From my scrap book :: 18 :: China should pay for our distress

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Writing on the current pandemic of COVID 19, David Quammen, a commentator, has been trying to look for the reasons of the spread of the virus. He says the reasons can be found in the facts that “We invaded tropical forests and other wild landscapes which harbour so many species of animals and plants – and within those creatures so many unknown viruses. We cut the trees, we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt eco-systems and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often we are it.”

Quammen has very succinctly described the mechanics of the spread of the COVID 19 which he says was not even a novel event that befell us. “It was – it is – part of a pattern of choices that we humans are making”. His findings reveal that only we have invited this not-too-novel a virus to be our malign guest. Our unrestrained greed, our feral quest for new experiences have enabled this virus to treat us as its host and bash and pummel us any which way. Even the ongoing pandemic has not deterred us as reports have appeared in the press indicating that the Chinese wet markets with live and dead animals, the alleged source of the virus, have been reopened after the lockdown was lifted in Wuhan.

The novel Corona 19 virus belongs to the same family of viruses as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) viruses that too acquired epidemic proportions in 2002-2003 infecting around seven thousand people killing more than seven hundred – just about 10% of its victims. The virus emanated, scientists believe, from a non-human source, presumably a bat. Years ago they found something like this in a cave in Yunnan, about 1000 miles West of Wuhan, and noted its existence with concern.

One such scientist, Zheng Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, who gave Covid 19 its name, along with her collaborators showed in 2005 that the SARS pathogen was a bat virus that had spilled over into humans. Shi and her collaborators have been tracing corona viruses in bats since then, WARNING that some of these are uniquely suited to CAUSE HUMAN PANDEMICS.

Quammen has reported that in a 2017 paper researchers had pointed out that they had found corona viruses in multiple individuals of four different species of bats, including a horse-shoe bat. The genome of the virus taken from a horse shoe bat was reported to be 96% identical to the Wuhan virus. And those two constitute a pair distinct from other known corona viruses, including the one that causes SARS. The assessment of the researchers is that COVID 19 is novel and, therefore, possibly more dangerous.

Quammen reports that Peter Deszak, president of a research organization that focuses on connection between human and wildlife health, told him that he and other researchers have been “raising the flag” on these viruses for 15 years. According to Deszak, they had even taken blood samples from Yunannese living near the cave the study of which revealed that 3% of them had developed antibodies against SARS related corona viruses. This only proved that these viruses were making the jump from bats to humans. “In other words this Wuhan emergency is no novel event. “It is part of a sequence of related contingencies that will stretch forward into the future AS LONG AS CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES PERSIST.

By the “current circumstances” Quammen means “perilous trade in wildlife for food with supply chains stretching from Asia, Africa, the United States and elsewhere. The trade has been outlawed in China on a temporary basis but it was also outlawed during SARS, then allowed to resume – with bats, civets, porcupines, turtles, bamboo rats and many kinds of birds and animals piled together in markets such as the one in Wuhan”.

From what Quammen has indicated it is clear that China was aware of these lethal viruses for around 15 years. Having some knowledge of the Chinese official system gathered during my one month stay in China around 30 years ago, I can say with confidence that they have a very efficient system of ascending channelization of vital information from the district level to the central authority. Hence it will take much more to make me believe that the findings of the researcher Shi were not known to the Chinese Central authorities concerned. Even Peter Rezdak has said that he has been raising the red flag over these viruses for the last 15 years. Looking at all these pieces of evidence it is clear that China, despite having the services of brilliant scientists, failed to take preventive action in time and avoid the pandemic and the Wuhan lockdown for two months. Its failure to warn the world of the pandemic cost various countries thousands of life and, of course, millions of dollars as their economies came to a grinding halt.

After the SARS epidemic the Chinese had closed down its wet markets that sold wild and farmed animals and various species of birds including bats. But these were soon reopened just as these have now been reopened after Wuhan recovered from the Covid 19 pandemic. According to President Trump, the WHO has supported this brazen act of China. That the WHO was slammed for this reason by the US is another matter but the stalling of $40 billion US contribution would surely adversely adversely affect mitigation activities undertaken by WHO in so far Covid 19 pandemic is concerned.

The Times of India of April 16, 2016 reported another lapse of China. “In the six days after top Chinese officials SECRETLY determined they (most) likely were facing a pandemic from corona virus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease, hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people That is to say that even after the Chinese authorities were convinced that they were up against a PANDEMIC they did not let it out to the world until their formal functions – “two biggest meetings of the year” – were over. Nothing could be more irresponsible than this and nothing could be a more blatant display of self-centredness.

