I was away the whole of last week on an official visit to Tanzania. While the previous week was spent running around for yellow fever vaccine and other formalities, the journey itself took nearly 1 day (considering the domestic flight time, nearly 10 hours of flight time from Mumbai to Tanzania with the transit waiting time and the time difference). The actual destination was Moshi near Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
We arrived last Monday in Kilimanjaro airport at about 2.30-p.m local time and were picked up by the organiser's vehicle. It’s about 1 and a half hours drive from the airport to Moshi. Traveling on the way brought back nostalgic memory of an era long gone by. Of our stay in The Gambia, West Africa when I was barely 9 years old. Everything seemed the same... not touched by time or space.. The houses seen on the side of the road was few and far between and the roads looked deserted... It was the dry summer season in Tanzania and the country was waiting for its rainy season to set in..
We arrived at Moshi at about 4 p.m local time and were taken to the Hotel Bristol cottage where we were warmly greeted by a middle aged Indian man along with a lively chirpy Indian girl behind the counter.. They were expecting our arrival.. It really surprised us to see familiar faces in the far flung distant land... We were shown to our room where we rested till late in the evening... We came out for dinner and were greeted by Dharmesh Bhai who worked as a part time manager doing evening shift... from him we came to know that their forefathers had come as early as late 1800s to early 1900s... they all have come to adopt the language and the land and now have made it one of their own... Dharmesh Bhai has never seen India but hopes to visit it one day soon in future... We looked at the menu and saw most of the items were Indian in nature... I ventured out to order a mutton curry which was not really 'Indian' in taste but was ok for me as I was feeling very hungry...
The next day the organisers came and took us along with their team to their outreach camp which they had organised in a place called Ngongokare. It was situated near the foothill of the beautiful Mountain Meru which is the second largest after Mt. Kilimajaro.. Initially we did not see any patients but slowly we started seeing them coming in ones, twos and dozens.. Suddenly the primary health centre was over flooded with lots of patients who had come for their eye screening... In the meanwhile we decided to look around the place and to our surprise found a school in the vicinity... we saw lots of school children playing near the school.. we went near them and seeing us coming they also approched us in curiosity... however, their curiosity was short lived as once we took out our cameras out they backed off in fear.. they had great fear all over their expression and would not come near us no matter what.. it seemed to us that as if we have taken out some blcak magic wand to cast a spell on them.... Thats when we met Obama...
"Hi, I am Obama.. not the president Obama but Obama from Ngongokare.... May I help you'... We turned around to see a huge and burly man towering above us and smiling quite generously... We shook hand and he asked us if we would like to visit the school... we said that we wanted to take pictures of the kids but somehow the kids were afraid of the camera... then Obama turned to them and spoke something in Swahili and also demonstrated to them practically that clicking picture would not harm them.. There after the kids grew quite friendlier with us and allowed us to click their picture.. Thereafter they grew quite ecstatic and held on to our arms and some of them even hung at the end of it! They accompanied us right in to the health centre and thus we ensured that we contributed to almost 50% of the entire patient that day ;)
While all the commotion were going on inside, I sat down and had a chat with Obama.. He told how life is not easy in this part of Africa and how AIDS has become a curse which they have not been able to shake off in the last few years... He was really saddened the state which the people of the country find themselves... it was unbelievable for us to hear from him that the highest mortality for HIV/AIDS is in the age group of 15 - 18 years and is the single most killer disease in the country.. Then suddenly Obama's eyes lights up and he look really excited..
'You guys are from India... right...' 'Yes' we said.. 'Well I have heard that the Indians have big doctors and medical institution' ....'Why don t you guys do somethign for our people'...' why do nt you come and set up hospitals in Tanzania and help these poor people who even do nt understand what they are dying out of' ... he seemed really excited on this idea and was smiling corner to corner on his ingenuity... then he looked at us... suddenly the light dimming in his eye... suddenly the fear of the fact that none of his idea may see the light of the day.. Suddenly realising that we are occasional tourist who may never come back... However we told him that we would try and see what we can do.. as we were an eye care institution, there may be very little we can do in this regard.. However we will give it a try... ' You guys, if any time u want to come just lemme know... we will provide all land and everythin that you require'
It was nearly 2p.m and the stream of patient have now thinned and have become a mere trickle.... the staff were in pack up mode and we were ready to leave... On the way we stopped at a local market and the sight of lush green vegetable which was of a much more larger size than average, filled our senses with delight.. We were told that the vendors came from up the mountain each day to sell their merchandise and leave by evening. Whatever they were able to sell they sell and the rest just gets thrown away or sold at dirt cheap cost.... We came back to Moshi by 3.30 p.m and were dog tired and as such slept in to late evening....
