101 - Tearing The Indian Community Apart – Ethiopian Journey

Choosing the places to visit was quite easy. We wanted to travel to places that were close by and we wanted to finish off the trip in five days. The places selected themselves. Gondar, as it was only 175 kilometers away and it had Fasil Ghebbi, the fort and Fasilidas bath, another huge attraction.

We could not miss out Lalibela the 8^th natural wonder of the world. Not visiting Lalibela after staying in Ethiopia is like visiting India and not seeing Tirupati or visiting Saudi Arabia and not seeing Mecca.

We were all nature lovers including Anasuya aunty and we wanted to see the Majestic Simien mountains and see for ourselves ‘Gods own chess pieces’. The legend is that gods played chess with the mountains shaped like chess pieces. 

We also wanted to see the endangered Simien Fox, Gelada Baboons and the Ethiopian Walia Ibex, all majestic animals.

 Sadly, only 500 Walia Ibex are left in Ethiopia and most of them are in the Simien mountains. Of course we wanted to experience an ambience that is unparalleled in the world. Simien mountains has a mystique that we were told had to be experienced. It can’t be described.

We had to travel by road and there was no way we could travel by air especially to Simien mountains. Of course all the three places, Bahirdar, Gondar and Lalibela were connected by air but from Addis Ababa. Bahirdar – Lalibela was not connected by air and Bahirdar Gondar were so close that the travel has to be by road.

There was no reliable road transport service and once we planned to visit Simien mountains we had only one choice. Make it into a package tour and then it becomes viable and feasible.

Deciding to travel, was the easy part. Where do we get information about fixing a package tour?  Luckily for us Mansoor Ali Khan, my colleague from the management department had a known contact in Ghion Hotel. Ghion hotel was right at the edge of mango park and it was also close to the jetty that took tourists to the island monasteries.

Kuldeep and me went to Ghion hotel and met Mulugeta. Mulugeta told us that the trip was possible and that it would have to be a five-day trip. He promised us a 22 seater bus. The bus charges were fixed and the night stay would be at Gondar, Lalibela and one night would be at Simien National Park.

Five of us were certainties. Our family of four and Anasuya aunty. We first mooted the group travel idea in Kable 7 and it was received with great enthusiasm by Kuldeep and Shilpa, Dr. Neelima and Tasneem. Dr. Srinivas Inguva had gone to India and Dr. T. N. Murthy was not interested. We had eight (not counting Sahithi) in the kitty and wanted 14 more.

We were quite choosy in whom we wanted to invite. We knew by now that the cursed ‘Indian stretchable Time’ concept had travelled to Ethiopia too. Some Indians would take inordinate time to dress and arrive at the starting point. Especially we wanted to avoid TSFM (telugu Speaking faculty member) whose family was famed for late coming.

We extended invitations to Clara, Rajani, Mansoor’s family and Azaz Ahmed’s family. During one of our discussions, Management department’s HOD, Addis Gedafaw evinced interest to accompany us. But almost immediately Mansoor and Ahmed said NO.

They had young kids and did not want them to get diseases. Even though Adnan (Ahmed sir’s son) and Shagufa (Mansoor’s daughter) were Sahithi’s age, I respected their decision. Mansoor later told me that as they were Muslims, they were not keen about visiting churches. He said that he was planning a trip to Harar, the third holiest site for Muslims in the world. That left Clara, Rajani, Addis and a Russian Mathematics teacher named Alex. Alex volunteered by himself and said that he was coming, period. Possibly four more from PEDA campus.

From POLY, invitations were extended to Dr. Naidu, Suresh and his wife, Balakrishna and to Jeevan and his wife. Jeevan and his wife had come to the island monasteries along with us. They enjoyed themselves and we were sure that they would enjoy the five-day trip.  We had invited 6 from POLY campus.

So 4 from our family, 4 from Kable 7, 4 from PEDA campus and 6 from POLY campus, added up to eighteen. Yes, 22 would make it better and the cost would come down but we were quite worried about big numbers. I thought that things were moving smoothly.

The die was cast and the Indian community gossip mills of Bahirdar went into the overdrive. The Indian community was buzzing with curiosity, amazement, hurt and apprehension.

