92 – Person of Interest – American Mother – Tryst with Tis Abay Water Fall – Ethiopian Journey

Blue Nile falls/Tis Abay (Great Smoke in Amharic)

Aunty’s visit created a huge excitement in Kable 7, Bahirdar. In a small town everything is big news and Aunty’s arrival from USA was definitely BIG. Padma and the kids had decorated the house tastefully and had huge welcome boards (hand-made) hung in the drawing room.

Ebolu and the Coffee Ceremony

Ebolu (Kuldeep’s maid) brought casuarina branches and arranged a traditional coffee ceremony. She even added artificial roses and lights to add to the gaiety. Aunty enjoyed it.  

Anasuya Aunty, Pranav and Sahithi in the vast meadow in front of our house

That evening onwards we started to walk in the kable. With the onset of the rains the entire country side turned from a sulking dusky terrain to a green smiling maiden (Maidan as it is referred in India). There was greenery everywhere and the weather turned out to be pleasant.

Road leading to PEDA, Sahithi, Padma, Aunty and Gadadhar (Oops Pranav with the Mace)

We enjoyed the walks. Walking on the metal roads with sharp projecting stones was an adventure in itself. And once it becomes dark, it becomes pitch dark. It is so dark that one has to step gingerly, one step at a time. 

Padma and Sahithi with Ethiopian version of Tangedu Poolu 

The rains made the roads slushy and slippery too. It was quite common to see locals walk nonchalantly wearing huge gum boots -  the ones that we see factory workers wear.

Our Family snapped! in the background is the view point 

The Ethiopians we knew were pleased to know that Aunty came visiting. Most of their faces broke into winsome smiles when they were told that she came from USA. USA – most of them knew! The US green card lottery is an annual event that most Ethiopians eagerly wait for. US green card lottery is one mega gamble that no educated Ethiopian wanted to miss. They all wanted to try their luck.

Bahudurapu batasarulu

USA believes in diversity. It generously offers green cards to 50,000 worldwide immigrants to come and settle in USA. As Ethiopians were not migrating in huge numbers to USA they are eligible for the lottery. The scheme is called the US diversity Visa lottery Program. It is quite common to see many Ethiopians register for the US Visa lottery process quite religiously. It is a ticket to a better life and prosperity and many Ethiopians try their luck year-after-year.

The volume of the applications is very high and nearly 20 million people apply for the 50,000 annual green card visas that are granted. The lucky ones are selected by a lottery. Thus it was not surprising that my friends and colleagues held aunty in high esteem – She comes from the promised land!!!!

For long we wanted to visit Blue Nile waterfalls or Tis Abay (the Great smoke in Amharic) water falls. Till 2003, Tis Abay was a majestic sight. Water gushed down and fell in thundering cascades from a height of around 37 to 45 feet. From a trickle in the dry season to over 400 metres wide in the rainy season, the water falls are an awe inspiring sight in full flow.  

After a hydroelectric dam was constructed in 2003, the water flow had reduced drastically except in peak rainy season. But it is still a magnificent sight. And the route is said to be breathtakingly scenic. ‘It is the journey that is sometimes more exciting than the destination itself!!!!’. Tis Abay is located around 30 kilometers from Bahirdar. The day was 3rd August 2003.

From Left Padma, Sahithi, Aunty, Shilpa, Krishna, Suresh, Kuldeep and Balakrishna and standing infront Pranav

We were a party of Ten. Padma, me, Pranav, Sahithi, Aunty, Balakrishna, Dr. Kuldeep, his wife Shilpa, Suresh and his wife, Krishna. We decided to rough it out and take the public transport. The bus journey was not comfortable. The bus had seen better days and the ride was pretty bumpy.

Ethiopian Bus 

The Ethiopian custom of closing all the windows to avoid dust and cold air from coming in meant that the bus was stuffy and the ride was claustrophobic, to say the least. Most of the fellow travelers gave us curious glances but mercifully not many comments were made. May be Suresh’s and my strapping appearances and the huge beard that Kuldeep sported must have been the deterrents!

Road side view from the bus 

The scenery around us was a throwback to the nomadic times that our ancestors must have passed through. Pencil thin Ethiopian peasants hefting huge loads on their backs or on patient and slow moving donkeys or cows could be seen. 

Unarguably one of the most photogenic race in the world.

We also saw young girls and boys dressed in tatters but they sported beaming smiles and waved at us in gay abandon as the bus noisily made its way alongside!

Tissisat Village, gateway to the Tis Abay water fall

The bus dumped us at Tissisat village and immediately we were surrounded by a pack of Ethiopians, all of whom wanted a piece of us. They were all like the modern day Shylocks! They were all screaming at us and we could not make head or tail of what they were saying. Sahithi who was youngest in the group was in tears and Pranav too looked close to a breakdown. We were being dragged and buffeted from all sides.

Luckily for us Suresh had limited command of Amharic and he spoke to the crowd with his best teachers’ voice and slowly it dawned on the unruly crowd. “Omigosh, this is a group of teachers”. Slowly a hush descended and it was as if there was an invisible finger on their lips.

Out of the restless motley crowd one guy stepped forward. He had a saucy, jaunty look about him. He jabbered away at Suresh and Suresh slowly started nodding his head. Suresh turned towards us and said “this guy says that it is very dangerous to go to the waterfall by ourselves. The crowd is demanding 50 dollars per person (roughly 350 birr) to guide us”. It was a jaw dropping amount.

500 dollars for 10 people was 25,000/- Indian rupees!!!!. Suresh who visited the waterfall before dismissed the preposterous idea. He said, “Not to worry Sir! We can go to the waterfall by ourselves”. “That is fine” I told him. “But what do we do with this wailing, howling and restless wolf pack?”. Suresh hit upon the divide and rule that the British taught us.

He took the leader of the pack aside and made a deal. “Make peace and leave us alone”. We could hear talk of 100s of birr being thrown about but Suresh was patient. Infact he could become a great negotiator in a hostage release situation! He had that Zen calmness about him. It was the leader who was getting more and more rattled. Finally, a deal was struck and they shook hands and surreptitiously money was exchanged.

As the leader was explaining the deal struck to his pack, we beat a hasty retreat to the path that led to the waterfall. ‘Suresh”, I said “that was good. I am sure that the 100 or 200 birr that you gave him will buy us peace”.

“100 birr!!!” exclaimed Suresh “I told him that we are volunteer teachers and that we don’t get paid very well. I argued that 2 birr per person was enough to let us go” I gaped at him. Think of the Indian ingenuity and the ability to squeeze oil out of even desert sand! I mentally saluted Suresh for getting us out of a tricky situation.