The pandemic has set the Indian economy back by decades. It has had to briskly ramp up the medical facilities in thousands of hospitals, provide necessary equipment to doctors and para-medics, had to use the national airline to rescue thousands of stranded citizens in corona affected countries including China and above all had to put the country under a lockdown, presently, for as many as 40 days during which all economic activities have come to a full stop.  Besides, the government has had to put money in the hands of millions of industrial workers, agricultural workers, labourers, daily wagers etc., who had been stranded in their respective places of work. The growth rate of the economy is going to be severely impacted. Some reputed organisations like IMF have predicted that India’s growth rate in 2020 is going to be only 1%. Quite clearly, the economy of the country is going to be severely depressed pulling millions of people back into poverty.

Since the corona crisis is being considered as one that is worse than created by a war the government is trying to fight it like it would fight a war. It is throwing everything it has to alleviate the sufferings of the people. It is likely to take years to come out of it and it will take blood, sweat and tears of the people to do so.

One does not know how the world community feels about it but one tends to feel that the Republic of China is solely responsible for inflicting this misery on India and other countries. It, therefore, should be made to pay compensation to all the countries for making them needlessly suffer privations. If reparations were paid by Axis Powers for waging an avoidable war after the Second World War there is no reason why China should not pay countries like India for the devastation caused to their economies and inflicting misery on their unwary citizens.

*Image from internet

Deatinations :: Dar es Salam (1992)

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Mt. Kilimanjaro as seen from Moshi

We took off from Nairobi and after sometime were flying by the snows of Kilimanjaro. We could see the peak from the plane – it was largely flat and at places green with some snow around. After around an hour the plane landed at Dar es Salaam airport. I was put up at Ambassador Hotel that was just about better than ordinary but nowhere near the Panafric Hotel of Nairobi.

 Tanzania is made up of the former Republic of Tanganyika and the former Republic of Zanzibar. The two joined together to make a viable country. As I was taken to the Postal Headquarters I could see lack of development though the roads had been asphalted by Japan about three years back.

 The Postal Headquarters was I think a fourteen storied building that presumably was a gift from a friendly country. I had to go to my counterpart on the 12^th floor. Out of two only one lift was functioning. I waited for the one that was working. I saw on the panel above the lift doors the lift coming down stopping at every floor. As it hit the ground floor and the door opened a mass of humanity seemed to have been expelled from it. Taking into account the number people waiting for the lift I refrained from joining the pull and push to get into the lift. I decided to climb the 12 floors taking breathers on every other floor. I am normally scared of lifts and if these are crowded they are all the more inconvenient as they give me claustrophobia.

At the age of 50 climbing 12 floors is quite a job though I once climbed 13 floors after having escaped a severe injury in a stalled lift in Sanchar Bhawan in New Delhi. But that was when I was a few years younger. Huffing and puffing I made it to the 12^th floor. My counterpart offered me coffee that was very welcome. He introduced to me a gentleman who would take care of me and help me in my work.

We started with a visit to the main office of exchange in Dar es Salam, Dar for short. Getting the hang of what needed to be done I later moved from office to office. Thankfully they had placed at my disposal a Suzuki Vitara.

It was a small postal organization and its traffic with foreign postal organizations was limited. There was another office of exchange of mails at Arusha and a third one in Zanzibar. Arusha is somewhat close to Serengeti National Park. For Zanzibar one had to take a hovercraft from Dar but frequent breakdowns reportedly did not allow it to come back to its base in Dar. I, therefore, chose to go to Arusha. Though there is a flight from Dar to Kilimanjaro Airport only 50 kilometres away from Arusha the Administration booked my travel on a bus along with an officer. The bus trip turned out to be of more than 12 hours and we reached Arusha close to midnight.

Next morning Director Moshi arrived at the hotel. He was in-charge of the operation in the region including Arusha and Moshi. As it was a Saturday the office was not open. I had, therefore, to extend my stay by one day. I lost another day as they did not get tickets by air for Dar. I had refused to travel back by bus. The extra day I spent in working with Director Moshi. I did as detailed a survey as possible of the routes that are being used. The officials complained that their mails for Europe were being held over at Nairobi and hence being delayed in transmission. I flew back to Dar and spent another day with my counterpart for discussions. Their chief also told me that they were not happy with the way and the tardiness their dispatches were being treated by Kenya Post. He wanted me to intervene to rectify the situation.

After a fourteen day halt I was ready to leave for home via Kenya. Despite being so near Masai Mara and Serengeti I could not visit any of the famed game parks. Somehow my counterparts slipped in the matter. They should have planned for it. When any UPU dignitary visits Delhi for short length of time he is always taken around Delhi, Agra and Jaipur – the Golden Triangle. These administrations obviously had no such tradition.

