75 - Greeting each other – Tigers prowling in the compound – Ethiopian journey – Blog Post no – 75.

Hand shaking exists in Ethiopia just like in any other culture. The shaking of hands is done with the right hand, and the left hand would grasp the other person just below the right elbow. Fist bumping and touching each other with bent elbow was also practiced.

Fist bumping was convenient for teachers as most of us had chalk filled hands. We would joke about the duration of each session by the amount of chalk that the teacher carried on his hands and his entire body. The Ethiopian custom of a teacher wearing an apron over his dress made sense. It protected the clothes from too chalk and dust.

After the handshake, most Ethiopian girls would peck at each other’s cheeks – popularly called ‘air kissing’.

An air kiss is executed in a split second. Pranav found it quite embarrassing. The girls would not have any of it! They would envelop him in their arms, and air kiss him, ignoring his vigorous protests.  

Ethiopians engage themselves in an elaborate greeting ritual that could last for as long as a minute or more. The simple greeting, “how are you?’ in most cultures would warrant a half smile or an “I am fine and how are you?”. The entire sequence of greeting is done in a flash and sometimes takes a few seconds! 

Ethiopians are brought up very differently. For them, family, relatives and the tribe to which they belong are very important. They are quite enamoured with the question “how are you?’. This would lead to a discussion about general health and ailments if any. It could also lead to enquiries about the health of immediate and then the extended family too. Asking 'how are you’ is a loaded question. One needs to be patient to listen to the lengthy discussion. A curt ‘I am fine’ is considered uncouth and not being well mannered!

Ethiopians treated money with reverence. Money was very difficult to get, and it commanded great respect. Even shopkeepers would handle it carefully and would feel offended it anyone counted the change that was given . 

I also found Ethiopians quite shy while they eat. They would carefully and frugally fill up their plate and finish it off in silence. They would not go for a refill, and it was quite rare to see they waste food.  

Injera loving Ethiopians eat rice but sparingly. A spoonful with each meal. Once an Ethiopian has finished eating, he would say “I am satisfied”. He is done. They found Indian food very alien especially the sourness. But they quickly got used to Indian delicacies, especially poori and dosa! 

Maids would come dressed fashionably. Maids working in Indian houses treated it like a regular job. They were quite comfortable with sitting at the dining table and sipping tea or coffee along with the hosts!

The ever-aggressive Ethiopian maids were always on the lookout to move up the social ladder. Ebolu once told Padma that young girls wanting to get married got their portfolio shot by enterprising photographers. These portfolios were elaborate affairs with the girl posing in many costumes including the traditional Ethiopian dress, modern dresses like jeans and tops and stunningly even in some what revealing clothes and some time even in shorts and Bikinis!!! All this was a great culture shock for us.  

Ebolu would sometimes come to our house and chitchat with Padma. She was quite fond of her and the kids. Once she casually remarked, “Madam you know, there is a church in Gojjam (The area in and around Bahirdar) where there is a huge fenced yard. This yard had two entrances”.

Knowing that she has the rapt attention of Padma and the kids, Ebolu continued, “It is a matter of faith for the Christians. We would go to the church and enter the yard and walk from one side to the other”. 

Padma was nonplussed, “What’s the big deal, you walk from one side of the yard to the other, so what?”

Ebolu bent forward, the show woman in her, was in full flow. She giggled with nervous excitement, “That is the point, madam! The yard is not empty there are tigers freely prowling the ground!!!”.

“TIGERS!!” yelped Pranav “where did the tigers come from? I thought that Ethiopia only has lions. And would they not attack and kill the faithful?” He was frantic with worry. He could almost imagine the scene and was spooked. 

Ebolu gave a knowing smile. I was later told that she had the smuggest expression any eighteen-year-old teenager could muster, “Madam” she declared dramatically, “The tigers are trained to detect the faithful from the non-faithful. If the person was a pure and devout Christian, he/she would not be harmed. If they were only pretending to be pious, they would be attacked and killed”. 

