Egypt and India

The Columbia Broadcasting System presents one world flight. You are listening to Muslim prayers coming from the loudspeaker system of the Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo. As heard above the cheering of thousands of Egyptians on the day last summer, that Britain returned the famous citadel to Egypt.

This historic recording is among several authentic sounds and voices transcribed inside Egypt and India. To be heard tonight on this 8th of a series of 13 broadcasts They ston Norman Cohen's 37,000-mile global tour as first winner of the Wendell Wilkie One World Flight Award.

On the 9th of last August, in the Holy Muslim month of Ramadan, the Union Jack that had flown over Cairo's ancient citadel for 65 years came down, and the green flag of Egypt was raised by its king Farouk.

The act was a symbol of Egypt's independence from the British, and it was cheered by a throng gathered in a square below the citadel. That night, both the citadel and the Mohamadali mosque behind it were floodlit.

A great searchlight, the kind used during the water-spot aircraft, was trained on the flag. The evening was clear and warm, with exhalations from the African desert stretching away on all sides. The celebrants seemed to cheer every stirring of the flag in the breeze that came off the swollen Nile.

And as though to contribute to the vivid mixture of ancient and modern, which is Cairo, an airplane came up from nowhere and flew low over the scene. For a moment, its motors obliterated the voice of the mowazine, chanting praises for Allah on the public address system.

On a rooftop in the neighborhood of the Citadel, where we had set up our CBS recording microphone, a group of Arab women saying with an abandoned that seemed to go along naturally with a bizarre setting of minarets, airplanes, floodlights, domes, cupulas, cheering, and amplified prayer.