Destinations :: Nairobi (1992) - Mombasa

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Malindi beach

We hit the highway for Mombasa around midday. From Nairobi the distance was a little more than 500 kilometres from Nairobi but the driver said he would be able to cover it in five hours. True enough we arrived at the White Sands hotel a little before 5.00 PM.

The highway was very good and we maintained a speed of a little more than a hundred kilometers all through. It had traffic warnings, “safari salama” in Swahili language but written in Roman script on big hoardings planted at frequent intervals. The highway ran parallel to the famous Nairobi – Mombasa metre gauge track on which the Kenyan Railways used to run their well known luxury train. The train was reported to be like the one that plied between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore where they used to serve, inter alia, Earl Grey tea at one time. The train had provision for looking out for game on its two sides as the track seemingly cleaved the two game parks of Amboseli and Tsavo. The highway too did likewise but since the railway coaches are on a higher level the passengers are able to see giraffes and elephants – the tall animals for which the parks are ideal habitat. The highway being on a lower level offers only an occasional impala or a zebra that happened to cross the road. Tall grasses of the expansive grasslands shroud the animals from view.

As we drove down the highway we could see Mount Kilimanjaro on our right with its peaks covered by snow. This is the only mountain in Africa that gets snow. The setting reminded me of the film “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” of 1950s starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward. The film was based on Earnest Hemingway’s novel of the same name. I cannot forget the last scene where a tired and sick Gregory Peck languorously sits on the grassy ground leaning against a tree trunk below the snow-capped Kilimanjaro as a vulture circles overhead.

We arrived at the hotel a little before five in the evening. It was a very luxurious hotel – very well appointed and very good food, western as well as Middle Eastern. The beach was next door and indeed it was a good and clean stretch of beach with, curiously, white sands. Later I found white sands all along the Western coast of Africa, that is, wherever we happened to go.

Mombasa has had a chequered history. It has changed hands several times. Only when Vasco da Gama, the great Portuguese sailor and adventurer went up and down in search of India he came across Mombasa, a bustling commercial port that he thought of capturing it. Even the rule of Portuguese was not stable as the British were out to expel them from the port. They succeeded in doing so and eventually they received the town on a platter from the Sultan of Zanzibar who nominally controlled Mombasa after being defeated by the British. It soon became capital of British East African Protectorate. The English influence that one comes across is because of a pretty long spell of British Rule.

The interior of the town is quite filthy and crowded. There are a number of mosques as the town was in possession of Omani Sultans. We did our work and visited offices. Only surface mails were being routed out of the country through Mombasa. An international airport came up much later. We used to lunch at the hotel as the food used to be delicious. I found most of the waiters wearing very colourful printed shirts that had heavy African embroidery right around the neck and along the front openings for buttons. On being told that these were known as Kitange shirts and were available in the market I looked for them in Nairobi and bought a few. 

Having come all the way I could not leave the place without visiting Malindi, a town about 100 kms away. I had heard about it so much. It is also a port town and had attracted European attention. Vasco da Gama during his voyages on the African west coast knocked several times on the doors of Malindi. Eventually he was successful in breaking through the African resistance and establish a Portuguese trading post and he also procured a guide who would show him the way over the Indian Ocean to India.

 Like Mombasa Malindi too had a chequered history and was alternately ruled by Omanis and Swahilis and therefore a large section of the population is Muslim. During the World War II it was bombed and was later hosted a PoW camp. Today Malindi is a tourists’ paradise with blue seas and white sands. The sands are so white that they dazzle the eyes when the sun is out. Exotic lobster-based food is served on the beach.

Next morning when it was time for us to leave our UPU Regional Consultant expressed a desire to be driven through the Tsavo National Park. So we drove through the Park – mostly through tall grasses over which we could spot a few tall necks of giraffes and the humps and the backs of elephants. All other small animals like antelopes, hyenas, jackals etc, were successful in hiding themselves from view. An ordinary, everyday automobile is not good enough for safaris. One needs to be at an elevation, say like on elephant back to view the animals in their natural environment. Anyway it was quite an experience to drive through Park. 

The day after our return was the last day before my departure for Dar es Salam. I went and met the top bosses of Kenyan Post to brief them about what we had done. As I came down to the DDG’s deputy’s room where we had done all the work an officer came and told me that the DDG wanted us to go to Nakuru. We piled into a car and drove for around two hours before hitting Nakuru. It is a typical colonial town having been established during the colonial era. Its elevation of more the 3000 ft gives a temperate climate all round the year. It is more famous for the Nakuru Lake where hundreds of thousands of flamingoes gather creating a splash of white on blue waters of the lake. It is a sight for the Gods.

