104 – Gondar, a city that the Emperors built!

The trip started early in the morning, and we packed ourselves into the two vans. Early mornings in Bahirdar have a healthy nip, and the air is bracing. The scenic beauty unfolded itself before our unbelieving eyes and compensated for the rough drive. 

Our first stop would be Gondar, the historic city and the erstwhile capital of the Ethiopian Emperors. Gondar is the sixth biggest city in Ethiopia and for the statistically minded Bahirdar is the 5th. Both Bahirdar and Gondar lie on the banks of Lake Tana the biggest freshwater lake in Ethiopia. At 2133 metres over mean sea level, Gondar is at the exact height as Kodaikanal, the queen of the Nilgiris, the famous hill resort of Tamil Nadu. Bahirdar is at 1820 metres above sea level almost the same height as Lonavala (1871 metres) the hill resort in Maharashtra. Gondar was 175 KIlometres away from Bahirdar.  

Gondar is a modern city with a distinctive culture. It has been the seat of power of the Ethiopian Emperors and has some spectacular forts and churches. Gondar was also the place where the Jews of Ethiopia once stayed before they all immigrated to Israel. 

Called Falasha (or wanderers) the Jews called themselves Beta Israel. Most of the Ethiopian Jews have since left, but the Jewish villages still exist as monuments that tourists could visit. 

Gondar is also quite noted among the Indian community. – The cause for fame was the university of medicine and in 2002 almost all the teaching, non-teaching faculty and nurses were totally of Indian origin. Thus the Indian community was all white coated. I was explaining this to Padma and Anasuya aunty. 

Hearing this Kuldeep preened “Arrey Anil Bhai, hum bee tho Doctor hai aur hum bhi tho white coat pehenthey Hai (we too are doctors, and we too wear aprons)”. He was referring to himself as a doctor. A PhD in Mathematics and a Doctorate. And to top it almost all teachers in Ethiopia wear white aprons to protect their clothes from the chalk dust! 

“Dr. Kuldeep Ji. Talk about yourself. I am not a doctor by any imagination, and I don’t wear the apron”. I added quite caustically. I somehow was quite averse to wearing the apron to the classroom. I recited a joke about PhD doctors.  

A freshly minted PhD (who struggled for over a decade for his doctorate) proudly put a nameplate Dr. So and So on his apartment’s front door. The next day morning, there was a frantic ringing of the calling bell. Before he could go to the door, his nosy parker no-nonsense nine-year-old son opened the door. At the door was a man who was panting. “Is the doctor in?” was his worried enquiry. 

The PhD doctor’s son yawned, picked his tooth with an imaginary toothpick and drawled ‘Yes, he is, BUT HE WILL BE OF NO USE TO YOU”. With this, he banged the door in the face of the shocked visitor. More shocked and devastated was his father, who was rudely pushed from the ecstatic heavenly bliss to the hard reality of life. PhD’s are Doctorates and not doctors. Kuldeep roared his approval and laughed till tears came to his eyes.    

We stopped for breakfast at the roadside. The scenes were breathtaking, but the countryside was full of mud and was dripping wet. The Ethiopian rainy season was in full swing! Most of us were drowsing when both the vans came to a screeching halt. We were in a traffic jam! 

I got down to enquire. It was a nightmare that came true! There was a massive landslide, and the vehicles were stuck choco-o-block. There was nothing that we could do but watch with open mouths as puny workers struggled to get the rocks and the mud out of the way. It was man against nature! 

 

But on the other side was a sight that stunned us. Rising out of the sheer mountainside was a rock formation (the god’s finger) – that looked exactly like a massive Shiva Lingaa. This sight made the entire group very happy, and they all happily agreed that it was a splendid omen for our start, and the landslide be damned! 

