WHAT NEXT?

First of all, and this is a disclaimer, I do not write to be published. It is not a literary work that I'm publishing. I write to vent. I write to put whatever's there in the mind out there.

That done with, over the past few weeks, I've been thinking. What is to be done next in life? I've got two degrees, worked in Goa (\:D/) for 4 years, now I've been in Africa for a year (to the day) and all I can think of is 'WHAT NEXT?'

Having done so many things, Goa, Africa, Engineering, MBA, you'd think now life would be pretty exciting for me. But no, that's not the case. I think excitement comes from within. There, sitting in some far-off corner of the world, maybe even away from satellite / mobile communication, life would be more interesting than sitting at a desk typing out this blog, having nothing worth anything to do with one's life. People would be happier there.

Or is it that I just need a vacation? Don't know. The company thinks I need a vacation once every 6 months. Now, I've been here for a year, and have gone home twice. So, next vacation should be 6 months away, no? No. Its too much. Its Africa, isn't it? It takes its toll on you. Even though you are fully taken care of. You're housed, fed, cared for even better than you were at home. But still, it gets boring, it gets frustrating. Starts coming out of your ears. And there's only so much you can do not to lose it.

Even so, we labor on.... Evermore, like the worker bee that we are...

Accra!!

So, this Monday, we went to Ghana to get some Khana. More specifically, we went to Accra to get some Khakhra! Ok, that's a bad Gujarati joke.The Accra trip happened for some office work. And Accra turned out to to be a breath of fresh air after the drudgery of Monrovia. It feels like a big city. It behaves like a big city.

The people in Accra are gentle. They're nice and laid back. Accra Airport (Kotoka International Airport, they call it) was agog with boards saying 'Akwaba!' This means 'Welcome!' in their local language Chvi (or Chui or Chi, as some people pronounce it). Life over here is slow and relaxed. People take their own time going about their life. At the bank, a teller was patiently attending to a lady for over half an hour and the people in line (Thank God I was not in that line) were patiently waiting their turn. Without protest. Also, they have great respect for their public places in this country. For example, at the bank again, I was standing in line to pay some money, and I just whipped out my phone and started talking to an acquaintence (you know me, I get restless easily). And the people around me started giving me dirty looks. I didn't get it. Eventually the guard came up to me and asked me to hang up please. Very politely, but in a strict schoolteacherly way. It was kinda nice, how these people respect their public places. Unlike India, where it is socially acceptable, even fashionable, to whip out your phone in a public place and start speaking at the top of your voice, with everyone evesdropping on your conversation. But then, its also efficient. I mean, you could get more work done talking on the phone while standing in line or commuting.

All in all, Accra presents itself as quite a developed city (I'm going to present some photos to you shortly, which I'm sure you've skipped ahead and already gone through) with good roads and proper traffic directions. Indeed, it might be the most developed city in all of West Africa.

So, anyway, after a hard day's work, I decided to give the taxi a pass and walk back to my hotel. It was quite a revelation. Here's a few pictures of Accra I took on my phone:

Does RIM know about this? :)

Shady poster

On the streets of Accra

Such posters dot the sidewalks on Monrovia as well

Another shady poster

More Accra traffic

Glass-fronted building next to a nullah. Remind you of Mumbai?

Rush-hour. People heading back home.

Beer!

Mercedes Benz showroom (wow)

Monrovia - from my terrace

I'm too tired to for words. So, here goes: A few pictures, taken from our terrace. In the order that they were taken. No captions, nothing.

Golden Beach Cafe / Salsa night at Saaj

So, incorrigible as we are, we've been going out for dinner for the last two days. Two new places in the last two days. Sajj on Friday (for Salsa night) and Golden Beach Cafe yesterday. 'Twas fun!

Of Sajj we again heard of from our trusty Liberia expat google group. Its a Lebanese place and they had Salsa night on Friday. Well, tell you the truth, I'm not much of a dancer, but then, one's gotta have fun. So, I forwarded the invite to one of the young new guys in office, and then two more people joined in. And before I knew it, the 4 of us were in Sajj. It was nice. Good hummus and babaganoush with yum pita bread. And the pizza's not bad either. They even have club beer on tap! Oh and they had Salsa night, which basically constituted a very talented dance instructor type fella demonstrating the moves and some not-so-talented trying their best to keep up. One of the guys from our group even joined in for it. All in all, it was a great Friday night out! Didn't take any pictures though. I should have, no?