(Concluded)

Destinations : Nairobi (Part I) 1992

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Jomo Kenyatta Convention Centre, Nairobi

About a couple of hours of flying brought us to Nairobi from Addis Ababa. The Nairobi airport was bigger, more business-like and free of clutter. This was the second time I was using the airport. Earlier, about three years ago, I had passed through Nairobi on my way up to Manzini in Swaziland as also on my way back from there to India. Here the first thing that strikes you is that everybody is very smartly dressed – men in suits, generally, in shades of grey and women, too, in skirts and top of more or less the same colour.

An official from the administration was there to receive me. He whisked me out in a jiffy and took me straight to the Panafric Hotel. It was a biggish hotel which I later found very comfortable. The Kenyan Administration man deposited me in the hotel and before disappearing said somebody would come in the morning and take me to the Office of the Director General.

So I cooled my heels till the next morning. In the meantime I availed of

At the animal orphanage

the hospitality of the hotel and had tilapia fish for dinner. The fish is also available In India but apparently not in such copious quantities. Panafric’s fried tilapias were very good. Next morning a young man made his appearance; he was one Mr. Oyyo from the Administration. He took me to his Deputy Director General who welcomed me over a cup of Kenyan Coffee – not the same as in Addis Ababa with a herb. It was plain and simple coffee – much like what one gets in India

We went to the level below the Deputy Director General and commenced work immediately. The work was similar to what we had done in Ethiopia. The only difference was that Nairobi had more intense relations with Europe, especially Eastern Europe, and the postal traffic had gone haywire because at that point in time the former Yugoslav Republic was breaking up. Many countries came up on the scene whose names even the officers were unfamiliar with. Like for example, they did not know where Ljubljiana was. They were impressed when, on being asked, I told them it was in Slovenia. Every day we would work through the emerging requirements of the people and the business community to ensure that the Postal System gives them satisfaction. I was there with them all the time and many of the boys were very intelligent and hard working.

An exotic bird in Nairobi National Park

Towards the end of the week Mr. Oyyo informed me that we were to go to a small town, Mechakos. It was off the Mombasa road and used to be the capital of Kenya before it lost the status to Nairobi. Nairobi thus is a young town, established only in 1890s  A biggish village now,  Mechakos had a number of people working on wood. Perhaps, wood was easily available nearby and the people were making good use of it by shaping out lovely curios. Wood craft was very popular and as there was a market for the finished product in Europe and the US the craftsmen seemed to be quite affluent. I found many of them working wearing suits instead of dungarees or overalls. I too bought a good looking figure of a man about 10 inches tall.

On our way back there was a scare. The engine of the vehicle – a kind of SUV much like our Mahindra’s Bolero – caught fire mid way to Nairobi. The driver tried to put out the fire but couldn’t do so. The officials who accompanied me scrambled away from the vehicle. I came out last as the official sitting next to me was a lady and she was in a hurry to get out. The fire was eventually extinguished but the vehicle wouldn’t start. The driver left in a bus that mercifully came that way to bring another vehicle. Nairobi was still good 40 to 50 kms away. All told, he had to travel around 100 kms that could take around two and a half hours. But

The Central Business District

as dusk fell over the highway the lady got worried. She was worried about looters who ply the roads at night. True enough; Nairobi was not quite safe in the evenings how could its outskirts be safe at night? Thankfully, the driver arrived with another vehicle and I hit the hotel at 9.30 in the night.

In African countries the incoming mail was not being delivered door to door. They had no postmen and had the post box system; everyone who received mails had to have a post box in his name. One day I was taken to the City Square post office. There I came across hundreds of post boxes of aluminium in many tiers. Checking them I found lots of the letters that were put in the boxes were pretty old. But the blame would not come to the post office; it was the business of the holder of the post box to have his mail collected in time.

The City Square is a typical colonial place with shops all around. This is where the post office eponymously named is situated. And this is where I had the first Indian samosa. The man who brought it said he had done so since I was an Indian and it is from India that it came to Kenya. Our samosas are, however, bigger and very, very seldom would have fillings of meat. These were far smaller and had meat inside and were very delicious.

While winding up we found that there was appreciable traffic of parcels to Eastern Europe. Kenya is known for its coffee and tea and these products go all over Europe, especially Eastern Europe but there were obviously bottlenecks as the dispatches were being unduly delayed – a case of defective routing. All these were revised with the hope that consignments from Nairobi would be moving faster to Europe.

An antelope in the Orphanage

Had the Administration informed me in time that it would not be able to organize a trip for me to Masai Mara I would have arranged one for it myself as many batches left from Panafric for the National Parks. One Sunday, however, Oyyo came and took me to the Nairobi National Park. It was quite strange to see tall giraffes against the backdrop of tall buildings. Nairobi also has an orphanage for wild animals.