Dharmesh Bhai was smiling when we came down from our room... ' aur batayee ye... kaisa raha aap logon ka trip..." he asked. 'bas thik thak raha'... we said 'so how did you like the food' .... That brought out the agony inside me and my colleague who have been struggling with the food for a good amount of time since we arrived.. Seeing our predicament Dharmesh Bhai asked us to come with him... 'chaliye, appko aaj ek accha Indian resaurant le kar chalte hain'... he took us to the 'El Rancho' restaurant which was about some distance from the city and in the night had very few diners around.. Dharmesh Bhai dropped us and told us to call him back so that he will come back to pick us up as there are no taxi available in that part of the city at night... My colleague and myself had a hearty dinner of Indian delicacies prepared by a chef from Dehradun... We simply relished the food and the ambience...
The next 3 days were used for the official activities and we got very little time for any sight seeing and other activities... On the end of the official activities on the 3rd day we hired a taxi and the driver's name was Richard... Richard took us around the city and took us to shops having collection of local crafts and products... I was totally taken aback by the beauty of the product and the sheer simplicity and richness filled me with delight.. Have got quite a handful which will fill up all the shelves in my drawing room..
During the excursion we were taken to a local handicraft industry called the 'Shah Industry'... infact anywhere you go you see shops like ' Patel's groceries' or 'Shah's bakery' etc... Anything Indian or to do with India has got in to the local culture quite well.. Each hotel or eateries will invariably have aloo stuffed samosa and chapattis... Infact when we were in the Shah industry we met the owner Divy Shah and we instantly strike off a conversation... according to him, his grandparents came to Tanzania in the late 1800s and since then they have been living there.. All the Indians speak beautiful and fluent Swahili... ' As a general question for discussion I asked Divy whether he misses home (India).. He had an incredulous look on his face and he said 'but this is home'...
One of the members of the official trip had come from London and was a British.. I think he put the entire phenomenon quite beautifully... Said Phillip ' people the world over blame the British for invading through force and establishing colonialism and help in expanding the empire... but nobody has noticed the silent cultural colonialism that Indians have been involved in... Since last 100 years Indians have spread all across the world... slowly, insidiously but surely.. Through their culture, food, the way of life they have had a profound influence on people across the world.. Right now where ever you see people opting for Indian food, Indian yoga and Indian way of life... infact in London most of the Britons prefer Indian food than others... even though 90% of the Indian restaurant are run by Bengalis from Bangladesh..People throng these restaurants to get a flavour of India...' To this I remarked that things which are done through love and in a manner which is non threatening tends to linger for longer time than the use of coercion in instilling cultures and values... and also as such India as a country has this inherent quality to absorb any thing foreign and assimilate it in its culture and processes it to present its own version .. Which is so lovable and adorable to one and all..
The next day our flight was at 4.30p.m. We reserved a taxi which will take us to a water fall (i forgot its name) and to the foothill of Mt. Kilimanjaro... The waterfall visit was great and while returning we had great view of the Mt. Kilimanjaro (lovingly called as Mt. kili by the locals)... We returned to the airport and caught our flight back to Mumbai with memory of a beautiful people and place which also carries the fragrance of our own country in more way than one... While returning our pilot declared that he will be flying very close to Mt. Kilimanjaro and if we wanted we could take photos... the view outside was majestic and truly spectacular... Kili stood proud and tall in all its glory... with a reminder of the great country and the great people of which it is an integral part.... While returning on my flight back I remembered all the beautiful landscape, the courteous and beautiful people. To all of them in the end I could only say.........
