from the Tutankhamun exhibit, the spectacular, 4,500-year-old funerary boat of Khufu—one of the oldest and best-preserved vessels from antiquity—is also on display.
Spanning an area of 5,00,000 square metres, the Museum is reportedly the size of “70 football pitches” with the exterior covered in hieroglyphs, with a pyramid shaped entrance. Add to this, the 3,200-year-old, 16m-long suspended obelisk of the powerful pharaoh, Ramesses II; a massive staircase showcasing statues of other ancient kings and queens, and it is easily an architectural marvel and a treasure trove of ancient history. First proposed in 1992, its construction began in 2005 and was completed and inaugurated this year. Therefore, it is not surprising that Galal makes this Museum, a focal point of his conversation.
Nudge him to change tack and he is a bit reluctant, but once he comes around, he has a lot of share. His world view being an “ancient Egyptian” and his “living India” rather than “living in India”. “When I speak to my friends they say you used to live in India, but I tend to differ with them and I tell them, no, I never lived in India, but I lived India and that is the big difference. Living in a country or living a country,” he said.
Galal’s India-connect goes back to his formative years because he grew up in Mumbai. Therefore, when he returned as ambassador, he walked his wife through narrow lanes leading up to his school, he recalled mouth-watering savouries and the smell of chutney. “I came here when I was ten years old and my first memory as an adult is India. I went to temples, I walked through the streets here, often fell while trying to catch a ball…taking in the heat and dust, and revisiting some shops and taking in the smell of chutney… it was like walking through one’s memory,” Galal said.
When asked what has changed in these four decades, he said a trifle emotionally: “The people are the same. Nobody can change your DNA and in this sense, India hasn’t changed at all. The people who I left are those I came back to years later.”
However, he hastened to add: “What has changed is India’s economic development. You have become an important player in South Asia and the international economy and this is something you should be proud of. This is the change I saw, but the crux of the Indian people remains the same”.
Even while Galal reiterated the strong ties between India and Egypt, he conceded that there was a “lull” in the bilateral relationship. “Both India and Egypt almost got independence together: in 1947 and 1952, respectively. Both Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and President Nasser had a vision. However, in the nineties, both countries were focused on their regional and domestic affairs and there were also developments in South Asia on which we were focused. So that perhaps was the reason for the lull,” he said.
Describing 2014 as a major launching pad or a turnaround so to speak, he said: “In 2014 there has been a dramatic shift in our bilateral relationship. Two leaders Prime Minister Modi and President Sisi came and they both came when both nations were facing economic, political and security challenges. Yet they were ambitious and had a vision that they worked on and succeeded,” Galal said even as he underlined that the relationship between “the two nations and the two leaders” is very close.
On whether China’s growing influence on Egypt is creating a competitive environment vis-a-vis India, Galal said: “I wouldn’t like to look at this as competition. There is a place for all Indians, there is a place for the Chinese as there is a place for everybody else to work together”, adding that Egypt has collaboration with China. “It is a collaboration that we cherish and look forward to expand,” he said.
As for terrorism and religious extremism, Gala said it is a concern for the entire world. “Let us be focused on not letting any civilian being harmed by anybody and this is what we share together with India,” he said.
—The writer is an author, journalist and political commentator
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