Nairobi offers some fine shopping in Africa after South Africa.  I came across a shop that offered gear for safaris. These included from hats to jackets to boots to cameras. However, I found an Egyptian cotton shirt in khaki with posterior of a zebra printed on it in black. I found it very attractive and it was with me for years. Next to this shop was the famous restaurant by the name “The Carnivore” where Sunil Gavaskar was reported to have had crocodile meat. The restaurant offers meat of almost all wild animals. In an Indian shop I came across incredible cheating. I bought a few braces for my trousers and the price quoted was unbelievable – each one almost of Rs. 1000/-. During the bargaining I happened to tell them even in India they wouldn’t cost so

At the National Park

much the shopkeeper immediately asked me whether I was an Indian. When I answered in the affirmative the price immediately dropped by 50%. All this happened in the presence of Oyyo. I felt very ashamed.

 Central Business District of the town is a massive affair and in it is located the tallest building of the town – the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, KICC for short. The building is of thirty storeys and has a helipad. It occupies an enormous area. There are other interesting buildings but the district was still, kind of, work in progress. 

The regional UPU consultant for Africa, a former officer of Nigerian Postal System was to come to Nairobi. He wanted to visit Mombasa. I met him after arrival and found him familiar with many Indian consultants. A very amiable elderly person he asked me to accompany him to Mombasa. I had to go there in any case as it had exchanges of postal items with foreign countries.

Book Review :: "A century is not enough " by Saurabh Ganguly & Gautam Bhattacharya

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A few months ago Saurabh Ganguli had said in a conversation with a participant in the programme that he anchors that none should ever try and emulate him as his life had been like a roller coaster ride right through – up and down, up and down again. At that time I did not quite believe it; I thought it was his modesty that was making him speak like that. Now that I have read his biography – not exactly an autobiography as there is a co-author – I have come to realize how true his statement was and how well-meaning it was.

“A century is not enough” written by Saurabh Ganguli and Gautam Bhattachary is an account of Saurabh’s cricketing life including his brief fling in the Indian Premier League, better known by its acronym “IPL”. Although immensely endowed with cricketing talent his life in the Indian cricket team was not easy, barring, of course, the period of five years when he led the national side. During his captaincy he built up a team virtually of world beaters. In building it up he gave wide berth to favouritism and parochialism, the two evils from which Indian cricket used to suffer. He spotted talents and picked them up on merit and always gave them enough time and space to blossom.

Born with the proverbial silver spoon, his father encouraged him to opt for cricket instead of football – a more popular team-sport of West Bengal. To help him achieve his aspirations he used to be sent to England in summers to hone his cricketing skills. He emerged eventually as a right arm medium pacer and a left hand batsman. It is said that he chose to be a left-hander because he could use his brother’s cricketing gear. As a south paw his exploits from the crease were amazing and he amassed a sizable number of records. He may not have been as prolific as his close friend Sachin Tendulkar but he was not far behind - perhaps only next to him. He had another advantage over his friend and that was that he was also a bowler and collected an appreciable number of scalps in Tests and ODIs with his medium pacers.

Everybody knows how Saurabh got into the Indian Cricket Team in 1992 and then was laid off for as many as four years. As an 18-year old entrant in 1992 he was only a passenger in tours of the team. He was hardly ever picked up to play; only he reportedly picked up numerous adverse comments about his attitude. Although he denied the allegations his attitude born out of superior social and financial status of his family kept chasing him for quite some time. He was even called “snooty” in England and his nick name “Maharaj” that his father used to call him by did not quite help in the matter.   

Be that as it may, his ascent to the status of captain of the Indian team was dramatic and he laboured hard to prove that he was a fighting and admirable skipper. He not only tried to build up a team that would not only challenge the best in the world but also beat them in their own backyards. Before him the team lacked homogeneity; there was no spirit of commitment to the team or the country. In short, the members of the team lacked the attitude that would make them stand out in the world. Ganguly went all over the country to search for talent and that fire in the belly to perform. He picked them up and gave them enough scope and time to shed their inhibitions and concentrate on performance. His selections were transparent – and honest with no consideration other than cricketing skills. His boys Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvaraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a few others became parts of the team, gave off their best and then retired as legends of Indian Cricket.

For more than half a decade his team ruled over the world cricket beating the legendary West Indies, South Africa, England, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and New Zealand on quite a few occasions in India and abroad thus giving to the team the habit of trying to win – not throwing in the towel or play for a draw. He brought into the team a new element of aggression disorienting the world cricketing community, bringing in trophies and laurels for the country.

