Hair cut in Bahirdar – a hair raising experience – Ethiopian Journey – Blog Post no 71.

There are some things that are difficult to grow, especially plants and crops. Paradoxically what we want never grows the way it is supposed to grow or grow abundantly! Weeds that are universally hated, proliferate and seem to have the last laugh by cocking a snook at our feeble attempts, to be the creators.

And there are many things that grow easily by themselves and we human beings are bestowed with hair and nails that grow at quite a speed! In India it is quite easy to go for a haircut as good hair cutting salons are available at every nook and corner and they can provide a decent hair cut at a very affordable price. Getting a haircut is a non-issue in India.

Things were different in Bahirdar. Pranav and I sported stylish haircut when we landed in Bahirdar in the month of November. But come February 2003 we realized that our hair had grown so alarmingly, that we could wear a small pony tail!

Ethiopian men prefer short hair. Long hair would curl and grow to be woolly and that was something that the Ethiopians were not happy with! We had a Nigerian faculty member named Ahmed in Management Department.

Ahmed was paranoid about short hair. He would have hair of three inches’ length and hair over four inches would give him palpitations and he would religiously make a beeline to the nearest salon to get his unruly hair back to a disciplined three-inch level. Once his hair was back to three inches, peace and tranquillity would reign in Management department of SBE (School of Business and Economics), BDU (Bahirdar University).

My Ethiopian friends advised me to visit a hair cutting saloon in Kable 7, quite close to my house. The news that Pranav and me were to have a haircut was met with howls of delight from Sahithi and stares of apprehension from Padma. Sahithi liked the fun element. Her brother having a hair-cut and undergoing the ordeal of inconvenience was god’s way of getting at her annoying brother.

Padma on the other side was worried about our Kurula Soundharyam (beautiful hair). “what if the barber spoils your hair”. “Don’t you worry” I assured her jauntily. “Bochhu, Bocche (hair is hair), it is not cast in metal. It grows back”. To be frank I was quite apprehensive. After all I did not want to be the butt of jokes in the department and I was scared of the puzzled looks my Ethiopian students would give me if my hair was botched up.

We set out for the hair-raising experience and tagging along were Padma and Sahithi. They did not want to miss it for their life! It was god’s deliverance to the women folk. They need not get a haircut. They were burning with curiosity to see we would have a haircut in Bahirdar.

The hair cutting salon was a simple affair. It was a tin structure and inside were two very young Ethiopian barbers wearing white aprons just like aprons worn by doctors. ‘Aha, this is where the hair doctors like Javed Habeeb must have got inspiration from”. I smirked.

The Ethiopian barbers were shell shocked seeing a foreign family of four walking confidently into their salon. They were shaking with apprehension and their eyes grew wide seeing the length of Padma’s hair (almost five feet). They were close to a collapse and a seizure. “No, no” I assured them “not for the lady, not for the lady. Neither for Mito (Mito means baby)”.

The senior barber was relieved. He was clutching at straws “Und, Hulat, Sost, Arat” he said.  My face brightened “Sebat” I said confidently. Just to drive the point home that I knew Amharic, I showed him seven fingers. “Intriguing Ethiopians” I muttered to myself. “Why do they want to know the age of the person getting a haircut?!”

“Sebat” the barber gasped. He wouldn’t have been more shocked, if I had shot him with a shotgun! “Sebat, Sebat” he blabbered. He was terrorized. He looked at his colleague, who too was looking to escape the ordeal.

I was getting irritated. “Use a scissors” was my free advice. The haunted barber took an automatic hair clipper and put an attachment. In front of our unbelieving eyes he gave Pranav a haircut that was quite illustrative in itself. At the end of the ordeal Pranav was close to tears. It looked as if he just tonsured his hair at Tirupati, a week ago. Scissors were not used at all! I was flabbergasted. we dumped the five-birr hair cutting charge on the table and stormed off.

The next day, I recited my experience to my Ethiopian colleague, Abraham. Abraham almost fell off his chair. “Sebat, Sebat, Sebat” he roared. He was uncontrollable. “Dr. Anil” he was giggling “The barber was not enquiring your son’s age. The numbers 1,23,4 signify the length of hair that has to be cut or trimmed.

