AQ-February-2006 by India Africa Connect

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Volume 46, No. 1 February-April 2006

A F R I C A Q U A R T E R L Y !

Celebrating carnival of creativity

Decoding the urge to write

Reliving the end of apartheid

Across an ocean of wealth

In Conversation: Francis Moloi

Connecting with Africa

Dream of a Kenyan safari

Indian Council for Cultural Relations Azad Bhavan Indraprastha Estate New Delhi-110 002 E-mail: africa.quarterly@gmail.com Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India Regd No. 14380/61

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Indian Journal of African Affairs Volume 46 No. 1, February-April 2006

INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS NEW DELHI

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contents

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COVER STORY: CELEBRATING CARNIVAL OF CREATIVITY

Writers from Asia and Africa gathered in New Delhi and in Neemrana to dissect interlinked issues of identity, legacy and assertion in the age of globalisation.

GENDER ISSUES: DECODING THE URGE TO WRITE

Nandini C. Sen unravels the tangle of motivations that underpin women’s efforts to write in Africa through a close reading of the short stories of two contemporary writers –– Flora Nwapa and Sindewe Magona.

REMINISCENCES: RELIVING THE END OF APARTHEID

Anand K. Sahay recalls with relish the heady days of anti-apartheid struggle, the first allrace elections in South Africa, his first glimpse of Nelson Mandela in his trademark silk shirt and, above all, his sheer luck in seeing this history-in-the-making up close.

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TRADE TIES: ACROSS AN OCEAN OF WEALTH V.S. Sheth writes about the pivotal role of the Indian Ocean in fostering trade and cultural ties between India and Africa.

50 HEALTH: TWO WAYS OF HEALING — FAITH AND SCIENCE

R.A. Olaoye compares the concept of sickness and health in modern science and the traditional healers of the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria and argues for a synthesis of faith and science in delivering quality health care to the people.

24 AFRICAN MUSE: WRITERS AT RISK CONNECTING 63 CROSSINGS: WITH AFRICA

Shubha Singh delves deep into the Indian Ocean that connects India and Africa and swims ashore with some rare gems embedded in centuries of civilisational crossings.

Charles Larson describes the dangerous terrain — brutal regimes, mercenary thugs, popular apathy — in which African writers operate and argues that more than myriad threats of violence, imprisonment, censorship and exile, it is the lack of substantial readers that form the most serious challenge to their raison d’etre.

20 INTERVIEW: With Novelist Nuruddin Farah, an exile from Somalia for most of his life, on possibilities of genuine democracy in Africa.

42 IN CONVERSATION: With South Africa High Commissioner Francis Moloi on the breathtaking implications of a rising India for South Africa.

TRAVEL & TOURISM: DREAM OF A KENYAN SAFARI

Arun Bhattacharjee rhapsodises about myriad charms of Kenya — magnificent wildlife, lush greenery of the Rift Valley, breathtaking views of lions and, above all, Kenyans’ infectious sense of humour — and wonders why so few Indians bother to visit this marvellous country.

58 BOOKS & IDEAS 71 DOCUMENTS 76 INCREDIBLE INDIA 78 CONTRIBUTORS

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Rates of Subscription Annual Three-year Subscription Subscription Rs. 100.00 Rs. 250.00 US $40.00 US $100.00 £16.0 £40.0 (Including airmail postage) Subscription rates as above payable in advance preferably by bank draft/MO in favour of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi. Printed and Published by Pavan K. Varma Director-General Indian Council for Cultural Relations Azad Bhavan, Indraprastha Estate New Delhi - 110002 Editor: Manish Chand Cover Photo: James Warwick Getty Images ISBN 0001-9828

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), founded in 1950 to strengthen cultural ties and promote understanding between India and other countries, functions under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. As part of its effort, the Council publishes, apart from books, six periodicals in five languages –– English quarterlies (Indian Horizons and Africa Quarterly), Hindi Quarterly (Gagananchal), Arabic Quarterly (Thaqafat-ul-Hind), Spanish bi-annual (Papeles de la India) and French bi-annual (Recontre Avec l’Inde). Africa Quarterly (Indian Journal of African Affairs) is published every three months. The views expressed in the articles included in this journal are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICCR. All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any from or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the permission of the ICCR.

Editorial correspondence and manuscripts, including book reviews, should be addressed to: The Editor Africa Quarterly Indian Council for Cultural Relations Azad Bhavan Indraprastha Estate New Delhi-110 002 E-mail: africa.quarterly@gmail.com

February 2006

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■ From the Editor’s Desk

Write Way to Connect

f one wishes to explore people’s unspoken thoughts, their dreams and fantasies, their fears and phobias, their longings and hatreds, there is no better place to visit than the stories they tell each other. For in these stories, one can at last be truly oneself, shorn of social posturing, and tell the truths about the human condition by adopting varied disguises. Which is why we have chosen to focus in this issue on the literature and culture of Africa and India to illuminate deeper psychic currents that shapes habits of thinking and feeling in these two vast areas that are home to more than one-third of the world’s humanity and a third of the world’s languages. The cover story this issue captures the sense of connectedness and an intense unfettered dialogue on the interlinked issues of identity, legacy and assertion among 45 writers from 22 countries at the three-day Africa Asia Literary Conference held from February 14-16 in New Delhi and in the Neemrana heritage hotel in Rajasthan. As writers delved deeper into their archives of remembrances and passionately discussed their art and craft, one got a rare glimpse into the creative process that powers literary articulation. The atmosphere at the Neemrana heritage hotel was simply exhilarating which, as the cover story put it, transformed into an exuberant carnival of ideas and creativity liberating all those present from their mundane preoccupations. “I feel as though I have come home. Two days were too less to soak in such an experience,” said South African writer Don Mattera. The conference also provided insights into an almost mystical link between the destinies of India and Africa and harked back to what ICCR Director-General Pavan K. Varma called the “spirit of Bandung” –– the Indonesian island that has become a byword for the Afro-Asian solidarity. Somali writer Nuruddin Farah evoked this sense of interlinked destinies when he said: “India and Africa are related in many different ways, which neither of them understand properly. We are more entwined and in tune with each other.” Farah argued passionately for creating a more intimate relationship between India and Africa as he held up the Indian democracy as an ideal for Africa. Even as the conference celebrated literature and its transformational powers, serious concerns were also raised about the perilous terrain the African writers inhabit and the price they pay for saying what they want. In a straight-from-theheart piece ‘African Writers at Risk,’ American author and academic Charles Larson evokes the none-too-pleasant atmosphere in which African writers work and describes vividly many dangers that confront them like violence, imprisonment, censorship and exile. But more important is the dwindling readership that directly impinges on their existence, argues Larson. In her insightful article, feminist author and publisher Urvashi Butalia admires the spirit of gritty African publishers

who have had to endure a lonely hard struggle to set up their independent publishing houses to cater to burgeoning hunger for books –– a trait Africa shares with India. Nandini C. Sen writes probingly of dilemmas facing women’s efforts to write in Africa through a close reading of two contemporary writers and asks searching questions about the state of feminism in the continent. Besides literature, the present issue of Africa Quarterly celebrates centuries-old cultural crossings between India and Africa that has translated into a broad convergence of strategic and political interests between the two sides. V.S. Sheth and Shubha Singh takes a dive into layers of history hidden in the Indian Ocean and comes back with some rare gems that throw light on sustained civilizational exchanges between India and Africa, which were once part of a common land mass, in the words of South Africa high commissioner Francis Moloi. More than actual geographies that statesmen and men of the world deal in, there is a rich landscape of memories that continue to illuminate special bonds between India and Africa. Anand K. Sahay revisits the heady days of anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and the sheer excitement of watching and chronicling the end of an era in the history of that country. The implications of this multi-layered interaction between India and Africa spanning diverse areas are enormous and can’t be missed by any close reader of the contemporary world. The South African envoy has a robust vision of a new world order in which “a resurgent powerful India” will ensure that the voice of the developing countries is heard on the global stage. “It has the potential to change the entire world order,” he says in a clairvoyant tone in an interview. Such futuristic optimism apart, what gives hope to a shared future of Africa and India is the inexhaustible fertility and vitality of more than 2,000 languages and a million proverbs that have found their home in these two places –– sites of hybrid vigour and creativity. This makes it almost necessary to constantly revivify the language in which we speak to each other and display a developed sense of literary hygiene by weeding out clichés from our communication with each other. As Kenyan writer and editor Binyavanga Wainaina has mockingly said in another context about the clichés that clutter writing about Africa: “Always use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’ in your title. Subtitles may include the words ‘Zanzibar,’ ‘Masai,’ ‘Zulu,’ ‘Zambezi,’ ‘Congo,’ ‘Nile,’ ‘Big,’ ‘Sky,’ ‘Shadow,’ ‘Dream’, ‘Sun’ or ‘Bygone.’ He adds, relishing his sarcasm every bit. “Whatever angle you may take, be sure to leave the impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.” Now, this issue makes no such tall claims. Humility helps. And always trust the tale, not the teller. Happy reading!

February 2006

Manish Chand

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India gives $392 mn credit for Sudan power projects

An oil exploration site of ONGC Videsh Ltd in Sudan.

ndia signed an agreement on January 23 to provide its largest-ever line of foreign credit of $392 million for two power projects in Sudan that would be executed by the state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) on a turnkey basis. The loan to the Sudan government is for 12 years, including a three-year moratorium, and carries a 4 percent fixed rate of return, according to the Export-Import Bank of India (EximBank), which has extended the credit on behalf of the Government of Indian. The Sudan government has offered oil as surety for the loan, according official sources. “The credit of $392 million has been provided for two projects. One is for setting up a 500 MW combined cycle power plant at Kosti at a cost of $350 million and the remaining $42 million for the Singa-Gedarif transmission line and sub-station projects,” Sudan’s Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem said during the agreement signing ceremony.

