Revolutions and Roundabouts

If you've paid even the slightest of attentions to the news of ongoing protests in the Middle-Eastern and North-African countries, you must have heard at one time or another the newscaster saying, " ... protesters gathered on this day at so and so square ...". As i followed the TV coverage of these protests from Tunisia to Egypt to Libya and now to Bahrain even, it seems in all these countries there has been a "square" where protesters have been gathering: Liberation Square in Cairo - Egypt, Green Square in Tripoli - Libya, The Tree Square in Benghazi - Libya. I just had to find out for myself what is it about these squares really?

Well, guess what, these are not really squares. I mean at each one of these places there is actually a roundabout in the very middle. Yes, the roundabouts where a bunch of roads meet and the traffic can change directions without stopping. The traffic management system before the advent of the traffic lights - those roundabouts. Its just that the structures that surround the roundabout at each one of these locations give the place an appearance of a square.

Now that i know the real names of these "squares", a part of me wishes that during all the media coverage these places were referred to with their original Arabic names, and here is why:
1. Liberation Square, Cairo, Egypt is actually Maidan e' Tahrir. Maidan means ground/large open space and Tahrir means freedom or liberation.
2. Green Square, Tripoli, Libya is actually Maidan al Shohdaa. Shohdaa means martyr.
3. Tree Square, Benghazi, Libya is actually Maidan al Shajara. Shajara means tree. Yeah, there is a tree in the middle of the roundabout.
4. Pearl Monument, Manama, Bahrain is actually Dawar al-lu'lu'. Dawar meaning roundabout and al-lu'lu' means pearls. Yes, even the Pearl Monument is located in the middle of a roundabout.

A Roundabout - sounds like an appropriate enough metaphor for the events that are unfolding. An entire people are about to make their respective countries change direction, their fortunes change course, their futures change for the better and that too without so much as stopping for a breath. The situation might appear to be chaotic but, if the drivers are attentive they can negotiate all the traffic around the roundabout, and once the vehicle hits its road, its off to its destination. The same shall happen in these countries too - the people have chosen the path they wish to take, and now all that remains is for them to negotiate the prevailing chaos with the deftness of a driver in a busy roundabout and off they will go. Makes me wonder though - what if all these roundabouts had been replaced with traffic lights!

Viva la Revolution, Viva la Roundabouts.