Hookah NightSome were saying that the revolution had ended. Others believed it was still unfolding and, like all revolutions, it was bound to be unpredictable. Of course, there were those who thought the ‘real’ revolution was just beginning. Then there were the experts calling it a ‘coupvolution’ to underscore the military’s continuing grip on the country, and those who argued that there had never been a revolution, only a rudderless uprising on which the Islamists had shamelessly capitalised.
It had been a year since that thing – call it revolution, ‘coupvolution’, uprising, Arab Spring, Spring of Arab Discontent – had erupted in Egypt. ‘Does it matter what you call it?’ the young and loquacious manager of a drab pension in Cairo was asking his lone guest. A few streets down the road, me