The total cost of both the projects is estimated to be $500 million, with the Sudan government expected to provide the remainder. “Marking the golden jubilee year of India-Sudan diplomatic relations, this is the largest single line of credit extended by India to any country. It is also the second-largest Indian investment in Sudan after those in the hydrocarbon sector through ONGC Videsh Ltd.,” the ambassador said. He hoped that more Indian companies would come forward to participate in Sudan’s socio-economic development with the peace agreement in force. ONGC Videsh last invested over $1.5 billion for equity stake in three Sudanese exploration blocks and the execution of a 741-km-long petroleum products pipeline project. The exploration major is seeking other opportunities in Sudan both in exploration and upstream in refinery. “The 500 MW power project to be constructed on a turnkey basis by BHEL is slated to be the biggest in the African nation as it would have provision for expansion to 3,000 MW,” said BHEL chairman and managing director A.K. Puri. The state-owned power equipment major is hopeful that it would be able to bag the contract for the remaining project on the basis of its performance in the first leg. The project agreement for the 500 MW power plant, which would comprise four units, and a transmission project are expected to be completed in three years. Considering that only 15 percent of Sudan currently enjoys power supply, the two projects are expected to be the nerve centre of development that would link all parts of the country. Sudan is also keen that Indian industries set up manufacturing bases in Sudan, which would open the door to other African nations and the Middle East due to the close proximity of these countries to Sudan. Under its Focus Africa initiative, EximBank had in January last year extended a $50 million line of credit to Indian exporters, which has been fully utilised for various projects, including rural electrification and railway infrastructure, according to R.M.V. Raman, executive director of EximBank. ■

Lt. Gen. Jasbir Lidder to head Sudan peacekeeping mission

t. Gen. Jasbir Singh Lidder of the Indian Army has been selected by the United Nations to head its peacekeeping mission in Sudan, to which India has contributed over 2,000 troops and a contingent from the Indian Air Force (IAF). Lidder is the second lieutenant general from India to be selected for this prestigious assignment by the U.N. The U.N. mission in Sudan has a mandated strength of over 10,000 troops, and comprises contingents from 42 countries. India has deployed two infantry battalions and a helicopter squadron. An alumnus of Punjab Public School at Nabha, Lidder

was commissioned in the 3 Grenadiers. He has vast experience in counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir and was additional director general of military operations at Army Headquarters before being selected for the U.N. assignment. The selection of Lt. Gen, Lidder is a recognition by the UN of India’s contribution in peace-keeping operations over the years,” said an official. Lidder has also served as chief of staff with the U.N. mission in Mozambique. India is currently the thirdlargest contributor of military forces for U.N. peacekeeping operations around the world. ■

February 2006

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India helps to revive Mozambique’s cashew industry

ozambique, the south-east African nation, is hoping to regain its position as the world leader in cashew nut production –– with finance and technology from India. India has agreed to finance the construction of a cashew nut processing plant in the southern African country where the fruit was once the biggest export product, the Afrikaans daily Beeld reported here. “The Indian processing technology is based on intensive manual labour as a means of achieving a high output,” Mozambican Agriculture Minister Tomas Mandate was quoted as saying at the signing of a memorandum of agreement in that country’s capital, Maputo, recently. “We are happy that lesser-skilled people will benefit from this,” he said. After decades of being the world leader, the 16 cashew nut processing factories in Mozambique have fallen into disuse after the sector was deregulated in the 1990s. Some 40,000 jobs were lost nationwide. This resulted in massive exports of unprocessed cashew

nuts, almost exclusively to India. A controversial intervention by the World Bank in the 1990s saw the organisation providing huge cash doles to get millions of subsistence farmers to grow the nut as a cash crop, but the project failed. To protect the cashew nut farm workers against international competition, the Mozambican government banned the export of unprocessed cashew nuts, forcing farmers to get their produce processed locally. This effectively kept the price of unprocessed nuts low and subsidised the processing plants. However, pressure from the World Bank forced the government to first remove the export restriction and later also the quotas and export taxes of up to 60 percent that were imposed in its place. ■

India-South Africa Joint Ministerial Commission meeting

ndia and South Africa reviewed the two countries. The commission their multi-faceted political and was co-chaired by Aziz Pahad, South economic ties and promised to Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister. impart a new momentum to the burThe South African delegation geoning relationship by speedily included Deputy Finance Minister implementing bilateral agreements Jabulani Moleketi and 40 other offispanning trade, technology and cials. The commission was preceded human resource development. by a meeting of senior officials The two sides also exchanged chaired by Shashi Tripathi, Secretary instruments of ratification of the (West), on the Indian side and Anil extradition treaty and of the agree- India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Sooklal, deputy director general, ment on mutual legal assistance in Rao Inderjt Singh, left, and his South African from the South African side. criminal matters at the end of a two- counterpart Aziz Pahad. The two sides reviewed the day joint ministerial whole gamut of relaS. African minister stands up for a new NAM tions between the two meeting in New Delhi on December 6. countries, encompassouth African Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, who was in Inaugurating the ing political, commerIndia in January, has called for a change in the Non Aligned Movement sixth session of the cial and economic (NAM). “NAM is a very important group, but it must be changed so it is India-South Africa matters, including sciable to better articulate the views of its member-nations,” Pahad, who delivJoint Ministerial ence and technology, ered the 4th Alfred Nzo Memorial Lecture, said in New Delhi. Commission, Miniculture, education, He expressed concern over the increasing gap between the rich and poor ster of State for health, energy, inforin Africa as well as in the world and, alluding to the flare-up in France and External Affairs Rao mation and commuthe killing of people trying to enter Europe, said the violence was an indiInderjit Singh lauded nications technology cation that the destinies of developing and developed nations were interthe growth in bilateral and human resource twined. “In a globalised world order we cannot put a Chinese wall against ties and stressed on the development. the rest of humanity,” he said, making a strong case for a people-centric need to implement The last Joint Mincommon agenda. “The greatest challenge we face in Africa is also the greatmany “ambitious isterial Commission est problem the humanity faces,” he said, alluding to the “under-developagreements” that have was held in Pretoria in ment problem.” ■ been signed between July 2003. ■

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End poverty, ignorance to fight terror: Bishop Tutu

he eradication of poverty and disease and ignorance by those with the means to do so is not altruism. No, it is the best form of self-interest. We can be free only together. We can be secure only together. We can be prosperous only together,” said Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu in an impassioned plea for a just world on December 13. Delivering the seventh J.R.D. Tata Memorial Lecture at the National Institute of Advanced Sciences in Bangalore, Bishop Tutu said he was sure that “there is no way that we will win the war against terror as long as there are conditions in so many parts of the world that make people desperate.” Poverty, disease and ignorance set apart the global south even as affluence, prosperity and good health were the hallmarks of the north. As the riots in France and the United Kingdom demonstrated, these inequalities spawned instability and turmoil, he said. Bishop Tutu said he had seen the world turn a great deal less secure and far more violent than the strike on the World Trade Center in the United States. “Now, there is a war against terrorism and some use the unfortunate paradigm of the West versus the Muslim world and we glibly speak of Muslim or Islamic terrorism. No one ever described the IRA or the Protestant

“(Today) we glibly speak of Muslim or Islamic terrorism. No one ever described the IRA or the Protestant paramilitaries in Northern Ireland as Christian terrorists.” paramilitaries in Northern Ireland as Christian terrorists,” he said. The world now is as polarised as it ever was during the Cold War. Speaking for the world’s underprivileged, Bishop Tutu said, “We were euphoric when the nations of the world adopted the Millennium Development Goals, so idealistic and yet apparently achievable.” But that feeling was shattered by what he called “the immoral invasion by the U.S., the U.K. and oth-

ers of Iraq for the reason that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.” But even as he talked about chaos and violence, Bishop Tutu remained hopeful of mankind’s innate ability to absorb a moral universe, where there was no way that injustice and oppression, lies and evil could ever have the last word. “We are shocked when we see evil happening and we are even more appalled if it goes unpunished. We have internal antennae which home in on goodness because we are created for goodness, for love, for gentleness, for compassion, for sharing.” Bishop Tutu thanked India for all that it did to help South Africa fight apartheid. Speaking to presspersons after the lecture, Bishop Tutu said inequality, poverty and disease generated a lot of instability in the world, paving the way for terrorism. It would be difficult to win the war against terrorism unless people realised the ethics of family and treated their fellow human beings as part of their family. “It will be difficult to drop a bomb on the members of your family.” “Religion is carried by its adherence, and religion is by itself neither good nor bad, it is neutral. Religion has produced outstanding people in the world, including Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, and Mother Teresa. It also takes credit for producing ghastly creatures on the contrary.” ■ (See Documents on page 72)

India, COMESA sign agreement to promote the dairy industry

ndia has joined hands with leading African countries to promote and develop the dairy industry by encouraging technology transfer and trade between the two sides. An agreement was signed between the Indian Dairy Association (IDA) and the Eastern and South African Dairy Association (ESADA) in Bangalore in the first week of January to facilitate technology transfer, consultancy and marketing support. The ESADA, which has its head office in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, represents dairy sectors in the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region that comprises Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda and Mauritius.

The pact will provide Indian milk products that have become globally competitive, especially after the reduction in export subsidies by the European Union, an enhanced presence in Africa. A vibrant market has developed over the years for the Indian milk powder in African countries. The agreement will go a long way in fostering the growth of Indian exports and entrepreneurship in the African dairy industry, said Animesh Banerjee, president of the IDA. Indian dairy industry has developed plants, machinery and ancillary items that cost half the international price. The ESADA will provide the IDA linkage to its memberclientele and support its efforts to increase trade in the dairy sector with Africa. ■

February 2006

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In Liberia, Africa’s first-ever elected woman President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as President of the tiny, western African nation of Liberia on January 16, 2006. In November last year, she created history when she won the presidential race as a standard bearer of the Unity Party, making her the first woman to be elected president in Africa. A short profile:

rom Liberian cabinet minister to senior United Nations administrator and now Presidential election winner at the second attempt, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s career has never stood still. Having served as a finance minister in William Tolbert’s True Whig government in the 1970s, Johnson-Sirleaf announced her intention to stand as senatorial candidate in the 1985 elections in opposition to the military rule of Samuel Doe. For a brave speech heavily critical of Doe, she was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, of which she served two short periods of detention, one before and one after the 1985 election, before fleeing the country. Doe went on to win the election through widespread intimidation and almost certainly fraudulent counting. The years in exile until returning for the elections of 1997, gave her considerable international experience at the Citibank in Nairobi, the UNDP and the World Bank. She held the position of Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the UNDP, formulating development strategies for African economies, and was Senior Loans Officer at the World Bank. Although initially giving support to Charles Taylor’s 1989 invasion to oust Samuel Doe, Johnson-Sirleaf has been an implacable opponent ever since. Returning to Liberia after the conclusion of the seven-year civil war, she was a late entry to the presidential race as standard-bearer of the Unity Party. Her non-involvement in the war and her financial expertise were a mainstay of her campaign message and she endeavoured to put across the image of an untainted, maternal figure. However, while her history of opposition to the

The years in exile until returning for the elections of 1997, gave her considerable international experience at the Citibank in Nairobi, the UNDP and the World Bank. She held the position of Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the UNDP, formulating development strategies for African economies, and was Senior Loans Officer at the World Bank. Doe government was well known, she was also seen as a former minister in a government with a questionable record and, despite mixed ancestry, a member of the old urban elite. Although also known as the ‘Iron Lady’ of Africa, Johnson-Sirleaf was up against Taylor’s huge electoral machine and the feeling in the country that only Taylor’s presence in the Executive Mansion would avert a return to war.