' Ashante Tanzania’! (Thank you Tanzania)...
P.S: Chk out the pix at http://www.flickr.com/photos/imtiguy/)
We arrived last Monday in Kilimanjaro airport at about 2.30-p.m local time and were picked up by the organiser's vehicle. It’s about 1 and a half hours drive from the airport to Moshi. Traveling on the way brought back nostalgic memory of an era long gone by. Of our stay in The Gambia, West Africa when I was barely 9 years old. Everything seemed the same... not touched by time or space.. The houses seen on the side of the road was few and far between and the roads looked deserted... It was the dry summer season in Tanzania and the country was waiting for its rainy season to set in..
We arrived at Moshi at about 4 p.m local time and were taken to the Hotel Bristol cottage where we were warmly greeted by a middle aged Indian man along with a lively chirpy Indian girl behind the counter.. They were expecting our arrival.. It really surprised us to see familiar faces in the far flung distant land... We were shown to our room where we rested till late in the evening... We came out for dinner and were greeted by Dharmesh Bhai who worked as a part time manager doing evening shift... from him we came to know that their forefathers had come as early as late 1800s to early 1900s... they all have come to adopt the language and the land and now have made it one of their own... Dharmesh Bhai has never seen India but hopes to visit it one day soon in future... We looked at the menu and saw most of the items were Indian in nature... I ventured out to order a mutton curry which was not really 'Indian' in taste but was ok for me as I was feeling very hungry...
The next day the organisers came and took us along with their team to their outreach camp which they had organised in a place called Ngongokare. It was situated near the foothill of the beautiful Mountain Meru which is the second largest after Mt. Kilimajaro.. Initially we did not see any patients but slowly we started seeing them coming in ones, twos and dozens.. Suddenly the primary health centre was over flooded with lots of patients who had come for their eye screening... In the meanwhile we decided to look around the place and to our surprise found a school in the vicinity... we saw lots of school children playing near the school.. we went near them and seeing us coming they also approched us in curiosity... however, their curiosity was short lived as once we took out our cameras out they backed off in fear.. they had great fear all over their expression and would not come near us no matter what.. it seemed to us that as if we have taken out some blcak magic wand to cast a spell on them.... Thats when we met Obama...
"Hi, I am Obama.. not the president Obama but Obama from Ngongokare.... May I help you'... We turned around to see a huge and burly man towering above us and smiling quite generously... We shook hand and he asked us if we would like to visit the school... we said that we wanted to take pictures of the kids but somehow the kids were afraid of the camera... then Obama turned to them and spoke something in Swahili and also demonstrated to them practically that clicking picture would not harm them.. There after the kids grew quite friendlier with us and allowed us to click their picture.. Thereafter they grew quite ecstatic and held on to our arms and some of them even hung at the end of it! They accompanied us right in to the health centre and thus we ensured that we contributed to almost 50% of the entire patient that day ;)
While all the commotion were going on inside, I sat down and had a chat with Obama.. He told how life is not easy in this part of Africa and how AIDS has become a curse which they have not been able to shake off in the last few years... He was really saddened the state which the people of the country find themselves... it was unbelievable for us to hear from him that the highest mortality for HIV/AIDS is in the age group of 15 - 18 years and is the single most killer disease in the country.. Then suddenly Obama's eyes lights up and he look really excited..
'You guys are from India... right...' 'Yes' we said.. 'Well I have heard that the Indians have big doctors and medical institution' ....'Why don t you guys do somethign for our people'...' why do nt you come and set up hospitals in Tanzania and help these poor people who even do nt understand what they are dying out of' ... he seemed really excited on this idea and was smiling corner to corner on his ingenuity... then he looked at us... suddenly the light dimming in his eye... suddenly the fear of the fact that none of his idea may see the light of the day.. Suddenly realising that we are occasional tourist who may never come back... However we told him that we would try and see what we can do.. as we were an eye care institution, there may be very little we can do in this regard.. However we will give it a try... ' You guys, if any time u want to come just lemme know... we will provide all land and everythin that you require'
It was nearly 2p.m and the stream of patient have now thinned and have become a mere trickle.... the staff were in pack up mode and we were ready to leave... On the way we stopped at a local market and the sight of lush green vegetable which was of a much more larger size than average, filled our senses with delight.. We were told that the vendors came from up the mountain each day to sell their merchandise and leave by evening. Whatever they were able to sell they sell and the rest just gets thrown away or sold at dirt cheap cost.... We came back to Moshi by 3.30 p.m and were dog tired and as such slept in to late evening....
