I was walking in the Tawil market with no intention of doing anything. Suddenly it occurred to me to visit the fishing market. Oh my God, how long has it not been for me to visit this beloved market! More than thirty years have passed since my last visit to this market, I remember that on that last visit I entered through the gate facing what was known as Khaled's clinic. But at that time, the gate had been disfigured by a strange building constructed by the Meat Corporation, and later turned into the property of a butcher, who was renting a modest part of the market, in a corrupt deal. I also remember that I was one of its customers, when the price of a kilo of meat was very modest, not comparable to its price today.
I was a kid since I started going to the Municipal Market, so it was officially called, but people used to call it the Fishing Market. Usually people manage to win. The name of the fish market prevailed, although the market was divided into two parts; One for fish and the other for meat. The fish section overlooked Al-foll (Jasmin) Square, while the meat section overlooked the gate of Khaled's clinic.
The market has many doors in all directions; One of them takes you towards the herd, and another takes you to the vegetable market, the shops selling coal and tobacco, and the (Al-Qarn) restaurant, which cooks fish in a way that no one else does. From there a small door leads you to the vegetable market, which was devoured by Qat.
From this door, steps extend down to where the slaughterhouse is located. In my childhood, cleaning did not stop at the market or its slaughterhouse. The place was radiant cleanliness and the smell of fish made its way into the depths of the visitor, who inhaled it for ever and ever.
Many years I used to go to the fishing market. Usually I would buy fish, the biggest I had bought costs (three shillings). As for Fridays, it was devoted to buying meat and its derivatives. The poultry had not yet found a place there. In any case, we rarely bought chickens, and they were sold outside the market, in parallel with the coal sellers. Local eggs were sold in special shops, while ordinary eggs were sold at Al-Shahari (every grocery store was called “Al-Shahari”). Relative to the merchants of the city of Shihr and the Hadhrami merchants in general.
Confiscation Passion
It is said that the market dates back to the 1950s, and was designed to serve as the heart of the city. Indeed, the building formed the center of the city (Aden), at its gates all roads converge.
What unites many of the military, media, and even intellectuals, besides the harsh conditions, is their multiple loyalties to other than the state. They have never been supporters of the idea of the state, but rather about components, affiliations, people, and leaders... And did we have a state? The state does not deprive its people!
This is the first time in my life that I thought about how all the roads of Aden converged in one central point. In a focus to which all the threads of life from all directions go to meet, and with it people meet, each according to his desire.
It is the genius of engineering, the engineer, the glory of the violin and his prestige. That engineer who put the genius design of the city must have been smart enough to make from the narrowness of the place, a capacious and spacious, in which the passer-by or the resident could not get lost, or stumble. The designer wanted to make the most out of the place so that you rarely find green spaces, but the engineers replaced this with a streamlined scheme that provided a reasonable amount of air corridors, and it seems that modern environmental requirements did not appear in the planning of the city. However, it should be noted that what we see now of narrowing streets and “alleys” was not so severe at the beginning of the last century, as the planning was standard and commensurate with the standards of that period.
If you decide to take Queen Arwa Street from Al-Aqaba, you will reach Banks Square. If you move to the right, you will inevitably come across to the municipal market. If you decide to enter the Khassaf area, you will come to face one of the northern doors of the market, as soon as you cross the Indian zone or any of the intervening streets.
And if you take the street extending in front of Al-Huda Mosque, bypassing Al-Iraqi Mosque from Tawila, you will reach the parallel of what was previously known as Khaled’s clinic, and you will be face to face with the western gate of the market.
Below this gate, a canal extends to drain rainwater. At one time, the canal used to cut the distance until it met the canal that extends behind the tax building, and enters a tunnel under the road, passing under the National Bank and heading towards the sea.
At the beginning of the nineties, the fever of seizing the flood streams was active in Aden, officially and insane, with everyone "who had authority or influence" contributed to this. The city was affected by this during the rains of 1993 or after, and even these days the city is still subject to great damage as a result of the tampering of Aden by every amateur. In short, you can reach the market from any point in the city of your choice without being stopped by any obstacle.