Then came his nemesis in the shape of Greg Chappell! He, in his enthusiasm to challenge Australia – at that time, by far the best team in the world - sought Chappell’s help in sorting out technical issues in respect of the Australian grounds. Having been terribly impressed by his cricketing acumen he decided to have Chappell as the Head Coach for Team India. Despite many knowledgeable persons advising him against his move to have Chappell as the Coach he pursued the matter with the BCCI. Even Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell’s brother, a former skipper of the Australian team, spoke to Dalmia, the then BCCI Chairman, advising him against his brother’s appointment as the Indian coach. Ganguly’s efforts succeeded but soon it turned into a virtual war with him. Greg Chappell behaved cussedly and was hell-bent on removing Ganguly from the captaincy. Chappell’s efforts succeeded but it broke the spirit of the team.

Everybody wanted to hear from Ganguly what exactly went wrong between the two but one does not get any answers from the book. Ganguly was aware that Chappell was gunning for him but he did not reveal any reasons for Chappell’s dissatisfaction with him. He, though down for some time did not give it up and fought his way back into the team. Even his father, who had encouraged him to take cricket as his profession, was miserable to see his son weighed down by worries and frustration and advised him to throw in the towel. But Saurabh wouldn’t listen to him.

This is the most interesting and instructive part of the book. He fought his inner strife by himself shedding all self-doubts and frustrations and came out blazing with his bat. His instrument for discarding all negative sentiments was to remain physically fit. He used to run more than a dozen laps at Eden Gardens. He did retire soon enough, as he said, for being always put on trial; but he retired on a note that was by far more positive. His is an example of how a man of immense mental strength deals with adversities even if these are not self-inflicted. He has always been saying that cricket is a mind game; it is played more in the mind, not simply on the crease. To be in a national side one has to have not only perfect hand-eye coordination but also a strong and analytical mind.

After having been one of the most dynamic skippers he has emerged, phoenix-like, as a respected and admired cricket administrator. Soon after retirement he was elected president of the Cricket Association of Bengal and then three years later he was unanimously elected Chairman of BCCI, a nationally coveted position for all cricketers and cricket lovers. This is the first time a cricketer was elected for the post, barring, of course, the brief term of Sunil Gavaskar. But Gavaskar was a Supreme Court appointee. Though Ganguly’s term may last only for nine months because of the cooling off provisions there are many who hope it would be extended.

“A century is not enough” is a well written book and thankfully it is shorn off of most of the technicalities of cricket which I used to come across decades ago in the books by Don Bradman, Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Jack Fingleton or Sid Barnes. The technicalities may not appeal to all lovers of the game, including Ganguly’s female fans that are there all over the country. As is well known, he is universally called “Dada” (elder brother), admired for his deportment as also for his handsome looks. No wonder he anchors a hugely successful reality show called “Dadagiri” on Zee Bangla channel every weekend. Though the name of the show suggests something different, including coercive behavior, there is no such thing in the show. Kolkata’s high and mighty have appeared in the show and they seem to have been hugely pleased to have been there.

Ganguly is mercifully not from among the Kolkata crowd who do not speak any native language. Though educated throughout in Kolkata’s St. Xavier College he speaks impeccable Bangla. Besides he is a true Bong who celebrates Durga Puja wearing dhoti and kurta and plays on the “dhaak” - Bengali percussion instrument. The other night he sang and played on a guitar. I wouldn’t be surprised if I see him in front of an easel with an artist’s palette. He is such a complete well-rounded package.

 Shahruk Khan made a huge understatement when he told Ganguly while walking a lap in Eden Garden adter an IPL match, “Dada, they love you here”. They not only love him, they idolise him.

Our Life, Our Times :: 52 :: The Lockdown

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So far only four nights have gone under “lockdown”; another seventeen nights await such a passage. But the two of us, my wife and me, both senior citizens are already undergoing a sentence of lockdown till our very end. For the last so many months, especially after the two older siblings passed on, we have been under a lockdown of sorts. With nowhere to go, nothing to buy off the shelves we don’t even have to go shopping. Our vehicle sits on its four wheels in the complex most of the time. Virtually everything is home delivered. And, payments are made online. With Modi’s lockdown, therefore, our life has not changed one bit. We continue to stay at home and keep taking in the marvelous view of the Lake and the green hills beyond from our big and wide windows. The peaceful sight is enough of sustenance for us. Perhaps, it also helps us to keep COVID-19 at bay.

This is an unprecedented lockdown the like of which we had never experienced before. It is not like the blackouts during the wars or even like curfews during civic disturbances. The “Janta (people’s) Curfew” of Modi was bad enough. This is much worse – a country-wide lockdown, with no planes flying, no passenger trains running and no buses plying. Each district has become an island with only essential services running. Repeated advisories have been issued to people to stay at home. The government obviously does not want to allow here what happened in Italy, in England or in Spain or New York or California. This deadly virus, it seems, can be neutralized by only social dispersal of people. They have to quarantine themselves in their respective homes.  