February 2006

Johnson-Sirleaf came a creditable second to Taylor’s landslide 75 percent of the vote, but in fact only polled 10 percent and drew a mere 16 percent of her total vote from the predominantly rural areas outside Montserrado. Charged with treason by the Taylor regime, she was quickly forced into another period of political exile, but maintained her promise to contest the 2003 elections, until the postponement of the polls early in that year. In the turmoil of the new civil war between the rebel groups, LURD and MODEL, and the Taylor government; the departure of Taylor under internal and external pressure into exile in Nigeria in August 2003; and the search for peace and a new administration, Johnson-Sirleaf remained firmly at the forefront of Liberian national politics. Finally, and once again as standard bearer for the Unity Party, she won the 2005 elections after a disputed run-off with the footballer George Weah, becoming the first African woman to win a presidential election. –– By David Harris (Reproduced from Contemporary African Database, London. www.http://africadatabase.org)

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African athletes steal the show in Mumbai Marathon

aniel Rono of Kenya upset a formidable field of favourites to emerge as a surprise men’s winner, while defending champion Mulu Seboka of Ethiopia retained the women’s crown, in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2006, held in India’s financial capital on January 15. Flagged off by Union Sports Minister Oscar Fernandes, the marathon witnessed several celebrities and film stars either participating or cheering participants. Among the participants were industrialist Anil Ambani, actors Rahul Bose, Tara Sharma, model Milind Soman, etc., while film stars Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee flagged off two races and cheered participants. Rono, who earned a winner’s cheque of $30,000, ran a tactical race on a flat and fast course in the 42.195 km Full Marathon and left the rest of the pack behind on the home stretch to clock an impressive 2:12:03 that dwarfed last year’s winner Julius Sugut’s timing of 2:13:20. Rono’s compatriots, Desse Mandago Kipkorir and the lanky Stanley Leleito finished second and third, respectively, clocking 2:12:18 and 2:12:47, as they also improved upon the course record to complete a Kenyan clean sweep. Women’s favourite Seboka, who earned $20,000 for her effort, also raced into the record books with a time of 2:33:15 in the Full Marathon that shattered her own course record of 2:35:03 set last year. Seboka, who was the runaway leader all the way, was followed by Inga Abitova of Russia who improved upon the course record with a time of 2:33:55, while last year’s runner-up and Seboka’s compatriot Leila Aman was third in 2:36:17. ■

Kenyan winners of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2006, Daniel Rono who came in first, center, runner-up Mandago Kipkorir of Kenya, right, and thirdplaced Stanley Leleito.

Kathak guru and his South African disciple perform in Delhi

hen he left the country more than a decade ago, he could claim no name or fame. And recently he was back to repay a debt of gratitude to his adopted country by performing in his motherland. Kathak Guru Vinod Hasal, currently based in South Africa, told United News of India, “I was nothing 15 years back but now everyone knows me... I am giving back what I have got from that country.” Hasal, along with his South African disciple Brian Sekoko, 21, performed in New Delhi in January early this year. His Guru and father, Acharya Ganesh Hasal, and brother, Pt. Umesh Hasal, besides his cousin, Rohit Lal, from the Jaipur Gharana, also participated in the

event, organised in collaboration with the South African High Commission and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). Hasal said he had visited India several times after migrating to South Africa 15 years ago, but this was his most mem-

February 2006

orable visit, as he was able to have his first performance in the capital, which he referred to as the “Gadh (fort) of Kathak”. Hasal presented the ‘Anand Thandav’ and a brief version of the ‘Terah Matra’. His disciple, Sekoko, gave his first solo performance. Asked how he felt about his South African student getting good reviews here, Hasal said, “I have tears in my eyes.” The 39-year-old dancer is winner of numerous awards, including the Hindi Ratna Award for his outstanding contribution as a non-resident Indian. He said his aim was to “produce as many Kathak dancers as possible throughout the world.” ■

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Sudan plans more oil, infrastructure projects for India

atisfied with Indian participation in oil, pipeline and power projects in the country, Sudan is planning to give more oil and infrastructure projects to New Delhi on a nomination basis, a top official said in the capital in early March. “After the successful signing of the 500 MW power project by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), the Government of Sudan is planning to give some major India companies projects on a nomination basis to implement, including in oil and infrastructure,” Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohammad said at a meet organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). The ambassador said the successful completion of the 741km oil products pipeline from Khartoum Refinery to Port Sudan by ONGC Videsh two months ahead of schedule and the commitment of state-owned BHEL to undertake a 500 MW power plant and transmission line project has paved the way for Sudan considering more projects being executed by Indian companies. Stating that the government is still identifying the projects for award to Indian companies, the Ambassador Abdalhaleem

Mohammad said: “We are satisfied by the capability of Indian companies. Indian Railways’ subsidiary IRCON is also negotiating a credit line from the Government of India for reviving and re-establishing of a 203 km railway line in Sudan.” The new railway line that is proposed will run from Haiya to Port Sudan. According to IRCON official Deepak Sablok, the feasibility study of the $252 million project has already been completed. Once the credit line is available, the project would commence and be completed in three years. “The project would involve laying of lines, building stations enroute and a signalling system, but not supply of rolling stock,” Sablok said. Indian Ambassador to Sudan Deepak Vohra also attended the meeting and highlighted the many investment opportunities opening up in the African country. “Sudan is our hope in Africa,” said Vohra, who revealed that of the $100 million credit line extended by India to Sudan, projects have already been identified for $99.9 million and of those $50 million worth have been executed. Assocham president Anil Agarwal said that plans were being finalised for holding an Indian exhibition in Khartoum titled ‘Indian enterprise, Sudan advantage’. ■

Tata Motor’s Indica sells over 20,000 units in South Africa

uto major Tata Motors has sold 20,000 of its popular hatchback, Indica, in South Africa since launching the model in the country less than two years ago, leading to analysts in Johannesburg calling the Indian car the most successful brand ever to come to the country. “Few people could argue with that, considering that (Tata) has sold 20,000 passenger vehicles; is planning new models; has 55 dealers nationwide already; and has created about 14,000 jobs in under two years,” said Manny de Canha, chief executive of Associated Motor Holdings. Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata joined the local company leaders to hand over the keys to the 20,000th vehicle to a young South Africa woman, Jackie Mahlangu. Dealers said Mahlangu fitted the profile of the typical Indica buyer –– young, upwardly mobile worker looking for a reasonably priced economical vehicle without losing some of the frills of more expensive models from competitors. Tata, who has committed his company to helping South Africa develop economically, recounted how he had been called “mad” when he mooted the idea of building an Indian passenger vehicle from scratch in the face of serious competition from countries in Asia and Europe. “My friends said I was stupid; that I would gamble away the company; and that it was impossible to design and manufacture a car from the ground up. We have proven that it really can be done and that nothing is impossible,” Tata said. He said the company’s next “impossible” aim was to manufacture a car costing fewer than 20,000 rands.

Raman Dhawan, managing director of Tata Africa Holdings, said Tata had grown remarkably in South Africa. He expressed the hope that a further 20,000 vehicles would be sold in the next year. The South African sales achieve greater significance when related to exports from India. “Tata Motors in India exported just 9,000 vehicles in the same period that 20,000 vehicles were sold in South Africa and so the South African market is very important to us and has become a priority,” said Ravi Kant, managing director of Tata Motors South Africa. Kant conceded that Tata Motors here had experienced some problems with availability of spare parts but said “huge changes” were under way to resolve this problem. ■

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Celebrating Carnival of CREATIVITY Manish Chand conjures up the exuberance of unfettered dialogue among 45 writers from Asia and Africa who gathered in New Delhi and in Neemrana to dissect interlinked issues of identity, legacy and assertion in the age of globalisation.

ho are we? Where do Ghanaian writer Kofi Anyidoho aptly captured the overarwe come from? Is past a ching theme of the conference in a poem he recited on the dispensable baggage, a opening day of the conference. beguiling distraction in our brave journey into a “...there is something of our story radiant, ever-hopeful something of our mystery carved future? Can we feel the into every tombstone in all the graveyards of this earth... presence of the past in the present, the eternal something of our history enshrined now? What kind of home can one have in a globalising world? in every monument Does a writer need a home, or is homelessness his chosen fate? What are we doing here?...” And what do these questions mean for writing, the writers who write and the readers who read them? Although writers and their inquisitors intensely debated the Overwhelming questions, indeed, that kept 45 writers from twinned issues of home and homelessness, even exiles felt at 22 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe home in this serene retreat nestled in and the Americas busy as they pas- The charge of unfettered human a somnolent Rajasthan village. For sionately debated issues of identity, dialogue was so electrifying that most of them, it was sheer bliss to be legacy and assertion at the three-day for two days and two nights, the alive –– to get away from the messy, Africa Asia Literary Conference –– raucous chatter of metropolis and medieval fort of Neemrana organised by the Indian Council for breathing in a rare confluence of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and titled thoughts. morphed into an exuberant ‘Continents of Creation’ –– that carnival of ideas, celebrating the Scholar extraordinaire, author and began on February 14 in New Delhi ICCR president Karan Singh underhuman hunger for roots and and subsequently shifted to a heritage lined this spirit of community and hotel in a Rajasthan village for two communion among writers, who, as freedom and asking the right days. he said in his opening address, conquestions about the nature of The charge of unfettered human stitutes “a single family cutting across writing, the burden of identity, dialogue was so electrifying that for divisions of caste and creed, of relitwo days and two nights, the gion and nationality, of sex and sexthe past and the present. medieval fort of Neemrana morphed ual preference, of all the differences into an exuberant carnival of ideas, celebrating the human that divide society.” (See Documents on page 71) hunger for roots and freedom and asking the right questions “Writers constitute a community that transcends them,” about the nature of writing, the burden of identity, the past and said Singh, capturing the spirit that animated the thought-fest. the present. Pavan K. Varma, author and ICCR director-general, placed There were abstruse arguments and there were down-to- the conference in the larger context of the Afro-Asian solidarearth interjections. And, of course, there were visions and revi- ity symbolising “the spirit of Bangdung” –– the Indonesian sions that a passionate rejoinder would unravel. And for those town where the Non-Aligned Movement was founded 51 with a taste for the abyss, there were epiphanic moments that years ago. This solidarity, Varma said, could be deepened and cut through thoughts into something deeper and intimate. understood better if writers discussed the question of common

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THINKING ALOUD: Writers participating in a round table discussion on legacy, identity and assertion inside the Neemrana heritage hotel Feb 14.

roots –– “to evaluate where are the overlappings of culture, to allow them to consider together where they’ve come from, what are their roots, where they’ve reached and where they are likely to go to.” (See Documents on page 72) As South African writer Don Mattera said: “I feel as though I have come home. Two days were too less to soak in such an experience.” This maverick philosopher and writer, who honed his insights in the violence-ridden streets of apartheidera South Africa, was generous in sharing his hard-won wisdom. “The secret of life is that it is a race, but there are no winning posts in this race,” said Mattera. Mattera, the gangster-turned-writer who believes in only one religion –– “the religion of compassion” –– also warned against the devious methods adopted by neo-colonialists to create an “ideal other that would jump and dance to their tune, who will perpetuate the language of global capital.” Which is why, Mattera said, memory is such a potent weapon in the struggle against oppression and injustice. “Memory can heal as well, but memory can be a weapon. The struggle of humanity against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” “The more languages I read and the more books I read, my world became bigger,” said Nuruddin Farah, the Somali writer who has missed the Nobel Prize by a whisker many a times. Farah spoke movingly about his evolution as a writer who

Q U A R T E R L Y

PARTICIPATING WRITERS ■ From India

Ashis Nandy, Ashok Vajpeyi, Geetanjali Shree, Gulzar, Urvashi Butalia, U.R. Anantha Murthy, Indira Goswami, K. Satchidanandan, Malashri Lal, Mallika Sengupta, Namita Gokhale, Ajeet Cour, Aman Nath, Padma Sachdev, Pavan K. Varma, Sudeep Sen, Tarun J. Tejpal, Malika Amar Shaikh and Vaasanthi. ■ From Rest of Asia

Abhi Subedi (Nepal), Feryal A. Gauhar (Pakistan), Meira Chand (Singapore), Goenawan Md. (Indonesia), Marjorie Evasco (Philippines) Jean Arsanayagam (Sri Lanka), Kaiser Haq (Bangladesh), Kazuko Shiraishi (Japan), Selina Hossain (Bangladesh), Sonam Kinga (Bhutan), Jamal Kamal (Uzbekistan), Sapardi D. Damono (Indonesia), Cai Cehai (China). ■ From Africa, Europe & the Americas

Charles Mungoshi (Zimbabwe), Charles Larson (USA), Don Mattera (South Africa), Ekow Eshun (Britain), Kofi Anyidoho (Ghana), Lindsey Collen (Mauritius), Miral el Tahawi (Egypt), Nawal el Saadawi (Egypt), Nuruddin Farah (Somalia), Sefi Atta (Nigeria), Abdalmageed Haj Alameen (Sudan).

