 Darwich:
The East-West Freak
By Tarek Atia
Meet Darwich, an Egyptian-American who was born in Egypt, brought
up in the United States, then came back to Egypt to work and live.
Darwich's story is an interactive web-based tale, where you will be able
to navigate through Darwich's adventures in any order you choose by
using the links in the text. You can start anywhere and finish anywhere,
and join in at any time.
The scarecrow of Trafalgar
square
Darwich meets a Londoner with
a very interesting job
It was time for that standard
London excursion -- the visit to Trafalgar square to feed the pigeons
and enjoy a rare day of sunshine.
Actually, it seemed as though every
time Darwich made his way through the English capital, the sun would
shine. Either he was extraordinarily lucky, or the city was lucky to
have him visit.
In
any case Trafalgar was -- of
course -- exceptionally crowded. People and birds were everywhere, but
the thing Darwich wanted most was missing: someone selling bird
seed.
Instead, there was a fellow with
a regal -- but menacing -- bird perched on his arm. He was standing next
to a policeman, discussing something.
Then,
all of a sudden, the man with the big bird on his hand walked boldly
into the crowd, the arm with the bird on it raised high above him.
He circled here and there between the statues and fountains of this
famous square. And wherever he went, the dozens, hundreds, of pigeons
that had gathered quickly flew off to another part
of the square...
.. where he followed, using his bird
to scare them off.
Darwich caught up with the odd
chap, and began asking him what was going on...
The man told him he had been
hired by the City of London
to spend all his days scaring off the pigeons from Trafalgar
square.
"But the next day they
always come back again, right?" asked Darwich.
 "People
keep feeding them," the man said.
"What kind of bird is
that?"
"It's a .. Harris Hawk...
it's a type of bird from
Arizona."
"And the pigeons are scared
of it?"
"Well, they're not that
scared because there are a lot of them, and pigeons tends to feel braver
when there are greater numbers of them around.
"But isn't it kind of
obnoxious that you're trying to get rid of these birds.. After all, their
presence here has almost become a sacred aspect of the square
itself."
The man did not skip a beat, had
his answer perfectly ready. "There's lots of reasons to get rid of
these birds. They cost the city a lot of money to clean up after them.
They cause disease..."
 And
then he was off again, chasing away another flock of square-ruining
pigeons. Indeed, Darwich noticed at this point, there were
signs
in 5 language all over the square warning people not to feed the birds.
When, a little later, Darwich
spotted the bird-fellow again, he couldn't help but ask, "So are
you the scarecrow of Trafalgar Square?"
The man nodded and smiled, and
went on with his work.
Darwch soon left the square, and
headed for home.
PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS
Introducing Darwich
Introducing
Darwich, part 2
"Biggest Artistic and Cultural Event
In the Middle East"
Hitting the slopes of Nasr
City
Too far to see
Signs of late summer
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