1 (one) means sporting very closely cropped hair and 4 (four) means that he would hardly cut any hair and only trim lightly and make the hair presentable. You said seven and the barber did not understand what you meant. Not giving you any benefit of doubt he gave your son a crew-cut.

He must have thought he was saving your money so that you need not visit a hair cutting salon for the next few months. Don’t blame him”. As I made an inglorious retreat, his mocking laughter followed me. “Sebat, Sebat, Sebat” he would whisper and wink conspiratorially whenever he saw me after that incident.

Much later Suresh and Bala guided me to another hair Saloon in Kable 13. The Kable 13 barbers used scissors and delivered a passable haircut. But the way the scissors was held and hair was chopped never inspired any confidence among the Indian teachers. But we never had a choice. What we had was a Hobson’s choice!

Ethiopian barbers were supremely confident with the usage of automatic hair trimmers and were very tentative when it came to using scissors and did not have finger dexterity like the Indian barbers in creating hair styles. But they can’t be blamed.

Their clientele consisted of customers with small curly hairs. And all that the customers demanded, was short cropped hair. Ethiopian barbers had never seen straight hair and never had fastidious and disconcerting customers, bent on having many different hair styles. All said and done getting a haircut was a hair raising experience in Bahirdar and definitely not for the faint hearted!

‘Buna Dabo Naw’ - ‘Coffee Is Our Bread’ - Part -2, Ethiopian Journey – Blog Post no 70.

Coffee has deep and symbolic meaning for Ethiopia and its citizens.  According to the Ethiopian proverb “Buna Dabo Naw” which means “Coffee is our bread”. Coffee and Ethiopia are intertwined and are inseparable. Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony is akin to Japanese Tea Ceremony.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony, called the Way of Tea, is a cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of Matcha or powdered green tea. A formal tea party in Japan can last for as much as four hours. It is quite a paradox that citizens of a country who worship time and promptness can spend as much as four hours to partake in a leisurely and languid tea party, where things move quite slowly and it looks as if time is moving in slow motion.

Similarly, Coffee Ceremony too, takes lot of time and is quite ritualistic. It is performed with drama accompanied with soft music. It can be held at any time of the day, but typically is conducted in the morning, afternoon or in the evening. Usually it is conducted in the house with family, relatives and friends.  It is also performed when welcoming guests or bidding them a farewell.

Being invited to a Coffee Ceremony is an honour. Accepting and attending it, shows respect to the host. Coffee Ceremony is a stellar example of experiencing traditional Ethiopian hospitality.

Before starting the ceremony, the entire area is swept and cleaned. Thin, delicately long, bright green scented grass procured from the country side is laid out on the floor and the smell permeates the air.  

The ceremony is always conducted by a young woman dressed in the traditional white Ethiopian costume with coloured woven borders.  The lady gently washes a handful of coffee seeds and places them on a preheated pan, stirs and shakes the husk away.

Meanwhile the visitors start pouring in and the room is pregnant with anticipation and expectation. Small talk is on and visitors exchange views, gossip and politics. There is laughter, bonhomie and back slapping. Some might even break into Amharic songs which have a lyrical quality which is quite surreal.  Visitors rub their eyes in disbelief! It is like being transported back into history! One can easily imagine being part the very first Coffee Ceremony held hundreds of years ago!  

As the coffee seeds are being roasted, the lady takes out hot burning charcoal, places them in an earthen container and puts incense into them. Magically the entire room is filled with incredible aroma. The incense bowl is taken to all parts of the room.

Later, the lady prepares fresh popcorn and lovely Ethiopian peanuts (Occholini). Ethiopian Occholini has an out-of-the world taste. Roasted and slightly salted they make for an excellent snack. Also on offer are roasted barley and sunflower seeds.

The roasted coffee seeds are taken out and passed around. Fresh roasted coffee beans have a strong smell. Everyone in the room takes in as much aroma as possible. Starbucks or any other swanky coffee joint can’t replicate the ambiance created in the humble hut or a ramshackle room.

The effect is quite simple but stunningly majestic. Most of the visitors fall silent at this point of time. They are overwhelmed by the visual grandeur!

The roasted coffee seeds are then ground into a fine powder. The coffee powder is mixed with water and slowly stirred in Jebena (a locally made black clay pot). The resultant coffee is very dark and has an unbelievable flavour.