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moved from the native oral tradition to the written world. He described his writing as a sustained effort to dig out meanHe recalled days of fervid reading and dreaming when he ing from the interstices of silences –– the preferred method of read voraciously, with an unmatched hunger just about every expression of those who have no stories to tell. “Beyond that Western writer, but found that “we as people were absent from story of despair, death and destitution, the only way is to go these books”. It was this subtle and not-so-subtle erasure of the into the archives of memory and dig out the silences, muffled Other that goaded him into creating afresh his world in his fic- voices,” said Anydiho. tion –– a place that lies beyond post-colonial clichés and which For Lindsey Collen, South Africa-born Mauritian novelist he can irreducibly call who has written The his own. Rape of Sita, Mutiny There were others and Getting Rid of It, like Egyptian novelist the vocation of the and feminist Nawalwriter is to keep alive el-Saadawi who questhe language of tioned the very conhumanity, to save cept of identity and words from disuse warned against “idenand extinction. “We tity traps”. often feel we are writ“We are deceived ing the last words of by the word identity. humanity. The purThey demand to pose of life is to visit know my nationality, people and to listen to language, colour or stories from their gender. I am proud of place,” said Collen, what I am doing and who has co-authored not who I am,” said Kreol-English she. For Saadawi, Dictionary, the fullidentity is not a fixed length dictionary of concept, but a praxis, a KEEP THE SPARK BURNING: Rajasthani dancers balancing pots of fire on their the Kreol language. perpetual evolution of heads at the concluding ceremony of the Africa Asia Literary Conference at Echoing similar a restless self looking Neemrana Feb 16. thoughts, Hindi poet for a habitat friendly Ashok Vajpeyi said: to the muse, the inner hunger to For Saadawi, identity is not a fixed “One language dies a day. There write. Which is why she finds idenought to be a world campaign to save tity, as defined in terms of conven- concept, but a praxis, a perpetual languages.” Poet and Sahitya tional labels –– nationality, language, evolution of a restless self looking Akademi secretary K. colour and gender –– severely limitSatchidanandan dramatised the probfor a habitat friendly to the muse, ing, and even shackling. “I live in a lems of identity, coherence and self in the inner hunger to write. Which his poem Stammer. prison in my country. I like to live in is why she finds identity, as a home where there is freedom, jus“God too must have stammered tice and creativity,” says Saadawi. when He created Man. defined in terms of conventional For the young, lissome Nigerian That is why all the words of man labels –– nationality, language, novelist Sefi Atta –– her new novel carry different meanings. colour and gender –– severely has a cheery mystical kind of name That is why everything he utters Everything Good Will Come — the from his prayers to his commands limiting, and even shackling. search for identity is a problem pecustammers, liar to the process of writing. “I am like poetry.” not burdened by identity as a person, but I am burdened by Lyricist-filmmaker-writer Gul-zar, who has written erudite identity as a writer,” said Atta. poetry as well as Bollywood dance numbers like Kajra Re, Miral El Tahawi, the Egyptian novelist who dramatises the regaled the audience with his exquisite poems in Urdu, dramaangst and choices (or the lack of them) open to young women tising the fret and the fever of modern city living. He also in the patriarchal Arab world, said her search for roots in the spoke about the pressures of writing for a mass audience and Bedouin culture powered her drive to write. “It’s my own what he called the “molestation of language” that sometimes world, an autobiography of my soul, my poem and my drama,” accompanies writing for mass media like films. said El Tahawi proudly. He was clearly a big hit at the poetry reading session where Anydiho, for whom the creation of self and identity are he would be cheered not only by Urdu scholars and enthusidefining themes in his writings, said he wrote stories to give asts like Varma, the author of a biography of Ghalib, but those form to “muffled voices of people who have no stories to tell.” who understood hardly any Urdu like Farah.

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Bhutanese writer Sonam Kinga, who has perfected a native as in a balance sheet. That we met, spoke, discussed, agreed and genre in which he re-tells folk stories that encapsulate exis- disagreed, recited, sang, in many voices, yet as one would go a tential choices faced by sensitive individuals, shared the prob- long way helping us understand each other better, in taking lems of writing for the first generation of Bhutanese people these messages to the world at large.” which understands and appreciates the subtleties of the English Globalisation, however, aroused dissonant emotions and language. elicited varied responses from writers. Most agreed on the Feminist publisher and author Urvashi Butalia spoke about need to continually assert a hard-won identity in an anarchi“the hidden histories cally globalising of the subcontinent”, world. Varma cauas delineated so tioned against a negapoignantly in her tive reading of globalbook The Other Side of isation. “Globalisation Partition. “There are is an opportunity. We as many homes as have to forge new types of homelesstools to deal with it.” ness,” said Butalia, “We must not problematising the allow the global world idea of home that to subsume our idenrecurred again and tities. We should not again as a leitmotif see our identity as a throughout the burden, but we must three-day conferbreak from stereoence. types imposed by our Pakistani writer global masters,” said and filmmaker Feryal Mattera, who writes Ali Gauhar spoke in English but speaks about “the burden of at least another halfhistory, fractured CROSS-CULTURAL MUSIC: Eminent sociologist Ashis Nandy moderating a dis- a-dozen languages. promises that compel cussion on ‘Cultural Asymmetry: Perceptions and Paradoxes’ at Neemrana Marjorie Evasco, a us to do what I do”. In hotel. Also seen in the picture are Sudanese novelist Abdalmageed Haj Alameen poet from the a memorable formu- from (left to right), Tamil writer Vaasanthi and Uzbek poet Jamal Kamal. Philippines, fittingly lation, Gauhar said: “I feel myself to captured the spirit of this meet in her Ananthamurthy spoke wittily be an empty shell in whom live many poem Dreamweavers. “At this waterabout a mélange of tongues that shed of words/silence is our breath voices.” compete for the loyalty of a U.R. Anantha-murthy, who and base for music.” writes in both Kannada and English, creative writer in India. “There is As for assertion, Anydiho has just provided a quintessential Indian take the right words to defy those imprea home tongue. There is street sarios of global capital who deludedon the issue of identity. “Most of us tongue and then there is in India have continuous identities. ly think they could flatten the singuWe are all hybrids.” Ananthamurthy larity of cultures under their sway. upstairs tongue. We all speak spoke wittily about a mélange of “...yes! We hold the most spectacthese tongues.” tongues that compete for the loyalty ular survivor record of a creative writer in India. “There is we must hasten to remind oura home tongue. There is street tongue and then there is upstairs selves tongue. We all speak these tongues.” that just to survive When the three-day conference ended on the evening of nearly to survive February 16 amid magnificent fireworks, foot-tapping gaiety simply to survive of Rajasthani folk music and passionate poetry reading that I mean barely to survive stretched well past midnight, not many were troubled by any Is not, and can never be enough feeling of being homesick. For a brief moment, they had found And so still we stand so tall a home they could call their own in the midst of kindred souls Among the guns and the cannonades and communing spirits. “We smell of mixed –– In the end, the literary fest that kicked off with a ceremoOf powdered memories nial lighting of lamp in the capital on the evening of February And so those, 14 clearly turned out to be to be a treat for all those who live Those who took away our voice and swear by the power of the word. They are now surprised What emerged, as Varma put it, “is not something tangible They couldn’t take away our song.” ■

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SEARCH FOR IDENTITY: Indian writer U.R. Ananathamurthy, second from right, speaking on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Burdens of Identityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; at Neemrana hotel. Also seen in the picture are (from left to right) Indonesian writer Goenawan Mohamad, author and ICCR director-general Pavan K. Varma, Egyptian novelist Nawal el Sadawi and South African novelist Don Mattera. GENDER TALK: (From left to right) Indonesian writer Sapardi Djoko Damono, publisher and author Urvashi Butalia, literary critic Malashri Lal, Mauritian writer Lindsay Collen and Singapore-based writer Meira Chand. DANCE OF LIFE: SouthAfrica born Mauritian writer Lindsey Collen dancing with Rajasthani women. LOST IN THOUGHT: Bhutanese writer Sonam Kinga in a thoughtful mood.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT? After hours of mental exercise discussing finer points of literature, writers relish some real good foodâ&#x20AC;Ś

BALANCING ACT: In a rare feat, a Rajasthani dancer balances seven pots on her head as musicians entertain the literary fraternity with folksy rhythms.

FINER POINTS: Author Pavan K. Varma makes a point about identity in the age of globalisation at the Neemrana conclave.

February 2006

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‘Indian democracy is a model for Africa’ Novelist Nuruddin Farah, an exile from Somalia for most of his life, talks to Manish Chand about the possibilities of genuine democracy in Africa, his novels and more...

n exile from his country for most of his life, that keep recurring in my work. Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah writes to “keep Society can be deemed healthy and democratic only when his country alive” in his novels and to kindle the individual is equally happy and free within himself. When anew the hunger for freedom and justice. Farah, I wrote my first novel From a Crooked Rib –– I was a second year one of the most gifted fiction writers from Africa, student in Chandigarh –– a lot of readers, especially women, has narrowly missed getting the wrote to me imagining that I was a Nobel Prize for Literature many a woman. I firmly believe that the freetimes, but that has not stopped him dom of men and women are interfrom surprising his readers with yet linked. Men ought to be liberated another original novel. from themselves because unless men Women are Farah’s muse and are free, women can’t be free. If one their struggle for liberation form a of them is in chains, the other one leitmotif that runs through all his will be taken into chains as well. writings, starting from his debut Some women think that men are novel From a Crooked Rib (published free to decide things for themselves. in 1970) that earned him the title of But they forget that societal pressures a “male feminist.” are equally strong for both men and Other recurrent themes in his women. writing are the dialectic between traQ: You have this great India dition and integration with moderniconnection. How do you rememty, the relationship between indusber the carefree days as a young trialised and developing countries man in Chandigarh? and the pre-Islamic understanding of A: I studied at Government religion in Somalia. College in Panjab University for four His novel trilogy, Variations on the Theme years. I was studying Indian philosophy The state of economy of an African Dictatorship (1980-1983) and and the English literature. I don’t know if Blood in the Sun (1986-1999) have an epic is such in many places I studied anything, but I thoroughly like sweep in which he unravels how politenjoyed my college years. That’s when I in Africa that people ical choices intersect personal lives in wrote my first novel — From A Crooked can’t decide on their Africa. His novel, Maps, dramatises the Rib. I wrote a novel before that and called pain of cultural uncertainty in post-coloit To Make a Deal. I never published it. I own. A hungry man nial world and Somalia’s violent history. don’t know where it is now. can’t decide. A hungry In the serene environs of Neemrana Q: What was this unpublished heritage hotel, Farah spoke about the man is easily corruptible. work about? obsessions and themes that animate his A: Traditions of society. The chains of If the hungry man does fiction and his passionate love for India traditional society and the individual trynot have any place that goes back to the early 1970s when he ing to break it. to go to, he will go to was a student savoring the pleasures of litQ: This dialectic between tradition erature and philosophy in Chandigarh. and modernity seems to be a leitmoanyone who will Q: Every writer has certain mastertif in your work.. give him some cash. themes that recur in all his works. Are A: I wouldn’t call it modernity. I would there any overarching themes that call it the integration of various strands of permeate your writings? culture. There are some strands of Indian culture you need not A: Freedom. Justice. The role of the individual in society. abandon. There are some strands that you must break, like the Women’s freedom –– women as agents of change and practice of sati. I am not saying everything has to be thrown out. their struggle against patriarchy, oppression, dictatorship There are certain traditions that are better left by the wayside and oppressive traditionalism –– these are some of the themes like women covering themselves in veils in villages. You can’t

