Waleed Iskandar
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How does one start writing about a friend who is no longer with us, but will always remain in our hearts. How does one write about a friend he's known since kindergarten (still searching for that photo of Waleed, Rula Sukkar and myself during our early days at the French School of Kuwait), then elementary, then most of high school. A friend, who lived only a few buildings down the road, even rode the same school bus at times…played soccer together and started listening to hard rock music together. Well, here it goes, the memorable things I've shared with Walid which are still embedded in my memory and always will be: -Music: I recall vividly the first time we both bought a cassette for AC/DC, at the time, the number one hard rock band in the world. The album was 'Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap'. There was a particular track on this album that always made us laugh…(if anyone was to read the tracks on this album, they'll be able to figure out which one!). That same day, we had also bought a tape for Quincy Jones, I can still hum the song, but cannot remember the name of it to save my life…it was possibly called 'I know Corriba'! (talk about diverse musical tastes). -Soccer: Walid being the most athletic was the only 'real' goalkeeper we ever entrusted. The sandy football field at The Kuwait Sea Club is witness to that. Most of the players always took forward positions and since Waleed was guarding the net, we needn't worry! That ball kept coming back to us from the goal line, preparing us for another attack! -Politics: This is by far the most memorable chat I've ever had with Walid and it goes along these lines…I had just arrived to school (American School of Kuwait) and was heading straight to the 'boys watering hole', right in front of the 'cold filtered water units'. This is where all the guys used to meet before going to class. On that particular day Waleed looked sad and his eyes were watery. I took one look at him and asked him 'what's wrong?'. His reply was 'haven't you heard'? He got me totally off guard. I responded ignorantly 'no'. He continued Bachir Gemayel is dead! This was at the height of the Lebanese Civil War and like most multi-sectarian young Lebanese, who lived in the safe sheltered gulf environment, none of us really knew what the war was about. As a matter of fact, the issue of who comes from what religion never even surfaced among all of us. It was many years later that I've come to realize that Waleed's sadness was not as result of Gemayel being a Christian or anything do that with that matter. Gemayel was family! To make a long story short…I moved to Lebanon over 9 months ago and at one time I lived down the road from Sassine Square, Achrafieh. The building right next to the building I was staying in had a memorial. 2 days later I realized that the memorial was in honor of the later president elect Bachir Gemayel. Believe me, not once did I ever walk by that memorial and Waleed's famous chat that morning didn't sprint to my mind! To make a long story short: all of us, who were raised abroad, outside the conflict of the Lebanese Civil War, didn't ever care about anyone's religion, sect or origin. Our families raised us to love one another, care for one another and be good to one another. Only if this applied to everyone else ....... !!! I miss Waleed. Hassan Mikail (click to see a photo of Family) ( March, 06, 2003 ) |
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