The first bit of bad news came from PEDA campus. TSFM (Telugu Speaking faculty member) who was annoyed at not being invited went and frightened Rajani out of her wits. He said “Rajani, you are going to die if you go to Lalibela. You will get malaria, no doubt at all”.
Rattled at the talk of death, next day Rajani approached me in the university. She said “I came all the way from India to earn, save and go back. I don’t want to die like a nobody in this remote place”. The seriousness with which the message was delivered was stunning. I politely told her not to worry and asked her to stay put, safe at Bahirdar.
The talk of Rajani not coming boosted the chances of Clara coming, as both could not see eye to eye. Even though they shared the same flat, the animosity between Clara and Rajani was known to the entire teaching community of Bahirdar.
Then the news trickled in. Unknown to me Bala invited his HOD from Electrical Engineering Department along with his entire family. This threw a spanner in our plan. Addis Gedafaw was a very young Ethiopian girl and was quite compatible with us. We neither knew the HOD of Electrical Engineering nor knew his wife and kids. I had to call Balakrishna and tell him to drop the invitation to his HOD.
This was the tipping point. Somehow it was construed that me being a PEDA faculty did not want the faculty (both Indian and Ethiopian) of POLY campus to come along with us to the trip. I watched haplessly as the rumours grew and spread.
Days were slipping by and Mulugeta our tour guide kept reminding us that we needed to confirm the trip. The waiting game was dragging on. On 23rd of September, I made up my mind. I would tell our entire group of 18 invitees to confirm by the next day.
That evening on the way to the market, I met Suresh. He was coming to my house. He was quite flustered. He said forthrightly “Anil sir. What you are doing is not correct. You are inviting selectively. This is creating bad feelings among us all. Bala is feeling very upset about the withdrawal of invitation to his HOD. If Addis can be called, why not his HOD? Even TSFM approached me. Why is he not invited”? He was not mincing words.
The last week had been tough. I had to conduct the end-term examination for the extension classes, grade and submit the results. I was also the PRO of Bahirdar University and had to organise a press conference. On the top, Aunty’s return date to India was approaching fast and the trip could not be postponed. The mental trauma of the previous week spilled over.
“Suresh”, I told him “There is no conspiracy theory. I am neither neglecting nor persecuting any one. Time is simply running out. We have already decided on the list of invitees. The reasons for not inviting TSFM is known to you. Alex is a bachelor and so is Addis. I thought inviting an Ethiopian family with kids would be too much of a cultural barrier to cross. And we do not know them at all. Their customs and habits might not be compatible with ours. That is why I had to tell Bala to drop the invitation”. Suresh did not look convinced at all.
The ding-dong business of going forth and coming back had worn me down. I told him point blank, “Suresh, I think the trip has reached a point of no return. Our family had decided. Aunty has come all the way from America. We want to see Gondar, Lalibela and Simien mountains, come what may. We will go and we will go inspite of any one coming or not. Now it is individuals’ choice. They can take their own decisions”. Hearing this ultimatum, Suresh’s face turned red. He wished me goodbye and cycled away. I knew that the bridge was broken.
By the time I returned from the market the damage was done. Suresh called Dr. Kuldeep on his landline. He informed Kuldeep that he, his wife and Bala were not coming to the trip. Cool and composed, Kuldeep assured Suresh that it was all right.
By night, Dr. Naidu from POLY too dropped out. He cited his sinus problem and said that the cold weather in Simien might aggravate his problem. The reason was accepted, with a smile!
Now bad news was flooding in. Addis had twisted her ankle and was advised bed rest. She was forced to drop out. Clara and Addis were close friends and Clara too dropped out. It was looking as if the punters of Bahirdar were right. Spanners were being thrown into the trip, left, right, and centre and the wheels were coming off, quite dramatically.
That evening an SOS (emergency) meeting was held in Dr. Kuldeep’s house in Kable 7. It was literally all hands on the deck. I told the meeting, “Things are not in our favour. But our family wants to go. And we will go, no matter, what. You are free to take your own decisions. We can’t wait. This dillydallying is very upsetting. We need to plan for the trip and pay advance to Ghion hotel”.
Kuldeep broke out in laughter “Arrey Anil Saab. Why so solemn? Shilpa and I, are coming”. Dr. Neelima and Tasneem too nodded their affirmative. Looking on was an impassive T.N. Murthy. He said suddenly, “I am coming too. Seeing you face so much resistance, I would like to be part of the trip”. That was very good news.
Now we had five from our family (myself, Padma, Pranav, Sahithi and Aunty) and Dr. Kuldeep, Shilpa, Dr. T.N. Murthy, Dr. Neelima and Tasneem. That made the count a solid ten. Alex, the Russian too was in. A phone call and Jeevan confirmed that he and his wife too were in.
I told the gathering, “that is it. We are freezing the group. We are a group of 12 (not considering Sahithi, a baby)”. I beamed at them, “Wow, we are a dirty dozen (punning on the popular western movie from Hollywood)”. Even though, said in jest, the tag struck. we were christened the Dirty Dozen.
That evening we went and met Mulugeta and paid advance of 5,000 birr. He was shell shocked. We were paying for a bus of 22 but had only 12 tourists. We would start on 27th of September and return back by 31st September. Our trip was on, officially.