The civic authorities have a problem there. Oldies like us will willingly stay at home if everything of our needs is delivered to us. That, however, is not a template to be emulated by the young generation. With no work and, hopefully, a paid holiday for three weeks they want to enjoy it – not cooped up in the generally overcrowded houses but by biking around on the motorbikes on traffic-free roads or even walking on empty streets. They are giving a tough time to the law and order machinery.

Perhaps, it is impossible to keep more than a billion people confined to their homes. Television, that ubiquitous entertainer and a godsent for times like this when there is a massive clampdown and everything is at standstill, keeps one abreast of everyday happenings in the country. It is here that one sees every day by the hour how the cops are losing weight by trying to check those whom the current circumstances have made vagrants. There could be compelling reasons for them to be out on the streets in the times of a clampdown. Perhaps, their houses are too small for the family, maybe it is dark and dingy, or perhaps it lacks hygiene and sanitation. Or, perhaps, there is no place where they could hide and most probably there is no money salted away for buying provisions.

No wonder, as the TV screen shows, hundreds of people are marching down expressways in an effort to get back to their respective villages. Obviously, they feel that if they have to die of hunger or of COVID-19 it is far better to do so among the family in surroundings that are familiar and not in a strange city they have no stakes in. The concept of “social dispersal” that Modi was talking about the other day to prevent the spread of the contagion thus got a massive setback. Those who decided to leave their temporary homes or shacks couldn’t care less for high sounding concepts which they could hardly ever live by. For them, as for almost all of us, survival is more important and in times of difficulties nothing could be more comforting than the lap of the family. The governments, therefore, have swung into action and are providing succor to the hapless migrant labour, are arranging buses for these people to avoid the harrowing march of uncharted miles to their villages and travel in relative comfort of omnibuses – thus breaching their own decision of lockdown.

The newspapers that are available are full of COVID news. I am not able to get the Delhi editions of most papers as transport for them is just not available. What we get these days is locally printed ones of which only the Times of India is a national newspaper with multi-city editions. But even it missed the news of the wildlife bazaar that is run in China. It sells from pangolins to bats which appear to be farmed like poultry, and snakes, rodents, geckos, lizards, insects and what have you. China is where the wild animals are collected and then dispersed in the countries of South-East Asia. Our depleting numbers of pangolins apparently have been ending up in the stomachs of S-E Asians. One can only wish that after letting loose a pandemic China winds up the trade in exotic animals.

While deaths due to COVID and its new victims are in the papers every day the havoc caused by the pandemic is also being reported. The Bombay Stock Exchange had a steep fall from which is yet to fully recover. Its SENSEX 30 fell from above 40000 to 28000 and has only marginally recouped the losses. The essential commodities like vegetables, if easily, accessible are selling at jacked up prices. Indians like to profiteer in good times and bad – perhaps more during the bad times as people would hardly have any alternatives. By and large, it seems India is still better off as countries in Europe and the US are suffering far more than our people. Clearly, COVID – 19 is quite a leveler.

As I was running out of medicines we had to plan getting out of the house. We had not been able to replenish our monthly stock from the government dispensary. So we had to get them whatever might be the risks. This morning we did just that. We did not go to the government dispensary but bought medicines from chemists’ shop. They, being essential, have to be kept open. That is where the pharmacist told my wife that no curfew passes are being issued for local commutes; one needs a pass only when one wishes to go out of the district for good and valid reasons. We realized there was no curfew but only “lockdown”. Perhaps, that is what “containment” of COVID-19 is all about. Though there is no curfew one could not be on the streets without any valid reasons.

*photo from internet

Destinations :: Addis Ababa (1992)

http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com

An old monument

I was picked up by the Universal Postal Union for a three-country assignment in Africa.  This was in 1992 and, for a change, I was asked to proceed first to Addis Ababa via Berne, Switzerland. On previous two occasions I was asked to proceed directly to the country where I was supposed to operate. This time they wanted to “brief” me. Briefing, however, amounted to asking me to carry quite a bit of literature, most of them being useless for me.

Though Berne, ike every other place in Switzerland is a beautiful city yet I had decided that I would not be staying at Berne as my late eldest brother was stationed in Geneva. The question of giving up an opportunity to stay with him for a couple of days did not arise. Besides

A mosque

, Berne was only around two hours away from Geneva by train. My brother was at the airport when I flew in from Delhi via Frankfurt. I was back in Geneva after five years, having been here in 1987 with my wife and late third brother and his wife. We had spent almost a couple of months here during which we travelled quite a bit in Europe.