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do that in a city like Delhi. If a woman is to think that she who tend to look down upon Africa and look up to the would not be able to sit next to a man who is not her husband Europeans. And therefore I would start building bridges with in a bus in a city. the egalitarian category of humanity in India — the middle Q: What you are advocating is the relentless process class. of self-creation, being in a dialogue with tradition… Q: This is a variant of racism, in a manner of speakA: Yes, self-invention. Self-creation. ing… Q: You have overt political themes in your writings. A: I did encounter racism in India, but that didn’t deter me You grapple with dictatorships in many of your novels... from carrying on a dialogue with India. Instead of being in A: I have written a trilogy on dictatorship: Sweet and Sour commerce with Europe and sending our children to Europe (1979), Sardines (1981) and Closed Sesame (1983) in which I and the U.S., if we linked up and held hands with India it have analyzed different forms of dictatorship in Africa and the would help us to get closer and do more commerce and possibility of democratic impulse emerging in the continent. exchange with India. My own story illustrates this. I got a Q: How do you see the possibilities of genuine scholarship from a university in the U.S. But I didn’t go there; democracy in Africa? instead I came to Chandigarh. Many years later, when I met A: Well, it’s coming. It’s coming slowly. The state of econ- the American who offered me the scholarship, he asked me omy is such in many places in Africa that people can’t decide whether I regretted my decision to reject the American scholon their own. A hungry man can’t decide. A hungry man is eas- arship. I told him, “I am still proud of the fact that I came to ily corruptible. If the hungry man India.” It always gives me great pleaThe majority of progressive does not have any place to go to, he sure to come to India. will go to anyone who will give him Q: You speak several African opinion is inherently middle some cash. and European languages, but class in character. The middle What keeps democracy lively and have chosen to write in English. class is the backbone of Indian Which language do you dream active in India is the struggle of the educated Indian middle class, profesin? How does multi-lingualism democracy. Tied up with the sional people who are not afraid to affect your writing? speak out the truth, and who are pre- presence of a huge middle class A: You don’t dream in any particpared to be left out. The majority of in India is the idea of secularism. ular language. One dreams in images. progressive opinion is inherently India can survive only when it is In all languages, you can have these middle class in character. The middle images. No matter what language secular. That is an advanced class is the backbone of Indian one writes in, one has to re-write it. state we have not reached in democracy. Tied up with the presNo matter what language one writes ence of a huge middle class in India in, one has to take it to an editor. Africa. The idea of a middle is the idea of secularism. India can Therefore, being multi-lingual class is like one big extended survive only when it is secular. That expands your sensibility and there is family. You go to the same is an advanced state we have not a lot of subtle cross-translation that reached in Africa. The idea of a midtakes place from one language to school, you have similar dle class is like one big extended famanother. interests, there are so many ily. You go to the same school, you Q: Who are the Indian writers things that bind you. If there is you admire? Has any of them have similar interests, there are so many things that bind you. If there is nothing that binds, democracy influenced your way of writing nothing that binds, democracy and thinking? becomes difficult to achieve. becomes difficult to achieve. A: I was very fond of Anita Desai. Q: Are you trying to say that I met her when I was 18. I love readIndian democracy is a model for Africa? ing Indian classics, specially the ones written by Rabindranath A: It’s a model. It’s a model we can’t yet attain. It may take Tagore and R.K. Narayan. I am now friends with writers like another 50 years for Africa to reach that stage. Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh. Q: Relations between India and Africa go back cenQ: How do you rate V.S. Naipaul? turies. In post-modern, post-industrial societies, how A: I don’t think highly either of his writings or his jourdo you see the India-Africa relationship evolving? nalistic abilities. I think he is just very naive. He is always playA: I am prejudiced in the sense that I love India and, there- ing to the gallery. He plays to the European gallery. fore, I am not the person you should be asking this question. Q: What kind of role do you see for African writers I am in favour of creating a more intimate relationship between in the renewal of the continent? India and Africa. India and Africa are related in many differA: To link up the present and the past and deduce the ent ways, which neither of them understand properly. We are future from the present and the past. The future can be only more entwined and in tune with each other. bright if we learn from the past. Writers have to become active The only sad part is that there are two categories of Indian agents of change; we can try to change the day-to-day humanity — the so-called upper class and the lower class — behaviour of people and transform the world. ■

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Only compassion matters: Don Mattera Author Don Mattera on the mood of renaissance in South Africa

outh African author Don Mattera loves to don the writer who writes in English but speaks at least another different disguises — gangster, poet, philosopher half-a-dozen languages. Mattera, a Muslim, considers himself jester, a sensitive soul haunted by ghosts of Italian — his full name is Donato Francisco — and was largeapartheid. But one defining quality that shines ly brought up by his grandparents. through all the masks is his capacity for compasMattera has a word of comradely advice to Indians in search sion and irrepressible joie de vivre. of their global soul. “The Indian people must not tie their des“I transcend race, religion and class. The only thing I look tiny to the West.” for in human beings is to see how compassionate they are,” “Why do you hold on to the skirt of the West when you said Mattera in his gravelly voice that can hold on to the hearts of the bespeaks an intimate knowledge of Africans, the Asians and the so-called pain. “Two of our greatest heroes are Third World people?,” he asks in a Mahatma Gandhi and Mother puzzled tone. Teresa. What I like about them is His autobiography, Memory is their infinite capacity for compasIndeed a Weapon, shows the power of sion,” said Mattera. creative transfiguration of the past Mattera was in India between and the use of memories to forge February 16 and18 — it was the 70identity relevant to one’s sense of year-old author’s first visit to India to being in the world. “The ghosts of attend the Africa Asia literary conferapartheid still walk around in the corence held in the medieval fort of ridors of our minds and souls. They Neemrana, Rajasthan. come up in places where they are His compassionate nature — “the least expected. Therefore, it is imporonly religion is compassion” — is tant for a nation/people to know what powers his efforts to creatively where they are coming from to chart transmute the past in all his writings the way forward,” he adds. to create a better future for children. For all the wounds inflicted by “We must carry this legacy to history, Mattera is robustly optischools — this legacy of the past, our mistic about the mood of renaissance ugliness, our glory and our pain. The and renewal in a new South Africa, point is, we got to think hard on how where “truth, reconciliation, freeto refashion our children’s future and dom and compassion fashion the their destiny,” said the man who gleaned words and actions” of people. “We bask in “Why do you hold on to the glory of Nelson Mandela and his deepest insights into life as the leader of a gang battling with mania and mayhem Desmond Tutu. There is a very upbeat the skirt of the West of the apartheid-era Johannesburg. mood in South Africa. An African writer when you can hold on In decades-long career as a writer, is writing for the renaissance and renewal to the hearts of the activist and counsellor to the derelict and of our people and our continent,” he said. the tormented, Mattera has written an “President Thabo Mbeki is helping to Africans, the Asians anthology of poems, Azanian Love Song; a fashion a better destiny than what the and the so-called Third collection of short stories, The Storyteller, colonialism prepared us for. During coloWorld people,” he asks nial rule, there was abuse of our money, and The Five Magic Pebbles; and plays that include Streetkids, Apartheid in the Court of our children and our resources. There was in a puzzled tone. History, and One Time Brother, which was corruption all around. He has affirmed banned in 1984. women in South Africa and brought them If legacy and past are important to him, so is the need to into a position of responsibility.” continually assert a hard-won identity in an anarchically glob“The secret of life is that it is a race but there are no winalising world. ning posts in that race. The secret of life is to be ready to run “We must not allow the global world to subsume our iden- and see who you can take along with you,” says this connoistities. We should not see our identity as a burden but we must seur of the spirit. ■ break from stereotypes imposed by our global masters,” said –– By Manish Chand

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‘Writers can create emotional maturity’ Lindsey Collen on the power of the African oral tradition on her writings

born story-teller, an instinctive rebel, a life-long political activist, a rescuer of endangered languages, Lindsey Collen thrives on her inexhaustible hunger for freedom and creativity. Born in South Africa and living and writing in Mauritius for over two decades, the intrepid writer has been arrested several times for picking a quarrel with society’s vanities and hypocrisies. Her novel The Rape of Sita was banned in Mauritius within hours of its publication as religious fundamentalists found the book’s title blasphemous. Literature, however, triumphed over twisted religious politics when the novel won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Africa Region) in 1994. At Neemrana, Collen spoke about the power of the African oral tradition on her writings, the idea of India in Africa and the role of writers in spawning “emotional maturity” and forging “common understanding” among diverse peoples and places. Q: What are dominant themes in your writings? A: Unsung heroes. This is something that keeps coming again and again in my writings. But when I am writing a novel, my driving force is not so much themes, but the desire to tell a story. Q: The Rape of Sita has aroused extreme emotions — you have even been physically threatened for writing it. What were you trying to convey in this novel? A: A contemporary Sita or a contemporary woman is not protected by a divine prophecy. This is what I try to say in this novel. It’s about going into the mind of the rapist, into the mind of the woman in the course of her rape and going into the mind of the mother of the rapist and show the parallel between this physical rape with the colonisation of a country which is equivalent to raping it. Q: What new insights did you glean into this despicable and deranging act called rape? A: Rape is a form of abuse of power on the one hand and on the other hand it’s a form of weakness in man that forces to the surface the hidden male fear of impotence. In the ongoing sexual war between the male and the female of the species, there is something irreducible about rape. The difficulties of understanding continue to be enormous. Q: What are your major influences? A: I am influenced mostly by British and American writers like William Faulkner, Kurt Vonnegut and Anthony Burgess. I like Toni Morrison for her lyrical intensity. Q: Any African writer you admire?