Dharmesh Bhai was smiling when we came down from our room... ' aur batayee ye... kaisa raha aap logon ka trip..." he asked. 'bas thik thak raha'... we said 'so how did you like the food' .... That brought out the agony inside me and my colleague who have been struggling with the food for a good amount of time since we arrived.. Seeing our predicament Dharmesh Bhai asked us to come with him... 'chaliye, appko aaj ek accha Indian resaurant le kar chalte hain'... he took us to the 'El Rancho' restaurant which was about some distance from the city and in the night had very few diners around.. Dharmesh Bhai dropped us and told us to call him back so that he will come back to pick us up as there are no taxi available in that part of the city at night... My colleague and myself had a hearty dinner of Indian delicacies prepared by a chef from Dehradun... We simply relished the food and the ambience...
The next 3 days were used for the official activities and we got very little time for any sight seeing and other activities... On the end of the official activities on the 3rd day we hired a taxi and the driver's name was Richard... Richard took us around the city and took us to shops having collection of local crafts and products... I was totally taken aback by the beauty of the product and the sheer simplicity and richness filled me with delight.. Have got quite a handful which will fill up all the shelves in my drawing room..
During the excursion we were taken to a local handicraft industry called the 'Shah Industry'... infact anywhere you go you see shops like ' Patel's groceries' or 'Shah's bakery' etc... Anything Indian or to do with India has got in to the local culture quite well.. Each hotel or eateries will invariably have aloo stuffed samosa and chapattis... Infact when we were in the Shah industry we met the owner Divy Shah and we instantly strike off a conversation... according to him, his grandparents came to Tanzania in the late 1800s and since then they have been living there.. All the Indians speak beautiful and fluent Swahili... ' As a general question for discussion I asked Divy whether he misses home (India).. He had an incredulous look on his face and he said 'but this is home'...
One of the members of the official trip had come from London and was a British.. I think he put the entire phenomenon quite beautifully... Said Phillip ' people the world over blame the British for invading through force and establishing colonialism and help in expanding the empire... but nobody has noticed the silent cultural colonialism that Indians have been involved in... Since last 100 years Indians have spread all across the world... slowly, insidiously but surely.. Through their culture, food, the way of life they have had a profound influence on people across the world.. Right now where ever you see people opting for Indian food, Indian yoga and Indian way of life... infact in London most of the Britons prefer Indian food than others... even though 90% of the Indian restaurant are run by Bengalis from Bangladesh..People throng these restaurants to get a flavour of India...' To this I remarked that things which are done through love and in a manner which is non threatening tends to linger for longer time than the use of coercion in instilling cultures and values... and also as such India as a country has this inherent quality to absorb any thing foreign and assimilate it in its culture and processes it to present its own version .. Which is so lovable and adorable to one and all..
The next day our flight was at 4.30p.m. We reserved a taxi which will take us to a water fall (i forgot its name) and to the foothill of Mt. Kilimanjaro... The waterfall visit was great and while returning we had great view of the Mt. Kilimanjaro (lovingly called as Mt. kili by the locals)... We returned to the airport and caught our flight back to Mumbai with memory of a beautiful people and place which also carries the fragrance of our own country in more way than one... While returning our pilot declared that he will be flying very close to Mt. Kilimanjaro and if we wanted we could take photos... the view outside was majestic and truly spectacular... Kili stood proud and tall in all its glory... with a reminder of the great country and the great people of which it is an integral part.... While returning on my flight back I remembered all the beautiful landscape, the courteous and beautiful people. To all of them in the end I could only say.........
' Ashante Tanzania’! (Thank you Tanzania)...
P.S: Chk out the pix at http://www.flickr.com/photos/imtiguy/)
