Being as I am, an Indian and that from Hyderabad, I am laid back, and I am not referring to any position of pleasure. That is not to imply that Hyderabadis do not indulge in the sins of the flesh, or otherwise. It does not even mean that Hyderabadis in Lagos do not have sex. I am neither a statistician nor a voyeur. Same difference anyway!
Hyderabad is a city that loves to take its time with things. Shops don't open before 11 in the morning and they do not remain open much after 8 in the evening. The Nizams may be history but their legacy certainly lives on. A typical Hyderabadi drives with a death wish, never gets to an appointment on time, and swears by the Charminar. I do none. But I am as imperturbable as any. And I am still a Hyderabadi.
I have seen Hyderabad explode to twice its size. I have seen commuting time go up from a maximum of 40 minutes from anywhere in the city to anywhere else to as much as three hours for a distance of four kilometres. And I drove a non-AC car! But I enjoyed the traffic jams. I loved the energy of it, the idiosyncrasies of individuals, the haplessness of the traffic policemen. I thought I was prepared for Lagos.
Yesterday I knew I was wrong. I am getting the hang of Lagos but it is going to take me a long, long time to understand it enough to venture out all by myself. Lagos has a different chaos, a chaos that even someone like me whose roots are in Bihar takes time to appreciate, a chaos that can seriously rattle you.
I was being driven through Yaba market a little after 7 in the evening. There must be a million people milling about the place! Crowds don't scare me, at least they didn't scare me. This one was petrifying. I have only been as frightened once - when I was waiting for a bus in the middle of the desert at 2 am - and that was in hindsight.
May be those fears were exaggerated. No, I know they were. I have seen nothing in Lagos so far that I have not seen before. Yes, I have read and heard so much more that 2 and 2 sometimes adds up to 22. I guess I am prejudiced. Or may be I am cribbing, something I absolutely abhor. Perhaps it is the whole process of settling in through distillation and amalgamation.
Weekend beckons now. Grandiose plans for it, though I am as broke as Enron. Like a very dear friend of mine says, "Sun, sand, and babes!"
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The journey begins...
It is fantastic, almost sensational, what people won't do for money. There are those who have literally been to the moon and back for it. Those who have lived their entire lives in glass houses. And there are those like me who have moved to Africa.
The amateur's first impression of Africa is as stereotypical as President Bush's speech - of jumbo elephants roaming the grasslands, lions chasing zebras, safaris in open top jeeps, naturalists preserving the forests, foreign doctors setting up camps, and dusty roads criss-crossing the country. It is as false too.
What Discovery and National Geographic channels don't show is the real Africa. Africa does not live in the jungles. Most of Africa lives in its cities. And some of the largest cities in the world they are too. Parts of the urban landscape are reminiscent of their days of greater glory, which years of military coups and absolute corruption have taken a heavy toll on.
More than these physical indicators, the people of Africa are a stark reminder of a generation lost - an entire generation that has no skills because it was either a victim of the military rule or a campaigner against it. You can see it in the eyes. The hope is almost gone. The heart does not know what to believe anymore.
I live in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city and West Africa's largest Port. It has a population anywhere between 10.5 and 15.5 million. Traffic snarls (called 'go-slow' in local parlance) are frequent, and it is not uncommon for vehicles to be driven on the pavement when the roads are too full. Accidents happen often, and when they do the drivers of the vehicles involved decide to settle the matter right there, slowing down the go-slow even more.
Surveys have ranked Nigeria as the happiest state. It is hard to understand how that can be. Most Nigerians live below the poverty line (that is on less than USD 1 per day). But they believe in living for today, for tomorrow is another day. There are incidents of mugging and theft, but I guess they are a part of any big city.
Nigeria is one of the very few democratic African countries. It has been so for the last seven years. Ironically, the present President is a former military dictator. Things have improved since then. Corruption is down from about 200% to about 70%. A lot still needs to be done, but the resilient Nigerian seems to want development. This is one thing about Nigeria that stands out. Years of despotism have not been able to kill the resilience in the Nigerian.
It is potentially the richest African state, and not just with regards to the oil. The soil is fertile, really fertile. There are lots of other mineral deposits that are yet to be explored. What it needs is some political will. It is a nation that has seen the worst, almost fallen apart because of it, yet managed to stay together.
I have been here about ten days now. I love the chaos. There is something in chaos that defines a city. Chaos gives a city its character. From what I have seen, the nightlife is beginning to happen. The clubs are open all night, and there are some gorgeously hot women grooving to the music. Some of them are 'available' too if you get the drift.
The power supply is erratic, and the phones don't always work the way they are meant to. There may not be much to do if you are not the kinds who likes to party. But you just have to appreciate the 'give-respect, get-respect' theory that people believe in. It is almost refreshing to come to a world where people understand family values, where they believe in the family system.
Africa, here I am!
The amateur's first impression of Africa is as stereotypical as President Bush's speech - of jumbo elephants roaming the grasslands, lions chasing zebras, safaris in open top jeeps, naturalists preserving the forests, foreign doctors setting up camps, and dusty roads criss-crossing the country. It is as false too.
What Discovery and National Geographic channels don't show is the real Africa. Africa does not live in the jungles. Most of Africa lives in its cities. And some of the largest cities in the world they are too. Parts of the urban landscape are reminiscent of their days of greater glory, which years of military coups and absolute corruption have taken a heavy toll on.
More than these physical indicators, the people of Africa are a stark reminder of a generation lost - an entire generation that has no skills because it was either a victim of the military rule or a campaigner against it. You can see it in the eyes. The hope is almost gone. The heart does not know what to believe anymore.
I live in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city and West Africa's largest Port. It has a population anywhere between 10.5 and 15.5 million. Traffic snarls (called 'go-slow' in local parlance) are frequent, and it is not uncommon for vehicles to be driven on the pavement when the roads are too full. Accidents happen often, and when they do the drivers of the vehicles involved decide to settle the matter right there, slowing down the go-slow even more.
Surveys have ranked Nigeria as the happiest state. It is hard to understand how that can be. Most Nigerians live below the poverty line (that is on less than USD 1 per day). But they believe in living for today, for tomorrow is another day. There are incidents of mugging and theft, but I guess they are a part of any big city.
Nigeria is one of the very few democratic African countries. It has been so for the last seven years. Ironically, the present President is a former military dictator. Things have improved since then. Corruption is down from about 200% to about 70%. A lot still needs to be done, but the resilient Nigerian seems to want development. This is one thing about Nigeria that stands out. Years of despotism have not been able to kill the resilience in the Nigerian.
It is potentially the richest African state, and not just with regards to the oil. The soil is fertile, really fertile. There are lots of other mineral deposits that are yet to be explored. What it needs is some political will. It is a nation that has seen the worst, almost fallen apart because of it, yet managed to stay together.
I have been here about ten days now. I love the chaos. There is something in chaos that defines a city. Chaos gives a city its character. From what I have seen, the nightlife is beginning to happen. The clubs are open all night, and there are some gorgeously hot women grooving to the music. Some of them are 'available' too if you get the drift.
The power supply is erratic, and the phones don't always work the way they are meant to. There may not be much to do if you are not the kinds who likes to party. But you just have to appreciate the 'give-respect, get-respect' theory that people believe in. It is almost refreshing to come to a world where people understand family values, where they believe in the family system.
Africa, here I am!
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