The lady then gracefully pours a thin stream of coffee into small little cups (cini) from a height of nearly one feet. To pour coffee slowly and ever so gracefully, with a serene expression might take years and years of practice to perfect and execute!

The coffee is first offered to the eldest member of the congregation and then to all the others. If visitors are present, it is offered to the eldest of the group, then to the visitors and then everyone else. Once coffee is offered and accepted, the visitors become part of the family and of the tribe. It is like ‘breaking bread together” concept followed by the early Christians. The bond of friendship, trust and togetherness is sealed with the partaking of coffee.

Ethiopians ae not keen milk drinkers. It is customary to have coffee with sugar. In the rural areas coffee might be offered with salt or butter but never with milk. Coffee with milk is considered a sissy habit! I still vividly remember the scornful expression our PEDA coffee Barista gave me when asked for coffee with milk. It is indelibly etched in my mind!

“Coffee with milk?” she gasped!!! “Maceto” she yelled as she handed over a cup of coffee with milk. She gave a look of disgust and pity that could have buried a lesser mortal in a ten-metre-deep pit. But I was made of sterner stuff!  

Coffee is served thrice in a Coffee Ceremony. The third offering is the best and is considered to be a blessing. Third round is supposed to transform one’s spirt.  The offerings are named; Abol (the first round) or Anidi Gize (pronounced Und Gizo), Tona (second round) or huleti Gize (pronounced Ulat gizo) and Baraka (third round) or sositi gize (pronounced sost gizo).

Coffee is Ethiopia’s most famous export, forming 2/3 of its total exports. Ethiopian coffee is famed all over the world for its strong flavour and excellent taste. It is one of the most premium brand of coffee and having it anywhere in the world via a Coffee Ceremony brings back warm feelings and remembrances for the Ethiopian diaspora of the idyllic lifestyle that they have left behind.  

I first experienced the Coffee Ceremony when Hailey Grebrestadik’s batch of BA in Management, invited management faculty for fresher’s day celebrations in PEDA campus. Even though conducted with very limited resources, the simple ceremony was enchanting.  We were all grateful for the Ethiopian students for treating us with their speciality – Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony where Coffee takes the centre stage and rightly so – ‘Buna Dabo Naw – Coffee is our Bread’.

69 - Birth of Coffee, the brew that wakes the world – Part -1, Ethiopian Journey – Blog Post no 69.

This blog post is dedicated to my wife M. Padmavathi, co-writer and my partner in crime. Patient and ever accommodating, Padma was quite annoyed that I had not written about Ethiopian Coffee and its iconic and traditional coffee ceremony even after 68 blog posts and 60,000 words!

She declared “writing an Ethiopian blog without Coffee and Coffee ceremony is like watching a Rajanikanth movie (an Indian super star film actor, known for his stylized acting) without punch dialogues and his trade mark movements and quirks”. 

Just to avoid her wrath and to have peaceful and harmonious relations in the house, I tentatively broached upon a topic that was frankly as dry and as un appetizing as yesterday’s coffee, served cold (pun unintended).

But like I have always observed, once a topic is launched the story types by itself. I just try to give it the needed direction. To my bemusement, what I thought was a non-starter has blossomed into a two-part series. The first part of the coffee journey is in your hands (courtesy the omnipresent smartphone). God willing, the second part should be done and dusted by tomorrow. So dive in and enjoy this one along with a cup of what else, hot piping coffee!

An avid quizzer and a quiz master, one of my favourite quiz question is “where was coffee discovered?”. Most teams are bemused by this question and answers roll in; Indonesia, Brazil, Cuba and even China. I give a hint, “The Latin name of coffee is Coffee Arabica”.

The participating teams pucker up and brighten. “Aha, aha” they would grin internally “that was a dead give way man”. They would yell ‘Saudi Arabia”. And later rattle off as many middle eastern country names as they can remember. Game, set and match, Quiz master. Common sense is not very common.

Coffee Arabica or Coffee as it is popularly called is the brew that wakes up billions of people. It was not discovered in the Arabian Peninsula. It was discovered in the hilly region of Jimma, Ethiopia.

