Back then, the Khan was a living museum. Woodworkers
grasped their tools and small lathes with both hands and
feet, turning seasoned wooden chunks into the mouthpieces of
water pipes, legs for chairs, and a thousand other useful
items. A secondary market bought, sold, and disposed of the
shreds of metal, wood, and leather the craftsmen left
behind. As several of the Khan old-timers recall, the
merchants and craftsmen all lived in the market, in the
warren of small houses branching off the busy shopping
areas.
"We used to work in
front of the shop," says Kerabi ruefully. "It was good for
business because the customers could see how much work it
took to make our goods."
The more
traditional atmosphere has been well captured by Nobel
Prize--winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz. Brought up in
Gamaliyya, a neighborhood adjacent to the Khan, he wrote
affectionately of these Cairo districts. One of his earliest
books is actually titled Khan al-Khalili, and a later novel,
Palace Walk, describes lives spent in the ancient network
around the Khan.
These days the streets are clean, and the noise comes
from hawkers inviting you to "come in and look, no charge,"
rather than the sound of hammering. Many goods are
manufactured outside the market. The modern convenience of
credit cards is widely accepted as well.
Many old denizens of the region, including both Kerabi
and Mahfouz, have moved to "nicer" areas of the city where
they enjoy more air, light, and space and newer housing,
schools, and amenities. Although Cairo has expanded to more
than ten million people, living standards have benefited
from two decades of peace with Israel, massive U.S. aid of
more than $1 billion a year, and extensive U.S.-British
investments. Most people now prefer to live away from the
teeming districts of the old city. Nevertheless, Kerabi says
he regrets the passing of the old days, when he could just
tumble out of his apartment and be at the shop in five
minutes. His wife could come and help while the children
were at school, he recalls, and he could also dash home for
lunch.
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