The engineer had a simple, deep and ingenious idea that made the movement of people smooth and easy. In its simplicity, you will not find anything similar to it in later engineers. (You can visit all the modern urban plans all over the country), but you certainly will not find the fluidity and elegance and softness of the planning.
All urban plans do not carry any idea or aesthetic value, all you will find are straight and sharply intersecting lines that break the soul and injure the eyes because of their sharp angles and refractions, and do not lead you to any goal without spending a lot of effort and time.
While I was drowning in my inner thoughts about this city and its architecture, I felt a hand placed on my shoulder with a familiar voice speaking to me:
We hugged each other, but I was amazed at the state he had reached. Nothing was left of my old friend except his raucous laugh, distinguished from the rest of our colleagues, but his body was exhausted by pressure, diabetic, and the poor condition shared by his other colleagues from the military establishment from the sons of Aden, who are excluded whenever the gun is fired and the news comers, to be replaced by those who come from the distant areas.
Entering the market
It is difficult to talk about the soldier, the son of the city, who served with clean hands, and then finds himself on the street with a pension that is not enough to pay for the treatment, let alone the rest of the living expenses. Monthly salary is not paid regularly, only from time to time. While I was contemplating this, I remembered many of my colleagues who were ravaged by diseases and oppressed by the cruelty of life and the ingratitude of those who call themselves (the state) - I remembered, for example, the television cameraman Mohammad Al-Absi, who lost his memory and no one cared about his condition, and Mohsen Yaslim Abdul Rasool, who was preyed upon by the disease alone and then he passed away!, khuld Khayta in her sickness, Abdullah Al-Zafari, and Najib Yabli, I remember my friend Hamza Raweh. I painfully remember the fate of Mohammad Ali Saad and Ahmad Al-Hubaishi, regardless of our differences with the latter two, but human duty is a different thing, has nothing to do with our views on various issues.
What unites many of the military, media, and even intellectuals, besides the harsh conditions, is their multiple loyalties to other than the state. They have never been supporters of the idea of the state, but rather about components, affiliations, people, and leaders... And did we have a state? The state does not deprive its people!
It is difficult to compare my friend's military situation with the passers-by in his city, and as they crossed, they gained everything, and he lost everything.
I stared at my friend for a long time, and a tear fell from my eyes, crossing all the lines of life gracefully, sadly and with pain, I don't know if the tear was for my friend, or for myself, or for the country, but it sure is for all of us.
- "By God, you are a poor man"
- "What you mean?".
- "I mean; the market you are talking about no longer exists!"
- "Are you crazy? How come it doesn't exist?"
- "Ok, I will not discuss it with you for long. Let's go in together, and then you will know yourself."
Of course, this was a solution to stop the argument between us, about the market.
We chose one of the northern entrances to enter the fishing market. Or rather, I chose to enter through the door that I used to go through since my early childhood.
We passed the market stalls were variety of fish is displayed on the side of the gate. The gate is no longer as it was when I saw it long ago. Lots of features are gone. Even the restaurant of Al Qarn (the century) has lost its luster to me, it no longer emits that delicious smell that used to permeate my nostrils and awaken in me the stings of hunger.
As we approached the gate of the fishing market, I was overwhelmed by the stench smells, which united to form a kind of criminal gang that attacks and paralyzes all senses.
My steps stumbled the few steps, or so few were left, and I almost fell from the slippery because of the dirt accumulated for years.
My friend was right; The market that I know is no longer exists. When you now enter the market, the smell of ammonia strikes your sense of smell, so that after a moment you are no longer able to distinguish any smell from the cocktail of smells emanating from the side of the market, smells of all the rot and hate you can imagine.
In the past, the visitor first came to the fishing market, and there was nothing but the smell of fish and the fresh sea, and you imagine that the roar of the sea and its waves made their way to your ears through the elegantly furnished snails in front of the sellers who sold them out from the rest.