A: Quite a few of them. The book I love most is God’s Bits of Wood by Senegalese writer Sembene Ousmane. It’s about a worker’s strike in East Africa that transforms into a movement for justice and liberation. Q: Africa has a powerful oral tradition. How much has this oral tradition influenced you? A: The oral tradition has influenced me a lot. When I was growing up in Umtata in Transkei (South Africa), the women who looked after me told me all the history of South Africa, some of which I would later on read in textbooks. The stories they told me were simply astonishing. My love of the oral tradition is linked with the fact that it is very reliable. Q: There is a substantial Indian diaspora in Mauritius and in Africa. What is the attitude among Africans toward the Indian diaspora? A: The Indian diaspora in Africa is very varied in time and place. I know this diaspora well as I am married to a person of Indian origin whose ancestors lived in Bihar. Mauritius is predominantly a diaspora society. Generally, there is a great sense of unity and cohesion among the Mauritian people. But there is occasionally a kind of trade-off between politics and community. And then there are these ethnic and religious divisions — Tamil diaspora and Bengali diaspora have their own sense of themselves as unique. Q: What image of India do people in Africa have? How do you see the relationship between India and Africa evolving? A: India is a mixture in popular mind — it’s intense, potentially disorganised, something that transcends history. India, in popular imagination, is like a slow moving river. There is, however, a sense of incomprehension of India from Africa. There is a common history, but the way Indian society has been organised India could defend itself against more vicious forms of colonisation. In Africa there is this feeling that in comparison to India, they had to negotiate much more with colonisation. Q: What is the role of writers in African society? A: Writers have a role in creating an emotional maturity among their readers. A writer through an act of imagination create the possibilities of common understanding. You can’s change things without developing common understanding. Q: What’s your next book about? A: It’s about the causes of rebellion and how rebellion takes place. It’s an anatomy of rebellion. ■ –– By Manish Chand

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WRITERS at Risk Charles Larson describes the dangerous terrain –– brutal regimes, mercenary thugs, popular apathy –– in which African writers operate and argues that more than myriad threats of violence, imprisonment, censorship and exile, it is the lack of substantial readers that form the most serious challenge to their raison d’etre.

hese are disturbing stories: November 10, 1995 –– over ten years ago –– Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed, rapidly, after a military tribunal declared him guilty, before the rest of the world had fathomed what has happened –– not that the West would have done that much anyway. His crime? Trumped-up charges of murdering four pro-government Ogoni leaders, while Saro-Wiwa himself was in prison. His real crime? Of thinking of Ogoni secession, so that the oil fields on Ogoni land would no longer be controlled by Nigerian thugs, namely General Sani Abacha, the country’s ruthless military dictator who died a few years later from an overdose of Viagra. Before his murder, Ken Saro-Wiwa’s popularity on the streets had equaled that of any other Nigerian literary figure, not because of his imaginative fiction, but because of the sitcom Basi & Co., which ran on Nigerian TV from 1985 to 1990 for 150 episodes. Saro-Wiwa was a prolific writer and journalist, as well as a publisher, but then he dared to veer off into dangerous territory –– political commentary –– once he saw what was happening to his Ogoni people, to the country’s environment, to the billions of dollars misappropriated from the oil industry. He must have cried his heart out, because in one of his celebrated short stories, Africa Kills Her Sun (1989), Bana, the narrator, declares that in a state as corrupt as Nigeria, he’d prefer to die rather than be “condemned, like most others, to live.” These were chilling statements that a dictator even as ruthless as Abacha must have understood, not that he would have read Saro-Wiwa’s short story. But Abacha must have been aware of the implications of the title of one of the last of SaroWiwa’s books, when he had moved from creative work to political commentary: ‘Genocide in Nigeria: The Ogoni Tragedy’ (1992). Saro-Wiwa was executed in such a despicable fashion that even the method became a warning. The man charged with the duty had to hang Saro-Wiwa five times before the poor man was dead. Three years later, December 13, 1998, Norbert Zongo, the Burkina Faso novelist and journalist, mysteriously died along with three others, including his younger brother, his driver,

and a co-worker. Three of the bodies, including Zongo’s, were discovered “badly burned inside the cabin of their four-wheeldrive vehicle”, according to a report from Reporters without Borders. There was no evidence that the vehicle had struck any obstacle, no skid marks on the road to indicate a sudden stop, but there were bullet holes in the vehicle. Zongo was the managing publisher of L’Independent. The weekly newspaper had undertaken a detailed investigation of the murder of David Ouedrango, the driver for Francois Compaore, the president’s brother. Reporters without Borders stated that late the previous year Ouedrango was believed to have been tortured to death, though his body was never discovered. The president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, was about to be sworn in for a second term. The state-sponsored investigation into Zongo’s death was delayed for days after the discovery of his body, by which time much of the evidence had been compromised. Francois Compaore, the president’s brother, “had managed to evade a court summons concerning the investigation of the death of his driver”, forcing others to conclude that Zongo was murdered because of his newspaper’s investigation. In the late summer of last year, Ngugi wa Thiong’o –– Kenya’s most important writer –– returned home after twenty-two years of exile. Beginning in 1977, Ngugi ran into trouble with Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi, because of his plays and his novels ––especially, Petals of Blood (1977) and Devil on the Cross (1982), both highly critical of post-independent Kenyan leadership and Western capitalism. Ngugi was incarcerated by Kenyatta for a year, with no charges ever made against him. After his release, he was denied his earlier position of chair of the Department of English at the University of Nairobi. Fearing additional imprisonment, he fled the country, living and teaching most of the subsequent years in the United States. Ngugi vowed never to return to Kenya while Moi was still president (Moi left office in December of 2002). Days after his return to Kenya last August, Ngugi and his wife were robbed and brutalised in a hotel in Nairobi. Ngugi’s face was repeatedly burned with a cigarette; his wife, Njeri, was gang raped. The attackers, it was first speculated, were operating under the instructions of people who had harassed and incarcerated Ngugi more than two decades earlier but were subsequently identified as the promoters of his return to

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Kenya, calculating robbers. Besides the violence of the inciThe rest of black Africa, freed of colonial shackles for fortydent, the chilling message of the attackers was quite clear: In plus years in most cases, has not done so well. Too many of Africa, success often comes at a terrible price. the continent’s major writers have suffered the same humiliOn April 7 last year, the beloved Zimbabwe novelist, ations as those inflicted on the writers cited above. Wole Yvonne Vera –– the author of five novels and a collection of Soyinka, the continent’s first Nobel Prize Winner, was incarshort stories –– succumbed to AIDS, dying in Toronto after a cerated for two years by government authorities during the lengthy illness. She was 41 years old. Sadly, she had waited too Nigerian Civil War. His writing has gradually shifted from the long before returning to Canada, where she had been a grad- celebrated plays and poems that won him the Nobel Prize to uate student and where she could receive medical treatment social and political commentary, the most widely read being unavailable in Zimbabwe. By the time she reached Canada, the the obviously titled ‘Open Sore of a Continent’ (1997), an disease was too advanced for her to benefit from such treat- attack on African leaders, most notably Sani Abacha. But ment. Vera, often identified as the most promising female Soyinka has also been at odds most recently with Olusegun novelist from black Africa, had won numerous international Obasanjo, Nigeria’s democratically-elected President. Chinua literary awards and was identified by the Swedish Academy as Achebe has been equally critical of President Obasanjo, as well someone they considered Nobel Prize material. as of the military dictators who ruled the country before him. Vera’s death from Like Soyinka’s, Achebe’s AIDS has sent a chill creativity took a turn to through the continent’s politics with the publicaliterary establishment. tion of ‘The Trouble The violence inflicted with Nigeria’, in 1983. on Ngugi wa Thiong’o Camara Laye, Bessie and his wife represents Head, Es’kia Mphahlele, another kind of warning. Ama Ata Aidoo, Yvonne The murders of Ken Vera, Syl CheneySaro-Wiwa and Norbert Coker, Dennis Brutus, Zongo are a third conJack Mapanje, text –– the most visible Emmanuel Dongala, From left, Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa was examples of extreme Nuruddin Farah –– punishment meted out some of the most executed; Burkina Faso novelist Norbert Zongo by African states and famous writers from the was found dead in mysterious circumstances; African individuals continent –– have spent and Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o was against their most prized time in exile or are in possessions: Their writ- brutally beaten up. But the real tragedy for African exile today. The list of ers. I make that stateincarcerated writers writers has been dwindling readership. ment ironically, because (including some of the if African writers were above) is equally long. valued by their countries, these disturbing stories would not And too many writers have seen their works banned by the be there for the telling. post-colonial governments of Africa. Some countries have witWriters would not be snuffed out, they would not be incar- nessed a virtual exodus of all of their major writers (South cerated, they would not be forced into exile, and their works Africa in the past, Zimbabwe today). Still another group (Ben would not be censored –– all depressingly frequent situations Okri and Sindiwe Magona, most recently) have simply involving writers in post-colonial Africa. One might go so far assumed that the continent is inhospitable for the creative as to say that this is the defining context of post-colonial writ- artist and have sought work elsewhere, namely in Europe and ing in Africa. Writers are censored, suffocated, and silenced. the United States. A few have stayed on the continent only to They exist –– when they exist at all –– in a context in no way watch their readership in their own countries dwindle –– equal to that of their compatriots in the West, who have little almost disappear. awareness of what their peers on the continent endure. The major problem that has put African writers at risk Under apartheid in South Africa, writers suffered grievous- today, however, is not the threat of physical violence, imprisly –– virtually all of the indignities mentioned above. If they onment, censorship, or exile –– as awful as these may be –– but were the least bit critical of the political system, their works the lack of significant readers across the continent to sustain were routinely banned for readership within the country. an ongoing literary tradition. This is what has changed so drasThousands of books –– not simply those by black writers –– tically during the last twenty years. Although literacy is highwere banned in South Africa. Writers fled into exile –– the list er in most African countries than it has ever been, too many is too long to delineate here –– and too many were imprisoned. Africans exist on a dollar or so a day, and books, therefore, have But apartheid finally ended, and South African writing by become luxury items, out of the reach of the vast majority of black writers may finally be on the cusp of a genuine renais- African readers. sance. There was never much of a book-reading tradition among

