Mahmoud owns a zincograph shop at Tahrir Square, where he spends more time than he does at home with his children. The square is his home and the shop owners are his family.
Mahmoud tells stories about Tahrir Square's past. “Tahrir Square was a piece of Europe in the old days,” he says. “There were public gardens full of trees that people came to enjoy.”
“There was a big clock before the Mogamma building, and there was a base of a statue in the middle of the square, but no statue was ever placed on it.”
“When television was introduced in the sixties, not everyone could afford to buy a TV set. And so the government put a 20-inch set in front of the Mogamma building for passersby to watch,” he says.
“The place is congested now,” he says. “I wish it were as beautiful as before.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