After this visitor toured himself around the fishmongers and selects what he wants or what he came to buy, there is no harm in taking a tour of the meat section just to satisfy curiosity only; because the aim of shopping is getting fish.
If the shopper wants to buy some vegetables, he has to head towards the northern gate leading to the vegetable market, and there are endless market stalls, selling all types of vegetables which displayed with elegance and taste that no longer exists.
But if you want to buy some fruits, you can buy from the owners of (the carts) who are distributed in specific spaces that do not hinder anyone from moving. In the carts, you can find what you need from the fruit or what you can save at a later time. These wagons remain in their usual places until late at night. It is clean by itself, as is the seller's condition.
The owner of the cart (Abdo Hassan), was standing all day in the "alley" located between Yusuf Khan's building and "Fizo" house, and he greeted his customers with a smile and a cheerful face, perhaps he knew his customers by name.
We will not be able to know that the intersection of Jasmine has become beautiful, wonderful and attractive after the completion of the project, except by looking at the state of the fish market to be sure for ourselves, and we say: This is beautiful, and this is ugly; To satisfy the arrogance of some. But even so, there is no guarantee that the intersection itself will not at some point become an object of looting
Abdo Hassan, who was a model for sellers in those days, wore a clean, ironed suit almost every day. I had never seen him wear dirty clothes. Every week he takes his clothes to the doobi (laundry in today's term), which is only a few meters away.
One summer, Mohammad Musa (former Director of Environmental Health) told me that the markets are the exclusive property of the municipality of Aden. These markets were an important financial resource for the municipality and its activities. The municipality carried out periodic maintenance of the markets from these revenues; Because it was renting stalls directly to sellers without an intermediary. Therefore, the market preserved, not only its cleanliness, but its individual engineering and architectural condition, and its specialization.
It was impossible to find a vegetable seller in the fishing or meat market.
Poor Aden! After the overthrow of most of its original workers who were replaced by other people.
Many of those in charge of the city lack many standards; Among them: the inner and psychological beauty, the concept of the city and the civic, and more than that: the loss of loyalty to the city. Those passing through Aden did not see anything wrong with stripping the municipality of its property and turning it into spoils for some parasites, as long as that would bring them benefits.
The successive authorities squandered the "municipal market". The looting of the market's resources continued, and it turned from its main function to turn into a refrigerator for someone of them. The refrigerator, along with other factors, took over what was left of the market.
As I learned, one of the international agencies had included the municipal market in Aden among its projects for its reconstruction and revival. But the "some powerful bodies" refused to do so. Today, the "fish market" is presented as a subject of looting for those who prove their worth is the strongest and most capable of swallowing the market with its contents.
Means of quarreling
Today, the authorities of Aden are so occupied with the Yasmine juncture, located in front of the Fish Market. The authorities want, according to their slogan, to make the place an attraction for people to visit. Once again, an organization steps in to help.
The project of the young Hassan Mister Hamoud wins - the young man does not need to know that he is from Aden as some like to do, the name is more than enough - I praise his project and everyone is ostensibly enthusiastic, but the few were genuinely excited about this project. I do not expect that routine obstacles, administrative delays and various quarrels will be removed from him, but I expect the creative achievement of the project despite everything.
The troublesome thing about it is that many people are only good at distinguishing things by their opposites. Some do not believe in the bee except in the presence of the fly. And cleanliness is not felt unless the garbage piled up close to it.
We will not be able to know that the intersection of Jasmine has become beautiful, wonderful and attractive after the completion of the project, except by looking at the state of the fish market to be sure for ourselves, and we say: This is beautiful, and this is ugly; To satisfy the arrogance of some. But even so, there is no guarantee that the intersection itself will not at some point become an object of looting.
Almost the whole city has turned into a chaotic market for everything, and it no longer matters if all roads lead to the fish market, not all roads lead to Rome anymore.