After two very pleasant days I was set to move for Addis. I had to again fly via Frankfurt and take the flight of Ethiopian Airlines for Addis. Its stock was pretty low with my brother but there was nothing I could do about it. The flight that night from Frankfurt was the last to fly out. We started boarding when the airport cleaning brigade was already on the job. The flight touched down in Rome and then at Asmara, which till then

An animal commercial carriage

was a part of Ethiopia in the province of Eritrea but was fighting for independence.  Eventually after a brief civil war the country became independent. Asmara was known to be a very beautiful sea port on Red Sea and had a lot of traffic with Italy. No wonder hordes of Italians climbed into the plane only to get off at Asmara.

The representatives of Ethiopian administration came and received me and lodged me in Hotel Ethiopia. It was a very ordinary hotel with virtually minimal facilities. Probably that was the best around the town but I couldn’t have had any say in the matter. The country had just come out of a dictatorial Leftist rule of Mengistu and I could divine an environment of fear still prevailing all around. It was Mengistu who hadA Convention Centre

 overthrown in the 1970s the Emperor Haile Selassie of the Solomonic dynasty. The Emperor traced his lineage from the legendary King Solomon and Queen Sheba of Biblical times. His relations with India were very cordial.

My Ethiopian colleagues

Though the departmental headquarters were not very far from the hotel I used to be picked up and deposited back at the hotel promptly at 5.00 in the evening. It seems none would work at the office after office hours as commuting through the streets was not very safe. The first day my counterpart took me to meet the Chief of the Ethiopian Post. He used to sit in a spanking new what looked like a building of aluminium. Perhaps, this was a donation from a friendly country. Together with the chief, I had good discussions over cups of Ethiopian coffee. They take black pretty strong black coffee with a sprinkling of a herb that floats on the top of the coffee giving it a peculiar pleasant aroma. No wonder there is quite a bit of traffic in coffee between Ethiopia and Europe.

The road in front was an artery of sorts and was always very crowded. People in tattered clothes would be sprawled on the central verge. It was like India when we had a substantial population of beggars. One day when I decided to walk to the office I got a taste of it. These people were all Somali refugees occupying the pavements and they would beg rather aggressively; they would nudge you, push you or even catch hold of your hand to beg. I told Mr. Mohammed, my counterpart, that after this experience walking to office was out for me.

A monument

My job in Ethiopia, as indeed in the other two countries, was to guide the local administration in finding new routes or new air services with a view to speeding up of the foreign mails. Certainly not a big job but this had not been done for quite some years. So together with the loca l administration and a newer version of airlines directory we devised a more or less improved schedule of receipt and dispatch of foreign mails subject to the approval of foreign administrations concerned. Since it had no railways of its own, the surface mails from abroad would arrive from Djibouti. Promptness or otherwise of it all depended on the political situation in Djibouti. It was pretty unstable during my stay in Addis Ababa, vital, as it was, sitting on very busy sea lanes passing through the Gulf of Aden.

In a Nazareth restaurant

I was given a round of the city and also visited some of the town sub offices. There was nothing distinctive about them. The city was, however, littered with some Communist-style structures. A big stadium was left incomplete despite apparent expenditure of millions. The town was, however, more like our sub-urban towns. After 1992, however, things seemed to have improved. There are high rises, overpasses and a light rail operating in the city. There are massive squares in the town and economic activities apparently have picked up.

Bayen, who was my companion during my stay, took me out to Nazareth (also spelt as Nazaret) a place around 50 miles away. It is on a highway originating in Djibouti. It is considered to be a transportation hub and is predominantly a Christian town. Bayan took me to a restaurant where we had some good Western food. Bayen used to be a senior official of the department but for lack of prospects he was looking for an opportunity to migrate to Canada. I understand he has since been able to get away to Canada.

A typical street scene of Ethiopia of those days

The night before I was to leave for Nairobi Mr. Mohammed invited me to a dinner in a bigger hotel. Two other officials were also present. It was a typical Ethiopian dinner with the foursome sitting round a circular cane table with high rims. On it was spread the Ethiopian flatbread which is used as a plate for stews, vegetables and salads to be deposited on it. The diners sitting round it tear a piece of the bread to scoop out a morsel. There were around three or four entries. Mr. Mohammed, however, warned me about one which, he said, was half-cooked beef and might not be to my liking. Hence, I left it out.

After two pleasant weeks it was time for me to move again, this time to Nairobi. Climatically both are more or less the same, though Addis sits at an elevation of more than seven thousand feet against Nairobi’s almost 6000 ft elevation. Both are, therefore, cool and one has to use woollens. Nairobi, however, is much greener than Addis Ababa.