The momentous discovery was at a place called Kaffa and from that word Kaffa came the word Coffee. Then why the word Arabica? For many centuries the potent invigorator was only known to the Ethiopians. Some-time later the delightful qualities of Coffee were discovered by the Arab merchants.

Earlier Ethiopia was much larger and part of it was, Eritrea which later became an independent country. Along the Eritrean border and across the Red Sea, the Arabian Peninsula is very close.

Bab-el-Mandeb ("Gate of Tears" in Arabic) is a strait located between Yemen and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It provides the gate way to the Gulf of Aden and to the Arabian Peninsula. Tip to tip the land mass of Africa is only 5 (five) kilometres from the Southern-most point of Yemen. Mind boggling to think that we could literally sail away from Africa and land in Yemen a few minutes later!

Ethiopians always had very close contacts with Yemen and enjoyed very cordial relations with the Arabs. The Arab merchants made Coffee popular throughout the world and thus the name Coffee Arabica.

 

History gives credit of discovery of Coffee to an unsung, goat herding young boy Kaldi from the Jimma region. It was an unusually hot and humid day and the spirits of Kaldi and his herd were sinking lower and lower by the minute. The herd was morose and was dispiritedly gnawing at the grass. It was a dead give-away! They were dog (oops goat) tired and wanted to rest.

To Kaldi's utter surprise and horror, suddenly all the goats became very energetic and started jumping up and down. It was a magical, just like the bulb lighting in the mind of Newton on the discovery of gravity and Archimedes leaping out of the bath and rushing home naked crying out "Eureka, Eureka" (I have found it, I have found it) when the principle of 'displacement of water theory' dawned on him. 

At first Kaldi was nonplussed. It was easy to think of super natural intervention and of ghosts and ghostly possessions. But he was made of sterner stuff. Instead of running away wailing and bringing his elders to the spot, Kaldi cautiously ventured out. He was curious to find out the reason for the unusual exuberance of his herd.

That is when Kaldi made a discovery that would change the way we look at mornings and the way we wake up. His goats were chewing on wild berries that had fallen from a tree. Oh the innocence of the youth! The boy took some of the berries and chewed them himself. At first there was the bitter taste and then the high hit him. Kaldi wanted to jump and frisk about, just like his sheep!

Kaldi carried some of the berries home. The berries were a huge hit and soon the entire village was chewing on the berries. It was a high that bet all the other highs. The story of the berries, the high and the boy Kaldi, soon reached the ears of the Ethiopian clergy. The orthodox Ethiopian clergy was not having anything like this happen to their way of life.

It is said that the high priest took possession the offending berries and in a fit of anger threw them into a raging fire. The coffee beans were not pleased at all. They crackled and got roasted. They gave out aroma that was simply out of this world. The clergy were stunned. They left the place in a huff.

The coffee beans were roasted till they turned as black as charcoal. ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish” the clergy must have thought. And the matter was almost forgotten. But there was no denying the coffee beans. Their tryst with destiny was not be denied. They were to rise, literally from the ashes, like the proverbial ‘Phoenix”. A smart helper took out the blackened coffee beans and ground them into powder. He mixed the resultant powder in hot water. Thus was born the first coffee!

This bitter concoction was poured out in small cups (called cini in Amharic) and served to the high clergy. They drank it without a murmur and later discovered that their prayers on that day were more vigorous. They realized that the potent drink made them concentrate better and their commune with the god was more effective.

Blessed with the patronage of the high clergy, coffee’s popularity soared and it became a rage first throughout Ethiopia and later in the Arabian Peninsula. Today Coffee with its stimulant Caffeine is the early morning drink of choice for billions of people throughout the world.   The jury is out whether it is Coffee or tea which is the most popular early morning refresher of the world.

Whatever the choice is, Coffee has been embraced with open arms throughout the world and it is the daily fix that is eagerly awaited. Caffeine high is most sought after and having hot coffee early in the morning is a habit that is very difficult to break. It is a matter of culture and ingrained belief. It is simply, a part of life itself.

Realizing the obscene profits which can be generated if coffee drinkers could be induced to switch from coffee to a cold drink, Pepsi once introduced a soft drink with caffeine, aptly named “Pepsi AM”.