Padma was not convinced. “Did anyone from your family try this test of Pureness?” she sarcastically enquired. Ebolu was deflated. She sounded like wind escaping from an inflated balloon “I am not sure madam; I am not sure”. 

Then she brightened, “Madam, this place is very close. If your family likes to try out the test of pureness, I can take you there this Sunday”. There was a wicked, naughty glint in her eyes.

Padma dismissed the preposterous idea, “First of all, I don’t think this is factual. Second Ethiopia and tigers look very far fetched. Third and most important, these are Ethiopian tigers, and they are trained to test the pureness of Ethiopian Christians. We can’t risk it.  

We are Indians, and we practice Hinduism. We might or might not be pure Hindus. But the Christianity testing tigers might get confused with testing the purity of Hindus. A job that they are not trained to do! To be on the safe side, they might kill us all. I am sorry, but we don’t want to risk it”. 

Ebolu was disappointed but brightened immediately. She told Padma that she wants to quit working with Tasleem and Neelima. I believe Tasleem told her, “Look Ebolu, we were the ones who gave you employment. We are paying you 100 birr. We have treated you fairly. I have even helped you pay your tuition fees”. Tasleem also added, “When you broke your arm, I was the person who took you to the hospital and got it bandaged”. Tasleem was at her best eloquence.  

Suitably impressed Padma asked “How nice of Tasleem, I am sure you have reconsidered and want to stay back and work with them”. 

“No Madam,” said Ebolu. “this is what I said. Oh, in that case, you break your arm, and I would happily take you to the hospital and get it bandaged” This very matter of fact way of dealing with an emotional situation left Padma speechless. 

Ethiopian Maids – Extension Classes at BDU – Watching cricket in Bahirdar – Ethiopian Journey – Blog Post no -74

Padma was an exceptionally self-made woman and did not like taking help from others. Services of maids were very economical in Bahirdar, but still, she did not relent. She wanted to be left to herself and found maids to be bothersome and intrusive. The maids who were popular among the Indians in our Kable were Ebolu and Ethay Maskaram.

Ethay Maskaram was razor thin and very quiet. She was a good worker but more or less kept to herself. On the other side, Ebolu was a typical Ethiopian young girl. – Effervescent, friendly and full of beans. She was Tasleem and Neelima’s maid. Dusky and quite pretty Ebolu was our Kable’s very own BBC correspondent/Journalist (Bahirdar broadcasting corporation!).

Maid-pecked and harassed house-wife 

A strange than fiction fact that will drop my readers dead in their tracks – In Ethiopia at least in the period that I worked from 2002-2006, Ethiopian maids would only work in a single house. Yes, don’t rub your eyes, you read it right, ONLY IN ONE HOUSE! This one single fact I am sure will make all the harassed ‘maid-pecked’ Indian women readers/housewives to make a beeline to the Ethiopian embassy – “Can we get a work permit to work in Ethiopia. We are willing to work as faculty/teachers.”

Ethiopian maids come from the rural areas and are incredibly strong. They can carry heavy weights and do all types of household jobs. Baking of Injira and bread, preparation of wats, Cleaning the house, sweeping, mopping, washing the clothes, taking care of children, feeding them, pounding coffee seeds and making coffee powder, shopping, killing and cleaning the hens, ironing the clothes. Name any work and they are adept at executing it. They were paid 50- 60 birr (250 to 300 rupees). Most would happily stay in the Injira house. 

The maids who worked in Indian houses are quite different. They hail from Bahirdar city and are well educated. Articulate, smart and English speaking, most maids could even manage to speak a smattering Hindi and in some cases even understand some Telugu phrases. They quickly learned preparation of Indian dishes and demanded up to 100 birrs (Rs 500/-) as salary for a small family and up to 150 birr (Rs 750/-) if the family was big.  They came once in the morning and again in the evening.

By learning to speak English and by learning special skills, the Ethiopian maids have elevated their salary levels by 500%. Food for thought for my Management students. I have had students coming from all parts of India to study at Siva Sivani Institute of management. Most of them fail to even pick up rudimentary skills in speaking and understanding the local language, Telugu. Forget reading and writing. I am referring to rudimentary skills of listening, understanding and speaking. Every extra language learnt will enhance the earning potential of a management graduate.