Writers as Victims

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educated Africans even in the early days after independence, er of Achebe’s novel has verified that the book is currently sellwhen most nations increased the educational opportunities for ing 100,000 copies a year. But when I last checked with their people. The newly literate read newspapers and self-help Heinemann, Achebe’s publisher in Nigeria, I learned that the books of any kind that could help them improve their employ- yearly sales figures for the novel had dwindled to a few hunment opportunities, but most Africans didn’t read literature, dred copies. This in a country with 65 million potential readexcept for the occasional best-selling Western writer and, pos- ers. Is it possible, then, that in another decade or so, even sibly, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (published in 1958). Things Fall Apart will be largely unknown among African readSchool students read textbooks; language classes (mostly in ers, especially the continent’s younger readers? English and French) have incorporated African literary works, If something is not done quickly, yes, African writers will at least for a couple of decades after independence, following be read almost exclusively in the West (as was the case from the various carry-over traditions from the colonial education- the 1930s through the 1950s, when many of the continent’s al systems (such as the School Certificate Exams from the writers were first beginning to publish their works). It is not, British system). Then the requirements became difficult to then, simply ruthless dictators, or even benevolent politicians, implement because of the cost of books. Even university stu- who pose the greatest threat to the extinction of the African dents in English literature courses often could afford to buy writer, although bad government has clearly resulted in poor books, so their professors began xeroxing parts of books for economies, declining standards of living, and millions of peotheir students to read. ple living at the poverty level. The would-be writer has little The major problem is price. chance to be published outside of the There was never much of a Imported books cost as much in continent, as the few African writers book-reading tradition among Africa as they cost in the U.S., which (apart from the well-established means that most Africans cannot names) demonstrate each year. The educated Africans even in the afford them. Locally produced books exception is the occasional writer early days after independence... who happens to have been schooled are also expensive because almost The newly literate read everything necessary for their proin the West and who probably still duction has to be imported –– printlives away from the continent, such newspapers and self-help ing presses and paper, for example. as Chimamande Adichie, whose books... but most Africans didn’t Purple Hibiscus was published two What this means in actuality is that a read literature, except for the celebrated Nigerian writer such as years ago by Algonquin. Some of the Ben Okri, whose novel, The Famished occasional best-selling Western Caine Prize winners have also been Road, won the Booker Award in successful with Western publishers writer and, possibly, Chinua 1991, has had few readers for that and subsequently have seen their Achebe’s Things Fall Apart book on the African continent. An works reprinted in African editions. authorised edition of The Famished I believe that writers, no matter (published in 1958). Road sells for 1,500 Naira (about $12) from which soil they are nourished, in Nigeria, and pirated editions sell want to be read by their own people. for less, yet I doubt that more than a few thousand Nigerians American writers want to be read by American readers; have read the novel, in spite of a population of 130 million peo- Russian writers want to be read by Russian readers; African ple. Nor have the writer’s subsequent works appeared in writers want to be read by African readers. More specifically, Nigerian editions. The country’s publishers have clearly deter- I believe that Nigerian writers write for their own people first; mined that sales do not justify the investment. So Nigerians for other Africans, second; and finally for readers around the have limited access to one of their country’s great writers. world. I do not believe that the issue is as much a matter of Okri’s novel is even less well known in other African coun- fame as of culture. All great literature is firmly rooted in the tries. Books don’t get printed because they cost too much to cultural foundations of the writer. What makes the great produce, and the readers simply aren’t out there to purchase American novel American is not the desire by a writer to them if they are published. The bottom line is that books in become rich and famous but to connect to his or her counAfrica need to sell for 50 cents or less for readers to be able to try’s roots and, therefore, to his or her countrymen. afford them and for a growing reading audience to be estab- Furthermore, it seems to me that the novels that Western lished and take root. readers and critics revere are inevitably linked to cultural, ethIt is possible to be a world-class writer, celebrated with nic and historical contexts. Is there any better explanation for major Western literary awards, and be unknown at home. the brilliance of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart? Ibo readers can This situation may even be happening to the continent’s most read it on one level; Nigerians of other ethnic origins on famous writer: Chinua Achebe. For years, after independence, another; Africans across the continent on still another; and Achebe’s masterpiece sold tens of thousands of copies each finally, readers outside of Africa on another, for multiple reayear in Nigeria alone and sold equally well in the Anglophone sons and contexts. And no matter how we all look at Things areas across the continent. The novel was translated into Fall Apart, we all categorize the novel as a great work, a great French and thus became available for readers in the African novel. Francophone areas of the continent. The American publishWhat I am arguing is quite simple. I am certain that Ben

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Okri, who lives in London, would like to be more widely read tabloid edition, on newsprint, and sold for no more than the in Nigeria than he is. Chinua Achebe, I am equally certain, has cost of a newspaper. What does she have to lose? Certainly not to be disturbed by his declining reading audience in Nigeria. significant royalties, because in a Nigerian edition of the novel Nuruddin Farah must long to have readers in Somalia, where selling for 1,500 Naira, she will never be read by the masses I doubt that more than a few copies of each of his recent books within Nigeria. If Chinua Achebe wants to regain his readers exist. Ditto every other contemporary African writer. Imagine in Nigeria, let him authorise a tabloid edition of the novel he what it must be like to publish a novel (or a play or a collec- is now completing. Better yet, the next time African writers tion of poems) and pretty much determine that the volume whose works are routinely published in the West, these writwill be unknown by one’s own people. ers should place a clause in their contracts with Western pubAre there any solutions to these problems? Are there things lishers, authorising serialisation or tabloid editions of their that can be done to help African writers increase their reader- works within their own countries, with no royalties reverting ship in their own countries as well as across the continent? For back to the Western publisher. years, international donors have attempted to supply Africans This is what it is going to take: A willingness on the part of with reading materials –– mostly overstocked books, dumped African writers and their Western publishers to forgo any royby publishers in Africa; or used books, almost all of them alties for newsprint editions of their books to be published in unsuitable for African readers, donated to African libraries. I the writer’s own country –– or even better –– in any country recall visiting a public library in Mutare, Zimbabwe, several on the African continent. In the age of computers and the years ago and seeing shelf after shelf of Internet, entire texts of books can be sent copies of Readers’ Digest Condensed electronically around the world, from a books, all of them collecting dust and publisher in one country to a publisher looking as if they had never been checked in another. Thus the costs of newspaper out by local readers. These kinds of editions of African literary works can be attempts to increase African readership kept to a bare minimum –– no more than have utterly failed. Africans need to read the costs of newspaper production. The books by African writers; Malawians same procedure could be used for the need works by Malawian writers, and so exchange of titles from publisher to pubon. Thus, we return to the question of lisher, from country to country, within book production in Africa, which has also the continent. Once readership is piqued, mostly failed –– that is, has failed to susonce readers of tabloid novels are hooked tain and increase the African reading on reading, there may even come a time audience. Cost, copyright control, pirawhen reading in Africa can once again cy, foreign exchange, distribution ––all of evolve into the production of books that these problems are largely the results attract significant numbers of readAfricans read newspapers... of compromised economies. I repeat: ers. One can only hope. Why not print the works of Books need to sell for 50 cents (or And for the icing on the cake to African... writers of fiction in less) to develop an African reading increase awareness of African writers audience. and African artists in general? What newspaper format –– either in The time has arrived for a more about postage stamps? African serialisation or in tabloid form? nations have postal services that issue radical approach, or soon the African Serialise African novels, chapter stamps –– too often with Western writer will become extinct. Africans read newspapers. by chapter, in African newspa- images such as Elvis Presley, in order Particularly in the cities and, of sell these stamps to philatelists in the pers or print an entire novel as a West. Since they need these stamps course, in the countries that still have tabloid? Both methods would a modicum of free speech, an open for their own postal services, what is press. Newspaper hawkers are on to stop an enlightened African govreduce the price to the range every corner; one observes Africans ernment (Nigeria? Ghana? South that many Africans could afford. Africa? Botswana?) from honouring everywhere reading newspapers. Even in the rural areas, out of date African artists, beginning with newspapers are frequently passed from reader to reader until African writers? Hasn’t the time arrived for Leopold Sedar they are read to shreds. Why not print the works of African Senghor (one of the fathers of negritude) to be honoured as writers (particularly the writers of fiction) in newspaper for- part of an African Postal Series celebrating African writers? mat –– either in serialisation or in tabloid form? Serialise Shouldn’t Chief D.O. Fagunwa, Amos Tutuola, Ken SaroAfrican novels, chapter by chapter, in African newspapers or Wiwa and Christopher Okigbo be printed on Nigerian postage print an entire novel as a tabloid? Both methods would reduce stamps? And Bessie Head to be honored in Botswana? the price to the range that many Africans could afford. What better way to heal the wounds of the past? And, no If Chimamande Adichie wants to be widely read in Nigeria, doubt, it’s past time to instigate a little pride in what is, after then she should authorise that Purple Hibiscus be printed in a all, the continent’s most prized possession: Its writers. ■

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P U B L I S H I N G

HUNGER for Books Urvashi Butalia sketches the contours of the brave new world of publishing in Africa and the burgeoning hunger for books and knowledge it shares with India

wo years ago I was invited by a group of Nigerian publishers to attend the Nigerian Book Fair and to speak there on the theme of women’s writing and publishing. As it happened, I was in Ghana just before the fair, so it was an easy hop for me to take an hour-long flight and get myself over to Lagos. At the airport, waiting for boarding to be announced, I noticed a small group of happy, talkative, articulate women. I watched them with interest, and some envy, wanting to be part of their conversation, but feeling myself an outsider. And then, one of them looked up at me, and immediately came across and spoke to me. She knew my name and what I did. Before I had time to be surprised, she reminded me that we had met some years ago at a book fair in Zimbabwe, where we’d talked about women writers and publishers from Africa. The remainder of the long wait passed pleasantly as we discussed the state of publishing and writing in our different countries. Despite the many problems African publishers have had to face from the time they set up their own publishing houses, they’ve worked hard to establish themselves. This hasn’t been easy in a country where literacy still has a long way to go, where orality is still the main form of communication in many places and where even smaller countries have several language groups. In the early days Africa was an important hunting ground for many Western publishers. Large educational houses such as Heinemann and Oxford University Press had major offices in Africa, supplying mainly textbooks to schools. Textbook publishing is said to be the bread and butter of publishing, so there was a considerable amount of money to be made, not only from different kinds of textbooks, but also from books for English language teaching (generally known as ELT) –– this included things such as dictionaries which are always lucrative. In the 1960s, as many African countries began to become independent, a number of African writers began to appear on the literary scene. People often take this to mean that African writing only came into its own in that time, and that previous to this moment, not many Africans were actually writing. As always, the truth is somewhat more complicated. Because publishing was, by and large, in the hands of mainstream publishers, and they had little interest in anything other than textbooks and educational books, so literary works

by African writers were not given much importance. It is for this reason that some of the early writers, despite being major writers and producing some excellent work, died in penury (as Bessie Head did, for example). Gradually, however, these books also began to get a readership and began to be used in schools and universities and it is for this reason that names like Sembene Ousmane, Farax M.J. Cawl, Flora Nwapa, Ama Ata Aidoo, N’gugi Wa Thiongo and many others began to get known. Despite the existence of a number of excellent writers, however, African publishing has had its share of ups and downs. A number of indigenous publishing houses had to close down for the lack of funds, others were parastatals and as states went into difficulty, many of these, such as the Tanzania Publishing House run by one of Africa’s publishing giants, Walter Bogoya, went out of business. For most of these, the first problem was to compete with the giants who were back in Africa with renewed vigour and with considerable resources. Competing did not only mean finding authors, but also publishing quality books, both in terms of content and production, and then, most difficult of all, reaching them to their readers. Without an infrastructure of retail outlets and libraries, there is no way to easily reach books to readers. A second problem is that even if such a structure were available, it would be difficult to sell books to readers who cannot afford to purchase them and for whom the priorities are not books, but other necessities. A long time ago, Robert Escarpit, a scholar of books and publishing, wrote that despite its healthy publishing industry, India was a country of “book hunger” because the ratio of books in relation to its population was very negative. The same thing holds for Africa, and the situation that obtains then becomes like a vicious circle: You don’t have enough books because there are not enough readers and you need readers and buyers in order to be able to publish more, but you can’t publish more unless you have more readers. It was to deal with some of these problems that African publishers got together to start some initiatives to help them market and distribute their books. One such initiative was an organisation that was based in Oxford: The African Book Collective (ABC) set up by Hans Zell, an individual who dedicated his life to books, helped to warehouse, distribute and market books from Africa. It also performed another very valuable service, which was to produce a journal called The African Book Publishing Record, that carried major essays and articles on the African publishing industry and that today provides the kind of resource that publishers anywhere in the world would