It was vetoed and given a massive thump down by the disconcerting coffee drinkers. Yes, they want a caffeine fix but they wanted it to come their way through the warm embrace of hot, freshly prepared, aromatic smelling and bubbly coffee and not through cold, unwelcoming and refrigerated cold drink. Pepsi Am sank like a dead stone and was given an unceremonious burial by a repentant Pepsi.

Conversation with Haile Gebretsadik on 22-05-2018 - Blog Post no - 68A.

I have been writing about Ethiopia and i have been receiving good response. I have received tremendous response about my atleast post on "Ethiopian Women". I have received this message from my Dear management student Haile Gebretsadik from Bahirdar university. Thanks Haile Gebretsadik for making my day!

My conversation with Haile Gebretsadik,

Anil Ramesh: Very pretty Haile Gebretsadik. Is she related to you and can I use it in my blog.

Haile Gebretsadik: Yes of course mine

Anil Ramesh: thanks, i will use it. And who is the girl? very good looking!

Haile Gebretsadik: My daughter; Michal.Anyway this is a monumental photo the time I saw your post we were drinking coffee and photographed them

Anil Ramesh: wow, such a great compliment. Will make it a part of my blog. It is so humbling that I write a blog item and you read it while you are having a coffee ceremony.

Ethiopian Women – Bewitching Beauties! - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post no - 68.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. How true! We tend to measure beauty from the narrow lenses of our own culture. Fair skin is considered beautiful in most countries. But in Ethiopia, it is duskiness that is valued – the land of the sun burnt people.

The thing that struck me immediately was that most, if not all women in Ethiopia are quite thin, tall and have exquisite skin and have prominent features and excellent physique. Obviously women in Addis Ababa and Bahirdar use cosmetics to enhance their looks, but there is no denying their beauty!

A little research gave out startling results. Ethiopian women are among the most beautiful in Africa if not in the world. According to a website (https://www.providr.com/countries-with-beautiful-women/) Ethiopian women are the most beautiful in the world! (India comes in at no 5).

Liya Kebede

What makes Ethiopian women so beautiful? The women from Ethiopia are tall with sharp facial features (cheekbones and Jawlines specifically). Their dark eyes, hair and skin are radiant and beautiful. They are often well-known models in the fashion world too with the most famous example being Liya Kebede.   

Lucy's Skeleton in Addis Ababa 

Famous Ethiopian women: Of course the most famous Ethiopian woman is related to all of us! In fact she is our mother; she is the mother for all the inhabitants of mother earth. Yes, I am referring to ‘Lucy’. Lucy or Dinkinesh (which means “unique”) is a 3.2-million-year old skeleton of the Australopithecus afarensis, discovered in Ethiopia’s Afar region in 1974. Lucy was declared “the grandmother of humanity.”

Tharbis, Moses's Wife

According to the bible, one of Moses’s wives was an Ethiopian woman and she is referred to as a Cushite. Her name was Tharbis and she was an Ethiopian princess.

Queen Sheeba

The third most prominent and beautiful woman is queen Sheba. According to Kebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings) an important text of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, names the Queen of Sheba as the beautiful queen Makeda and identifies the land of Sheba as ancient Ethiopia.

According to Kebra Nagast, Queen Makeda travelled to Jerusalem and had a love affair with King Solomon.  Makeda  then returned and gave birth to a son, Menelik. Menelik is raised in Ethiopia, but when he turned 22, he travelled to Jerusalem to meet his father.

Reportedly King Solomon is delighted with his firstborn son and tried in vain to convince Menelik to remain in Israel and succeed him, as king. However, Menelik chose to return to the land of Sheba. Solomon sent the firstborn sons of Israel’s elders along with his son from Israel to Ethiopia, and the Ark of the Covenant travelled with them. 

To this day, many Ethiopians believe that the Ark of the Covenant resides within the Chapel of the Tablet next to the Church of Maryam Tsion in Aksum, Ethiopia

Ethiopians claim Queen of Sheeba as part of their heritage and through her union with King Solomon, claim a connection between their kings and the Davidic monarchy of Israel. Ethiopian Kings were seen as direct descendants of the house of David, rulers by divine right.

Tirunesh Dibaba: is an Ethiopian long distance track athlete and has many World and Olympic records to her credit. She is nicknamed the "Baby Faced Destroyer." She was raised in the high-altitude Arsi region of Ethiopia.

