it was reported by prolific egyptian author anis mansour and various other attendees of al-aqqad's famous 'lounge' that he kept a painting in his bedroom that displayed a beautiful cake with cockroaches crawling over it. supposedly, al-aqqad kept this in his room as 'the first thing he looked at in the morning and the last thing he saw in the evening'. it symbolized beauty and purity (the cake) that is wasted to the glamor of spotlights (the cockroaches) as was the case (as he perceived) with actress madiha yousri.