By lunchtime, we reached Gondar. Like most big Ethiopian cities, Gondar was clean and had paved concrete roads. It also had many double-storeyed buildings. The weather was cold, and the air was fresh and unpolluted. We vowed to ourselves. “Next contract, we shall try to come to Gondar”. T.N.Murthy remarked, “Do you know, We can get INDIAN RICE in Gondar?”. What he meant was that we could get Chinese rice that resembles the Indian Sona Masuri! For the Bahirdar Indian community who ate broken soggy rice, it was like God giving boons! The entire troop immediately made plans to buy the whole rice stock of Gondar! 

Our stay was at Hotel Quara. After freshening up, we visited Debre Berhan Selassie, the oldest church of Gondar. It was a typical Ethiopian church, very modest but had spectacular paintings on the walls. Suddenly someone shouted, “look at the ceiling, look at the ceiling.” 

We looked up and the sight shocked and frankly spooked us all. Many faces were solemnly staring at us! Sahithi got a scare of her life and clutched her mother so tightly that Padma gave out a yelp of pain. Sahithi’s tiny nails were piercing her shoulder.

 It took us some seconds to realise that the faces were not real but painted into the ceiling itself. Later a priest told us that the faces belonged to angels and that there were a total of 144 angel faces, each with a slightly different facial expression. An experience of a lifetime! 

Next, we visited the Fasil Gebbi (the royal enclosure) or the Gondar Fort complex. It was founded in the 17th century by Emperor Fasilides (Fasil) and was the home of Ethiopian emperors. Its unique architecture shows diverse influences. 

The origins of the Fasil Ghebbi can be found in the old tradition of the Ethiopian emperors to travel around their possessions, living off the produce of the peasants and dwelling in tents. 

Emperor Fasilides broke this tradition of progressing through the territories, and founded the city of Gondar as his capital; its relative permanence makes the city historically significant. Within the capital, he commanded the construction of an imposing edifice, the Fasil Gemb or Fasilides castle. A wall with numerous gates delineated the area around the Fasil Gemb. Subsequent emperors built their own structures, many of which survive either in whole or part today.

The entry fee was 50 birr! It was so steep that most Indian teaching community at Gondar would not visit the fort even once during their entire stay. We never had such qualms and went inside. By Indian standards, the forts were not spectacular, but they were decent and quite old. The least impressed was Dr. Kuldeep who murmured “such forts exist in nook and corner of my state” No wonder he was so upset. Kuldeep comes from Rajasthan the state that boasts some of the best forts in India if not the world itself!  

Strangely the architecture looked familiar. Later google search proved me correct. The architecture had very strong Indian design aspects. The builders of the Gondar fort were Indians! It established the fact that Indians and Ethiopians had friendly ties from time immemorial. Habsiguda, the bustling place near Tarnaka in Hyderabad, gets its name from Habesha (or locals as called in Amharic). The Nizam of Hyderabad had a massive contingent of Ethiopians in his army, and most of them were stationed in Habsiguda! 

From Gondar fort, we went to Fasilides bath another UNESCO world heritage site. Fasilides bath is around two km northwest of the piazza, attributed to both Emperor Fasilides, and Iyasu I. The large rectangular pool is overlooked by a charming building and alongside are some massive trees with large exposed roots. 

Padma gave a huge sigh and said “Why did the emperor build a separate bath for himself? That too so far away. Why can’t he take a bath at the fort itself?” I mentally imagined an emperor trundling along ponderously from his fort to the bathing area, just to take a bath. And at that time there were no friendly Bajaja (three-wheeler autos) or cars! Shaking myself out of the mental stupor, I quickly explained “Bath does not mean a bathroom. It is a symbolic bath. This symbolic bathing takes place during the Ethiopian festival of the Timkat”. 

Although the complex was used initially for swimming (royalty donned inflated goat-skin life jackets to swim), nowadays, it is filled with water for the Timkat (Baptism) or Epiphany celebrations which fall on the 20th of January.

After the bishop blesses the water, the pool becomes a riot of splashing water, shouts and laughter as crowds jump in. The ceremony replicates Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River and is a sacred renewal of faith among the Orthodox Christian community of Ethiopia.