Dibaba is part of an athletic family, with older sister Ejegayehu Dibaba too has won many world and Olympic medals.  Her younger sister Genzebe Dibaba also holds world records in athletics. Tirunesh and Genzebe are the only siblings in the history to hold concurrent world records.   

From left Genzebe, Ejegayehu, Anna and Tirunesh Dibaba 

Derartu Tulu 

Their cousin Derartu Tulu also won medals in Olympics and in world championships. These four athletes from the same family have won 5 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals in Olympics and 6 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 2 bronze medals in world championships. Out of this world, that on family can produce so many wold class athletes and so many world records and so many Olympic medals. It is a staggering tally. 

African and Arab blood mixing delightfully!

Thus it is not surprising with such history and genetic pool to match, Ethiopian women are so beautiful and awe inspiring. The reality might lie somewhere in between. Their geographic location at the horn of Africa and the proximity to the southern-most tip of the Arabian Peninsula must have meant that Ethiopian and the middle eastern Arabs must have married with Islam also being popular as a religion among the Ethiopians. This might have also added to their exotic looks and chiseled features.

I told young unmarried Indian teachers (albeit a small number, unfortunately) that they have literally arrived at Paradise. A country with zero pollution, pleasant weather, very low cost of living, with abundant and cheap non vegetarian food and surrounded by gorgeous and beautiful Ethiopian women! And Dashen beer available at Birr 1.50 (Rs 7.50) for a 330 ml can. Life can’t get any better.

Pretty Ethiopian College Girls 

Earnest as I was, it was a bridge too far to cross. Most Indians found the idea of wooing and getting hitched to an Ethiopian woman too much even to ponder. First it was the language and then the culture and the feeling “what would my family and friends back in India think?”.

One Indian lady faculty member did try to get married to an Ethiopian man but at the end it fizzled out. But the shining example of cross cultural assimilation was Alex Blokhin, a Russian born mathematics faculty from PEDA who married an Ethiopian woman and took her back to his country. They are very happy together and have a bubbly son!

Ethiopian women are very hard working. Hard work is part of their daily regime and they can work for many hours without complaining. They are used to hard labour and can pound coffee beans into fine coffee powder with their hands the old fashioned way!

Hand woven baskets 

Ethiopian women are very good at weaving and can weave beautiful hand made embroidered clothing. They can also weave very beautiful hand-made baskets and wall hangings. And yes they are quite adept at cooking and can make mouth-watering delicacies that will delight any foodie. 

Travel in Ethiopia - Macena the Cobra - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post no - 67

Rugged mountainous Ethiopia posed very unique challenges for travel. The most convenient way of travelling is obviously by air and Ethiopian airlines is the travel partner of choice. Ethiopian airlines had mostly bombardier aircraft that could carry 52 passengers at a time for domestic travel.

Ethiopian airlines had very practical ways of operating. They were always on time and took off when all the passengers boarded the flight. In days gone by, we were told that air travel was quite informal and entailed taking goats and even hens on the planes along with the passengers!

The cost of an air ticket from Addis Ababa to Bahirdar was 650 birr (Rs 3,250 rupees) for foreigners and 250 birr (Rs 1,250) for Ethiopians and for expatriates with work permits. Back in 2002, 250 birr was lot of money and most Ethiopians could not afford to pay, so much.

Long distance bus service was available but was it was quite an adventure in itself. The bus would start at Piazza in Addis Ababa at 06:00 a.m. The buses were quite rickety and had hard seats without cushions. Ethiopian habit of closing all windows meant stifling heat inside the buses. The buses would travel at their own pace and would reach Debre Markos by the evening.

Roads in Ethiopia were mostly gravel at that time and driving on them was tough in the day and impossible at night. There was no concept of national highways and it was quite risky to travel at nights. Travellers could be mauled by wild animals or attacked by desperate bandits who could be wielding deadly firearms. 

Wielding firearms was quite common in Ethiopia and most tribal men carry AK -47’s around quite nonchalantly. It was quite a sight to see skinny men wearing shorts, heft a Ak-47 as if it was stick.

