I was in the faculty room when a
frantic colleague from the administration department approached me. He was definitely
out of his zone of comfort. “Dr. Aneel” he beseeched “We need to go to your
house”. "Is everything all right?” I enquired anxiously. “Oh, yes! Everything is
fine. But your house is selected for the
inspection”.
I was frankly stumped. ‘What inspection, why me?’. Seeing my
bewildered face one of my Ethiopian colleague, Abraham came to my rescue. A rapid
fire Amharic conversation followed. It had a feel of an interrogation. Abraham was
asking questions which were being answered in bursts of Amharic with lots of
hand waving. The admin guy left. He conveyed what he had to convey. The rest
was left to Abraham and the ferenji!
Abraham turned to me, gave a wide
grin and said “Dr. Aneel, Chigiri Yelemi (no problem, pronounced Chigri Yellam).
I was told that all foreigners who get free accommodation have to get their
houses inspected. The university wants to know if the house is comfortable and
if whatever is promised is delivered or not and if you are happy with the arrangements
made. And today is your turn”. He was enjoying himself.
“Oh” I said and started browsing
the internet again. It was my daily slot and if I miss my slot, I would
not get to browse the net for the entire day!
Abraham game me a speculative
look and pondered for a minute. He was fighting a mini battle with himself. Clearing
his throat, he asked “why are you still here?”. Seeing my puzzled expression,
Abraham said “Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, I forgot to tell you. The inspection team would start
any time now. The admin guy was only checking if you are in the department or
if you are at home”. I jumped! It was a shock of a life time.
I rushed home. I was breathless
by the time I reached home (at that time I did not buy the helicopter, oops a bicycle
for the uninitiated). I flung open the door. I rushed inside and made a grand
announcement “They are coming; they are coming”! Padma was frankly getting very
irritated.
“Who……… the army?” she enquired sarcastically.
I gasped, it was as if somebody socked me in the solar plexus. “What army?”, it
was my turn to be bewildered. I was irritated too. “seeing your panic, I
thought that the Ethiopian army was coming”.
I let it go. Who in the world has
won an argument with a wife! Adroitly side stepping the tricky army issue, I
said “Bahirdar University officials are coming for a visit’’. “What for?” she
enquired calmly.
I told her the purpose of the visit.
She asked a logical query that all homemakers ask “how many?”. I did not
enquire about the size of the inspection team. “Oh, around three to four” I
airily replied praying all the time. Padma was relaxed. Hospitality for three
or four is easily offered. Some ready-made snacks like murrukulu were already available.
A quickly made upma and a hot cup of tea could be offered.
Half an hour later, there was
banging on the door. Heavy banging of the compound wall gate was the Ethiopian
calling bell of choice. I opened the compound wall gate. I literally jumped out
of my skin! It was a scene out of the movie ‘gods must be crazy’. Right in front of the crowd were the pesky,
ever available local urchins whose entire aim in life was to giggle loudly and
make as much noise as possible. They had helpfully guided the inspection team
to my house.
Behind them were the local cops,
four of them. One of them sported a cap and I guessed he was somebody senior in
the police hierarchy (later it was told to me that he was a SP rank officer).
And behind him, beaming at me was our Vice President (the Vice Chancellor) of Bahirdar
University. All around him were many university officials. In all around a dozen
officials had come for the inspection! One of them was the house owner, a professor
from mathematics department.
I must have stared at them for a
few seconds. My mind was in a whirl. It was unable to process what was happening.
I was in a stupor. The Vice President gave a huge smile “Dr. Aneel” he said “how
are you?”. “Fine sir, fine, come in” I said.
I remembered what I read in the
books. The Show must go on. I ushered
them inside, seeing to it that the pesky local kids don’t come inside along
with the Inspection team. The kids did not like it a wee bit. Did they not help
me by showing the inspection team the way to my house! They showed their dissent
by banging the compound wall door continuously for the next five minutes. It was
a tiring experience.
The inspection team entered the house.
They looked at the garden. Their unscrutinisable Ethiopian faces showed no
expression at all. Their faces were serene and calm (calm before the storm, I
wondered). One of the officials gave 1% emotion when he looked at our rock
mountain. He appeared
happy at the work done. He gave the rock mount a stare. “who did this?” he enquired.
“My wife” I answered. “My wife!” he responded. I let it go. Readers who want to
know the reason need to go to my blog No – 35 to know, as to why I did not
respond.
No comments:
Post a Comment