When asked as to why they did not pick up the local language most would say “Oh, sir. Telugu is a very difficult language to learn. We tried but could not get to learn”. “Is it so” I respond “IAS officers get transferred from one place to another. When they are transferred to a new state, they have to quickly learn to READ, WRITE and   SPEAK the local language -  Just like a local person.

An IAS officer is a public servant and has to speak, read and write the way the locals do. They would have to read and understand the petitions given by the local citizens which are inevitably written in the local language. Do you know how much time is given for IAS officer to read, write and speak the local language?”

I would add, “Ninety days. That’s all only ninety days. And you have studied here for two years, and you are saying you can’t even listen and speak very rudimentary Telugu? Learn and practice skills that are in demand. That way you would not chase jobs, rather jobs would chase you”.

The maids who worked in the Indian houses were upwardly mobile. They wanted to progress in life. They were continuously on the lookout to enhance their knowledge levels. Most of them would take up courses in BDU on Saturdays and Sundays (popularly referred to as extension classes). Initially, these courses would lead to a certificate and later lead to a degree. It was quite common to see maids working in Indian houses appear as my students in my class of Introduction to management or even in Introduction to Marketing. Initially, I was blissfully unaware of this fact.

Once I had visited a fellow Indian’s house, and I was served coffee. My friend beamed “Anil, I believe that you teach my maid, Introduction to management. She likes your lectures very much”. I thanked my student and could see the beads of appreciation, happiness and gratefulness in her eyes.

After that whenever I got fast service in any real outlet or a restaurant, Padma would tease me “you are getting fast service as all these people are your students from your extension classes”. I can’t vouch for the veracity of the claim, but the speed and the level of service went up dramatically after I started taking extension classes.

Watching cricket in Ethiopia was a very big deal. Indians worship cricket, and we were stationed in a country where football is a craze. Once I am told that somebody had written a prophetic statement on the wall ‘Jesus is coming!!” somebody else had scribbled in Amharic “In that case, we will ask Samuel Eto to play as a mid-fielder”. To the uninitiated Samuel Eto was a Cameroonian footballer who was very popular in Ethiopia. Samuel Eto won an unprecedented four African player of the year awards and also was part of back-to-back trebles wins with his European football clubs. He was a forward and in case of the coming of Jesus, Jesus could play as a forward and Eto would drop back to a mid field position  

Samuel Eto 

Indians would pay money to the restaurant owners and watch live cricket beamed from the South African satellite channel, Super Sports. One of the waiters in a hotel (incidentally my extension student) once told me “your game cricket, is a crazy game. Why is that in cricket most of the people are standing still? Why is that some people come and go? Why are they wearing funny gear? Why are no goals being scored? Why is the game so long?”

I could not take it any longer. I told him “we were watching the shorter format of the game that lasts for a day. The purest form of test cricket is played over a period of five days”. “Five days” he was gasping for air. But I was relentless, I thrust and twisted the mental (imaginary) sword deep into his anguished torso and triumphantly added: “Till very recently, there was a rest day too”.

The poor Ethiopian could not comprehend how people could play and others watch a game that took almost a week to finish. I didn’t have the guts to tell him that after playing it for six days that it could still be a draw or a no result. I was dead scared that the annoyed Ethiopian student would bodily throw me out of his restaurant!

Our Garden in Bahirdar "without Hard work nothing grows but weeds" - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post No - 33

Padma next attacked the garden. The garden can’t be called a garden at all. It was a front yard full of pebbles, stones and rocks. Padma was heartbroken looking at its state. It had construction rubble too! The soil was very powdery and she doubted if anything would ever grow in it. Padma tried taking the stones away but it was a back breaking job.

Seeing her toil without much success, I hit on what I thought was a great idea. I asked Padma to ask if Mulugeta’s (The Kable’s watchman) son could help. When beckoned the young man appeared. Padma asked him “Clear the stones?” The boy looked on impassively. “Clear, Clear” Padma was getting desperate. The boy could not comprehend what Padma was asking.