Night halt at Debre Markos was mandatory and travellers had to shell out 10-20 birrs for a rudimentary lodging facility or shiver their way through-out the night in the cold bus. The bus would start the next day morning and reach Bahirdar by afternoon. The travel time from Addis Ababa was 36 hours for a distance of 650 kilometres!

The via media form of travel was taking a Cobra (Cobra is the Ethiopian name for a Toyota Land Cruiser). Ethiopians are quite enamoured by the Cobras and they are slavish in their devotion to the rugged vehicle. Cars are called Macena in Ethiopia and a single journey from Addis to Bahirdar costed 100 birr, back in 2002.

The beauty of traveling by the Cobra is that, travel time from Addis to Bahirdar could be cut by half. The Cobra would start from Addis in the morning and reach Bahirdar by night fall.

The first time I travelled by a Cobra was in February 2003. We were asked to come to a specified location in Kable 7 by 04:00 a.m. in the morning. Kable 7 was pitch dark and it was quite spooky to walk to the location. The location was a huge banyan tree from which many branches were swaying ominously and they seemed to mutter something! They looked like floating people and at that time it was quite natural to imagine supernatural and ghostly things that would have delighted the horror team of Ramsay brothers or Ram Gopal Verma!

I stood there feeling the nippy early morning air. I was wearing a woollen pullover but was drenched in sweat. Suddenly I realized there was something or somebody NEXT to me. I DARE NOT LOOK, AND I DARE NOT MISS LOOKING!

Mustering all the courage, I sneaked a look! I almost died. There were two people (did not know if they are men or women) completely wrapped in white cloth. Come to think of it, I did not even know if they were human beings! I am sure they were dead scared of the firanj too, standing all alone wearing a blue pullover! After a close inspection, I realized that they were a husband and wife pair and we exchanged greetings and smiles.

The Cobra was filled with 10 passengers and off we went. Travelling by a Cobra was like participating in a wild car rally. The metal roads were full of small rocks and that meant a bumpy ride. We were thrown up and down our seats and had to hold onto the side supports! Otherwise we would be falling on each other. Quite scary thought for travellers all huddled together like sardines in a tin box.   

Our Macena driver was driving at 100-120 kilometres and there was a dust trail following us like an unruly dog. Even though all the doors and windows were closed, fine dust came in and entered our mouth, nose and even ears. We had to wrap ourselves just like girl drivers wrap themselves on Indian roads, otherwise we could suffer from high levels of infection.  

If getting driven at high speed on the dusty Ethiopian roads was not enough the behaviour of the rural Ethiopian folks was even more scarier. The usually calm and placid rural folks would behave quite differently the minute they saw the Macena.

For the rural Ethiopians, life moved at a slow pace and their life was tranquil and unhurried. The fast moving and dust churning Macena was seen as the manifestation of evil. According to the folklore the rural Ethiopians considered the Macena to be evil and would jump right in front of the speeding car.

The innocent and naive villagers believed that they are pure at heart if they are saved by the alert driver who can swerve and save them. If they get hit by a speeding car the villagers felt that they are evil and deserved the punishment meted out by the speeding Macena. 

So often it was a cat and mouse game with the Macena drivers continuously on the lookout to avoid the villagers jumping in front of their cars and the villagers looking at every chance to jump in front of the car. Luckily for us we did not have any one jumping in front of our Cobra!

The next point of excitement was when we were crossing the Nile gorge. Nile gorge is a scene out of Makenna’s Gold movie. Our Macena cut through the mountain side and in front of us was the magnificent Nile gorge bridge. The car slowly crawled across the Nile gorge bridge. Watching us were hawk eyed military personnel. It was as if we were a part of a second world war movie.

Just like any other country, bridges could be sabotaged and if the Nile gorge bridge was sabotaged the only road link between north Ethiopia and the rest of the country would be gone. The military personnel carefully scanned through the car. No one was allowed to get off the car and woe beside anyone trying to take snaps.

The camera would be confiscated and in many cases the military personnel even refuse to give back the concerned camera. We were all tense but we passed the inspection and crossed the bridge. After that the journey was uneventful and soon we climbed down the mountain side and were met with the welcome sight of the twinkling lights of the New Flower – Addis Ababa. She was welcoming us into her warm bosom and we were elated that we made it to Addis Ababa safely and in one piece.