And yesterday, we'd gone for a walk (or a Wakabo, as they call it in Liberian English) with our trusty friend and colleage N. And instead of the usual walk along Payne Avenue in Sinkor, we found ourselves walking along the beach. And before we knew it, we'd decided to walk all the way up to the Golden Beach cafe (it had actually something to do with the fact that N hadn't joined us at Sajj the night before, and wanted to go out. And well, you know me, I could go out for dinner at the drop of a hat). So, we were just in time for the sunset. Photo dekho:



At the Golden Beach Cafe, Monrovia


Ok, don't grimace. That's the best photo quality I can get on a Blackberry. So, that's the Golden Beach cafe at sunset. Right on the Atlantic Ocean. The waves on this beach are, well, huge. Violent, if I can exaggerate a bit. Oh and the food here is okok. They do a decent Veg. Samosa and the Veg. Pizza wasn't bad either (Green Peas was one of the toppings, by the way). So, we ended Saturday by the beach with samosas and pizza (accompanied by a bit of Savannah). It was fun! Better than sitting at the compound watching Blood Diamond. That too in Hindi. Yes, LOL! Exactly my thoughts right now.

So, all in all, we're working hard and enjoying ourselves on weekends. We told you we'd go out. The cocoon is slowly unravelling, readers! Behold!

PS: I've changed the background picture. Would love to hear your thoughts on it!

"You can’t come here with European eyes"

Yes, readers, that title is borrowed from a very interesting article that was shared on the Liberia expats forum by someone today (read it here). Not so much of an article as an open letter, it is addressed to one Mr. John Humphreys, who apparently is a BBC reporter of much repute (read about him here). So, anyway, this letter, which is pretty forthright, calls Mr. Humphreys's bluff. It asks him to stop milking Africa for its sob stories. It asks him to look beyond. It asks him to look at Africa Rising (does that ring a bell, Indian readers? Heard of India Shining?). Yes of course, Africa does have its famines, starving children, illiteracy, coups; but then its also achieved a lot, and let me quote the letter, "(Africa has) been growing at rates we in the West can only dream about".

Much like India of not so long ago. The letter, you see, talks about two Africas, the "old" Africa and the "new" Africa. Reminds me of "India" and "Bharat". To the uninitiated, we still talk about two Indias back home. There's 'India', which is developed, with the shopping malls, mobile phones and what-have-you and there's 'Bharat' (the traditional word for our nation), which is the India of the farmer suicides, dowry deaths and the female infanticides. Wasn't long ago that India was reported about by the West only for the 'Bharat' now, was it? Why, we're still referred to as the land of the snake charmers in some quarters, aren't we?

The author of the letter, one Mr. Richard Dowden, he's not even from Africa. And yet, he calls upon Humphreys and those others of his ilk to report Africa as it is, not just the "new" Africa or the "old" Africa but the real Africa, whichever one of the two presents itelf. He beautifully sums it up in his appeal to Humphreys and BBC in general. Let me quote the letter again, "Help our government – and your bosses – to understand that £1 spent on a good BBC World Service does more for development in Africa than £100 spent on aid." Which is quite true, because, well, all I knew of Africa before I came here a few months ago was through watching BBC, CNN and other such reportage of the continent. Point to ponder, eh?

So, good luck and godspeed to you, Mr. Dowden! Its only a matter of time before Africa goes the India way. After all, there isn't any place else in the world that's left to develop now, is there?

Iss Sheher mein....

I listen to 'sheher mein, hun main tere', the song from Rockstar, as I sit at my laptop and contemplate (nay, fantasize) about going to tomorrow's TED talks session at Ushahidi. The child in me says I'll meet interesting people. I'll make lasting friendships. I'll finally meet some nice people here. But the adult in me knows, I might not even go for it. I'll let you know how it goes. I must get out of this compound. Its getting suffocating. The same people everyday. Night and Day. You live with them. You work with them. This is what happens when work and home are in the same building, nay, on the same floor.

So, well, my first post in a long time. First post from Liberia, from Africa. And I don't have anything interesting to report.

Kenyan Giraffe

Or, do I? Actually, yes. Upar dekho. Thanks to Kenya Airways, who decided to take off from Mumbai 3 hours late, I missed my flight onward to Monrovia. And had to spend 2 days in Nairobi. And it is there that I got to go to the Nairobi national park. And we saw giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and lots of other animals. Pity we didn't have a good camera. the E72 served its purpose though. Not bad, that photo above, is it?

But since then? Nothing interesting to report. We've just been vegetating intellectually. Not that we haven't been doing anything at all. Work-wise, life has been busy. But aside from work, there's hardly anything we have done this last 1 month plus that we have been in Liberia. Its high time we do something. Kuch kiya jaaye, kya boltaay?