Padma showed him what has to be done by actions. The teenager slowly nodded his head. Padma heaved a sigh of relief. “How much?” she asked. The boy simply smiled. This was testing Padma’s patience. She said “100 Birr!” The boy looked on. “100 birr, 100 birr,” She remembered my bargaining in the market “Aend Meto, Aend Meto (one hundred in Amharic)” Padma was blabbering by now! The boy nodded and went off.

Padma waited for three days and later told me about her experience. “I don’t think the work is worth more, I don’t know what to do!” I went to my go for person when I have any issue – Addis Gedafaw.

Addis said “Anil, I am sure that the boy must have thought your wife was joking! I am sure that the watch man gets 25 birr (Rs 100) a month as salary. So when your wife said 100 birr he must have thought she must be joking. Being a kid and that too not being very good at English, he must have simply avoided the entire issue”.

Addis told me that typically most house owners would have offered 5-10 birr. Later I came to know that the Birr has tremendous intrinsic value and that most Ethiopians earned very little.

Ethiopian Maid 

Ethiopian maids were very famous. Most local Ethiopians would give their maids 30-50 birr a month (Rs 150 – Rs 250).The Ethiopian maids would come early in the morning and would stay back till late in the evening. Some of them are so poor that they would be happy to stay permanently in the Injera house if food and accommodation was provided.

They would do any type of work. Sweeping the house, cleaning the utensils, washing, drying folding and even ironing the clothes, taking care of the children, roasting, pounding and making coffee, preparing the dough and making Injira and the different varieties of wats.

In short they are super workers! And they would do it 365 days a year. Their washing of the clothes was a sight. They would wash the clothes in a small tub and they would bend and wash very slowly and very methodically. Padma remarked “no wonder they are so slim and agile. They simply can’t put on weight when they do so much hard work”.

The Ethiopian girls who worked in expatriate homes were super special. They could speak English and some of them could even cook Indian and European dishes. Most maids who worked in Indian houses would get between 70-100 birr (Rs 350 – Rs 500) per month.

These maids would be well dressed and were very stylish in behaviour. Most of them would address the Indians by name which the Indians found very disconcerting. Most would stylishly sit at the dining table and have tea and coffee along with the family. They considered themselves as working professionals! Some of them even pursued extension courses (distance education) at PEDA.

Pranav and Sahithi on the rocky mound that Padma created 

Seeing that help was not forthcoming Padma set to do the work all by herself. She worked like a lady possessed! I saw with astonishment as the stones and pebbles slowly disappear over a period of ten days. A small rocky hillock was formed at one end of the compound.  The garden had only two small saplings, one was a mango and the other was a guava. The rocky hillock would later take shape of a rock garden!

I went out and got some Cannas from the PEDA campus. We planted them on the either side of the pathway that Padma created. It was very difficult but slowly the garden started taking shape. Later we planted some marigolds, dahlias and Zinnias. We got some rose cuttings and planted them too.

Pranav and Mrs. Anasuya Devi, Padma's mother at the rock garden (earlier the rocky mount) 

What was surprising was the strength of the soil. It was the richest soil that I had ever seen. The soil although appearing dusty and lifeless was full of fertility. The plants would shoot up and in front of our unbelieving eyes would grow fast and start flowering in no time at all.

Zinnia plants and the garden 

In one instance I plucked out fully grown marigolds and replanted them in the path way. Padma was howling her protest “they are mature plants, they would die”. To our ever-lasting astonishment they not only survived but thrived and flowered profusely.

Sahithi in the front yard of our garden

The thrown away dried marigolds seeds resulted in literally millions of small plants. It was heart breaking plucking and throwing them away as weeds! Contrast that with what happens in India. Even a humble plant like the marigold has to be bought and it would cost at least 50-60 rupees a plant.

Our pathway and Panther the black cat that was incredibly tame!

We had bought sun flower seeds in the market and Padma planted them. We were eagerly waiting to see if the sunflower plants would come out! Seeing sun flowers in our own garden would be a treat in itself.