‘How dare Anil plan such an audacious trip? No one earlier has even attempted such an outrageous event? Who would want to go to “dangerous places”. He is risking lives of everyone including his wife and children? Why would he risk the life of his poor mother-in-law? He has lot of money to blow, is it? Why are we not included? How can he be so selfish? He is inviting Ethiopians, Russians but not Indians? Is he trying to curry up (maskafy) his HOD?! After all his contract will come up for renewal’

Rumours were flying thick and fast everywhere. The entire area of Simien mountains was totally lawless. Some explained “Lalibela is full of mosquitoes, waiting to take the blood out of the tourists”. This one in particular sounded very strange. It was as if the mosquitoes of Lalibela were blood sucking bats waiting to suck the blood out of the poor tourists.

Somehow this one got struck like glue. The rallying cry was resounding everywhere. Lalibela is full of mosquitoes waiting to give malaria as the gift for all tourists.  They were battle ready to ambush the audacious group of Indian teachers from Bahirdar who have ventured out into the bad world of travel and tourism, inspite of severe warnings.

Bets were being laid and punters were laying out odds. The odds were stacked against me. The stakes were so high that 3 birr bet on the trip being successful would return 10. And the trip not being successful was at 9:10. The verdict was out. Our trip was doomed to fail. Even though it is quite amusing now, at that time it was quite disheartening. I knew how people, who think differently were searched out and targeted.

A group of Indian elders paid a visit to my house. They were solemnness personified. One could mistake them for a team of United Nations on a peace brokering mission. Such was their earnestness. Their mission was crystal clear. ‘Call off the trip. It is a bad idea. Why do you want to spend so much money? This proposed trip is tearing the Indian community apart’. “Such a trip has never been attempted before” they exclaimed in horror.  

Their earnest argument, holier than thou attitude got me rankled. “Sirs” I said “I understand your anguish. This is not a trip of the Indian community. It is a private trip and I have the right to invite people, I like”. I gently reminded them that the Indian community in Bahirdar already had many sub groups like POLY Faculty group, PEDA Faculty group, Telugu group, Tamil group, North Indian group, Family group, Bachelors group, Vegetarian groups, Non vegetarian group, Boozers group and so on.

Seeing my eloquence on the topic, the Indian Bahirdar Elders got up, and left reluctantly. I burst out in laughter when I saw their stiff disapproving backs. It was rip roaringly funny, but it was the lull before the storm. The Tsunami was about to strike!!!. 

Flying To Take The Second Grade Examination – Pranav Pratheek, The Indian School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Journey – Blog Post No – 80.

The next big event was our Addis Ababa visit for Pranav’s annual examinations. The time, March 2003.  There were many Indian families in Bahirdar but very few Indian teachers had school going children.

It is not that they did not have school going children. They did, but with foresight they had left their children in India along with their wives or with their parents and had come down to Ethiopia.

The next set were newly married couples with no children and the last set were teachers in the twilight of their career, retired college and university professors trying to line their retirement nest with a little more feathers (cash) to make their post retirement life a little more cushier!

That left Azaz Ahmed sir’s family and mine. Azaz sir’s daughter Shariqua Ahmed too was also studying in the second grade along with Pranav. They were distance education students of the Indian school, Addis Ababa and were allowed to study in remote locations and take their examination once in a year.

Piazza, Addis Ababa

The Indian School, Addis Ababa was located in Piazza, one of the busiest business centres of Addis. 

Piazza is well known for its shops and quite distinctive Italian design and flavour. It is part of old Addis Ababa. It is the watering hole of the well-heeled Addis Ababa citizens. 

We initially planned to go to Addis by road using a Cobra (Toyota Land Cruiser) but after my bumpy, gut wrenching and dusty Addis Ababa road trip the idea was quickly dumped.

We were sitting in the PEDA campus canteen, sipping Shai and contemplating on which day to fly, when Ahmed sir wryly commented “Sir, flying in an aeroplane was a dream for us, and here we are planning to take our families by aeroplane to Addis Ababa and that too to write second grade examinations!!!’. I was deeply struck by what Dr. Azaz Ahmed said.

