امواج...الثلوج في قسنطينة

تحقيق وتصوير

فؤاد

(جامعة قسنطينة) 

 

 

 

 

Small city of Skikda located on the Algerian eastern coast, is a far cry from anything remotely resembling snow, accordingly, the latest meteorological assessments have taken all our hopes down the drain.
As someone growing up in the 90s, I hardly recall having seen that cotton-like matter; it was only back in 1998 when actually everyone of my generation has ever laid eyes on Snow.

We have ever since been eagerly waiting for that moment when God bestows those starry-like snowflakes on us, a drop that would certainly slake our thirst that would turn around the way we look at our city.

Unexpectedly, in the year of 2005, weather started getting colder, and raindrops began to harden, we all knew it was it! ,sadly it only lasted one day and all the exuberance joyful folly and ebullience were swept away in a matter of hours ,that day we all lost hope that it’ll one day happen again ,and we most certainly took that for granted .

Days gone by and seasons meshed and resembled, we never knew that it would take the clouds 7 miserable years to produce something white and subtle then splash it over on a coastal city, specifically speaking, on its bloody lofty mountains, that is to say; one have to climb a steep slope so they can enjoy that whiteness looming from above! OH Come On!! GAH!! .

That was it for me , took me no time to make up my mind to go to Constantine, two hours away from Skikda ,a city where I was damn sure ,I’ll find what I was looking for ,I mean for God’s sakes my colleagues attacked me with pictures they took in places I normally hang out in ,pictures posted everywhere ,that was the brim ,that was it ,I’m going !!!

Last Monday ,February the 6^th ,2012 ,woke up at 6 am ,wore the heaviest coat I have ,got a big pair of gloves ,put my hood on ,and headed out to the bus station ,at first it was easy getting from downtown Skikda to the village of Harrouch 30  kilometers away ,where my friend and I were due to meet .when I got there ,I instantly noticed that something was  wrong , a jilted crowd ,all waiting for the same bus , Constantine bus ! There were none! No one is putting their vehicles at stake. No tire of any kind would resist that slippy road! However ,Algeria’s a country full of loony toons ,we heard a hissing voice calling out for people who really care to get there , and there were four of us who really wanted to be there under any circumstances ,we did not care how much it would cost us ,how long it would get us to be there ,it was just for the fun of it ,we thought of it as an adventure ,and it damn sure was ! .

When I got in the car I remembered a line I once read “To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And Never, Never, to Forget."

Um …Yeah! Random, but has got some meaning to it, right?! Anyways, the astonishing , astounding and awe-inspiring landscapes I saw are beyond words ,I cannot possibly describe that  using words what we saw ,those trees looking right at us ,telling us to behold how neat and clean they are ! Peasants wearing the “what the hell are you thinking “look on their faces, we were alone there, an open road, whiteness coming from everywhere ,it surrounded us ,we felt warm and cozy in that freezing cold ! everyone was quiet ,it was time for sheer beauty to lay eyes on .

 Being originally created by the  Phoenicians ,who named the city “Cirta” which means a city carved in a rock ,Constantine is an outstandingly idyllic urban center ,known for its height and bridges ,something we took advantage of ,when we hurled ourselves out of that car ,we directly got a camera and off to the bridges and heights ,we took hundreds of pictures we threw snowballs at each other, we had ourselves a great and unforgettable times and more importantly we lived the dream .

   :لترجمة هذا الربورتاج انقر على

Traduction

للاطلاع على الصور التى التقطها واعرضها فى سريجينا انقر عل

امواج