Hailing from the innocent sixties, I saw the majestic Aeroplanes flying from Begumpet airport. I was wonderstruck, overawed and quite often wondered “Would I be lucky to fly in an aeroplane at least once in my lifetime?”.

I remember my “NETWORK” days. It was the October of 1998 and Sales and Customer service departments from Secunderabad office were asked to come to Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

Our excitement knew no bounds. We were thrilled to the core. We went to Delhi by second A/C and from Delhi we flew to Srinagar and for most of us it was our first flying experience.

We were fascinated to see our luggage disappear and were quite intrigued by the boarding pass and the security check, all of which are not part of road and train travel.

I can distinctly remember sitting in the wide bodied jet. There were four of us siting in the centre. Ranganath our ASM (Regional sales Manager), next to him was me, sitting next to me was Vijay the simple but a nice sales executive from the Customer Care Department.

Vijay marketed daisy wheels and floppy drive to customers who bought electronic typewriters from NETWORK. Sitting next to Vijay was NETWORK’s unofficial jester Ajay Nadig. Ajay looked very innocent and those looks deceived everyone. Beneath his innocent looks and baby veneer, lurked one of the most mischievous and innovative prankster that I had ever known!

The plane took off and we could all see that Vijay was tense like a coiled spring. We too were feeling the stress but were pretending and had the looks of seasoned regular air travellers. We even fooled the air hostesses who was taken in by our act!

But poor Vijay was not having any of it. He was almost gagging and was as comfortable as a fish out of water. He had a haunted look. Suddenly the aeroplane hit an air pocket and there was a distinct loud noise.

Vijay almost jumped out of his seat. Only his seatbelt saved him. His face was ashen. He turned to me, I was shocked at the paleness in his face. “Anil bhai, kya hua? (Anil, what happened)?”.

Before I could answer, Ajay piped in “Arrey Vijay kuch nahi rey, plane reserve mey gira”. For the uninitiated we were all from the Chetak era. Whenever the Chetak scooter’s petrol level reached the critical level (which usually means that little fuel was left) we could hear a peculiar noise. The noise was an indicator that petrol had to be filled.

Vijay went ballistic. For the next few minutes he was cursing the Indian airlines and the frugality of the pilots. He had a very brilliant query “what is the reserve holding capacity of this aeroplane”.

Ajay was innocence personified “pata nahi, par ho sakta hai ki das ya pandrah litres hoga (I don’t know but I am guessing that it would be 10 to 15 litres)”. We had to physically restrain a now perturbed Ranga from revealing the simple truth.

Ranga, Ajay and I had to control our laughter as Vijay almost said his final prayers. Until the plane landed in Srinagar, Vijay was on the proverbial pins and needles.

It was only after many more months that Vijay came to know that there is nothing called reserve in an aeroplane and that its fuel holding capacity ran into thousands of litres of highly refined air-fuel.

We booked the air tickets for the 16^th of March.  Each ticket costed us 250 birr (Rs 1,250/-) from Bahirdar to Adds Ababa. Our children were prepared and we planned to stay at Bel Air hotel.

Bel Air was popular among the Indians as it allowed visitors to cook their own food. We packed our clothes, text books, Murrukulu, jam, utensils and the most important item, the kerosene stove!

Queen Elizebeth Street, where Bel Air hotel was located 

The journey day finally dawned and Pranav was tensed. It was five months since he had gone to a regular school. The night before, all the Indians of our Kable Dr. Srinivas, Dr. T.N. Murthy, Dr. Neelima, Dr. Kuldeep and Tasneem came over and wished Pranav. It was as if we were going off to India!

We slightly widened the Andhra, Tamil Nadu border - the rickety, ‘touch me and I shall fall, woe-be-gone’ bamboo fence that separated our house from Chidambaram’s house. The gap was to ensure Chidambaram or his wife Usha to come over and water our precious plants.

Early in the morning we engaged a taxi. The charge for an airport drop was 50 birr (Rs 250/-). We reached the Ginbot Haya airport and our journey was about to start.