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be envious of. It is one of the ironies of publishing, an indus- lishers to see it either as a window to other countries in Africa try that is all about knowledge and documentation, that it sel- or as a place where they could hope to sell books and recover dom tries to preserve knowledge about itself, or indeed to doc- money –– this latter having been a problem for most internaument it. This is one of the functions that the ABC performed. tional publishers in Africa. More recently, South Africa has A later, but equally, if not more, important initiative came become a more desirable location. With a reasonably healthy in the form of the African Publishers Network. APNET, as it publishing industry, and with other conditions such as eduis called, is a network of publishers from many different coun- cation, a publishing infrastructure, etc. being in place, much tries, set up to help promote African books and writers and to of the publishing and bookselling activity in Africa has moved distribute their books inside and outside Africa. APNET also to South Africa. Recently, the ZIBF too has shown signs of participates in international and national book fairs and ensures coming back on track and this is a positive move. What is evithat all its members have a profile at such events. This is some- dent at many African book fairs is the importance that writers, thing Indian publishers ––who despite having large federations publishers and readers in different parts of Africa give to learnhave not yet succeeded in doing anything like this collective- ing about books and writing. Unlike in many other countries, ly –– would benefit from. APNET has also now begun to have most meetings and seminars are very well attended, and peoa presence at the World Book Fair in India, and to participate ple take a genuine interest in asking questions and keeping in seminars and discusnotes. sions, as well as to conIndia and Africa have duct trainings, in and not had much to do about publishing. with each other in terms One of the truisms of the book trade, and about publishing is that yet the potential is enorthose who get involved mous. This began to be with the profession find recognised in recent it difficult to leave. years which saw the African publishing has increasing participation many major names who of Indian publishers and African publishing has many major names who have become legends in distributors in many the world of books in the have become legends in the world of books in the fairs. One of the advancontinent. Henry tages that Indian pubcontinent. Henry Chakava (left), Victor Nwankwo lishers have is in terms Chakava, Victor (right), Flora Nwapa (centre), Walter Bogoya, are of prices. We are able to Nwankwo, Flora Nwapa, Walter Bogoya, names that many African writers and publishers produce good quality are names that many books at a fraction of the African writers and pub- would recognise. But there are also others, those prices that are charged lishers would recognise. who are “outsiders” who have dedicated their life by publishers from the But there are also others, to African books and publishing. Hans Zell apart, West who have tradithose who are “outtionally held a chunk of another such person is James Currey, once in siders” who have dedithe market in Africa. charge of Heinemann’s African Writers Series, cated their life to African And given the fact that books and publishing. both Africa ––or African and now heading his own publishing house, Hans Zell apart, another countries –– and India publishing mainly on Africa. such person is James share colonial pasts and Currey, once in charge of the experience of Heinemann’s African Writers Series, and now heading his underdevelopment, our understanding and perception of own publishing house, publishing mainly on Africa. issues has a lot in common. Of course, things have not always moved along positively. As a result of this, and of the efforts of Indian publishers, Many years ago one of the leading book fairs in Africa was the Indian books have increasingly begun to find a market in Africa Ife Book Fair held in Nigeria and it was important for pub- and Indian publishers now find it both lucrative and imporlishers from all over to flock to this region. As the Ife fair went tant to attend book fairs in different African countries. down, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair came in to take Similarly, African publishers are beginning to find a market in its place. Hugely popular when it began, the ZIBF, as it is India –– this process began to get a more formal shape when known, then had to close down for a while because of lack of some years ago the National Book Trust made African pubfunds, but then it got a new lease of life and came back. lishing the theme of the World Book Fair in India and a numHowever, political developments in Zimbabwe, and opposi- ber of African publishers were invited to attend. Discussions tion to the fair giving space to gay and lesbian writing, led to held at that time have stood publishers and writers in good the beginnings of its decline. Also, as Zimbabwe became stead and bode well for the future, when our countries can furincreasingly politically unstable, it became difficult for pub- ther develop our links to work together. ■

February 2006

F I C T I O N

LAST Trip

A short story by Nigerian author Sefi Atta his time, he wants her to deliver a hundred and twenty-seven balloons of heroin to London. He counts them on her table to make sure there is no question about the number. The balloons are multicoloured, a little smaller than her thumb. She is capable of swallowing every one of them, but she bargains for extra pay, a thousand U.S.

dollars more. “I’ll do it for five,” she says. She speaks in broken Yoruba because she has to be careful about eavesdroppers. The room she rents for her trips has thin walls. It contains the wooden table, a couple of collapsible iron chairs, and a new mattress that smells vaguely like urine because she sweats more than usual on the nights before she travels. Her son, Dara, is asleep on the mattress, face up. He rubs the eczema patches around his eyes and wheezes. A miniature oscillating fan blows dust over him. She has considered leaving her windows open to give him some relief. The heat indoors is unbearable, but the air in this part of Lagos has a sour taste. For now, she is more worried about sounds that escape her room. Even on afternoons like this, with the horns and engines of the traffic on nearby streets, she can hear her neighbours talking. She guarantees they are listening. They know she has a man in her room. “Since when five?” he asks. He goes by the name of Kazeem. He has a lisp that is amusing, potentially. In the past, he has hired killers to dispose of difficult couriers, couriers who have double-crossed him. After thirteen years of loyalty to their organisation, she is not worried about the consequences of betrayal. She is scared of him the way people are of little dogs that jump and bite. His eyes are a sickly shade of pink and the sun seems to have roasted him, the fat in his body melting to oil. His skin is too shiny and clings to his bones. The veins in his arms protrude. He crunches on kola nut and occasionally stops to smack his lips. This habit of his irritates her. “You can’t just demand five like that,” he says. “Why not?” she asks, sitting up. “My life is not worth five?” She is taller than he is, robust, especially with the brocade boubous she favours for international flights. They give her stomach enough space to expand and make her chest look as sturdy as a shelf. Many times before, she has concealed bags strapped around her torso. She eats well to keep her weight up, bleaches her skin with hydroquinone creams to freshen her complexion. In her latest passport photograph she appears much younger than she is, and can pass for her fake age. Her

alias is Simbiyat Adisa. He sucks a piece of kola nut out of his teeth. “I pay you in kind, nothing more.” “No!” she says waving her hand. “Not in kind!” She tells him in a whisper, even though he already knows this about her, that she doesn’t push drugs. He shrugs. “So, it’s four as usual.” “Five,” she repeats, spreading her fingers. The man sees her as walking storage. He will pay her more only if she swallows more. “Take it or leave it,” he says. “There are many where you came from.” She is one of his best. He will have trouble finding anyone willing to swallow this many balloons. He is testy because last week the drug law agency arrested more of his couriers at Murtala Mohammed Airport. These ones didn’t even make it past check-in. They were novices, 200-gram mules. He has had to drop his prices because of seizures like this, and is trying to sell more within Nigeria now, but wealthy Nigerians are not easy to hook: They get high on Mercedes Benzes. He wants to target their children who depend on pocket money, or the masses that have to give up their meals for one hit. She has seen addicts like this in her neighbourhood. One walks around the marketplace naked and scratches his crotch. Street hawkers pack up and run when he begs for food. Heroin makes people mellow, Kazeem says, but the rumour is that when this addict can’t find a little to lace his hemp, he shivers as if he has malaria and vomits on himself. He will steal from his own mother to buy an ounce. What will he do to a stranger? “Use the boy if you want more money,” Kazeem says, “I will pay you well for that. It is not as if he will know what he is carrying, with his mental condition, and no one will bother to check him at the airports. You’ll see.” She taps the table. He has never had tact. “This is between me and you,” she says. “Never mention my son again.”

* Kazeem leaves her room muttering about her audacity. Everyone is making life difficult for him of late: His couriers, the drug law agency in Lagos, his shippers in Bangkok, the Turks in London, Colombians in New York. The entire universe is conspiring to make life difficult for him and deprive him of business. There was a time when he would brag that their organisation was the largest in Africa, that he had established their trade routes from Thailand. He even claimed to have taken over South Africa after apartheid, colonised the whole coun-

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A F R I C A try with cocaine, he said, and spread heroin use in countries as far off as Russia, New Zealand, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. She used to be in awe when she didn’t know a poppy seed from an Asian brown or white. Then she discovered that Kazeem was just a middleman, and not even a high level one at that. He reports to bigger men in their organisation, and fears them. He is rich in naira terms, but they are wealthy in foreign exchange, these men. Barons they are called. She calls them cheats out of common sense rather than a sense of moral superiority. The balloons she carries are worth over a thousand times more than the amount Kazeem pays her, and packed with a pretty consistent mix. At a time like this, when he needs reliable couriers, if she travels with half a million dollars of heroin in her stomach, is it too much to ask for five thousand? “Foolish man,” she mutters.

* She drinks a bottle of Swan Water to settle her stomach, and lies next to Dara. His body is warmer than hers. Every drop of water she’s had seems to be leaking out of her pores. Is she menstruating early or falling sick? She pats her neck to monitor her temperature and checks her watch. The minute the hour hand reaches twelve, she gets up and pours palm oil into a plastic bowl, and then she dips each balloon in before putting them into her mouth. She has to be cautious with the oil: too much might get her stomach juices going again and dissolve the latex. The balloons are bulky to swallow. They block her ears as they go lower, and hurt her chest, so she pauses in between to rest. All things considered, they are easier to get down her throat than the surgical glove fingers she trained with, and anyway, it is like losing virginity: Eventually one becomes accustomed. When she first started swallowing, she would gag as if someone was strangling her. Her nose would stream with mucus and her eyes would well up with tears. Kazeem would

Q U A R T E R L Y

yell, “You’d better keep it down!” If she threw up, he would remind her of how he’d given her a plane ticket, passport and spending money, handed her a suitcase and driven her to the airport. He sent her to Douala, Accra and then to Amsterdam. She travelled with Indian hemp back then. When Indian hemp became less profitable, he gave her cocaine. Heroin is popular these days. He calls it the big H or H, depending. She swallows the last of the balloons. Her stomach is bloated and hard, as if she’s been constipated for weeks. Dara wastes time getting up. His height overwhelms her, and so does his heavy breathing. Her room is not meant for two. There is not enough space to have a private thought, or smell. As he dresses, she notes the hairs above his upper lip and in his armpits. He has muscles like a teenager but still has the heart of a child. He sobs whenever she travels, doesn’t like staying with his grandmother, and even his grandmother will not keep him this time. “Take him to his father’s,” she said, clapping her arthritic hands. “After all they’re both men. Go on. I can’t control him anymore. Let his father take responsibility for him…for a change.” In her desperation, she left her mother’s house and headed for her ex-husband’s to ask if he would look after Dara while she was away. That one stood in his doorway, in his dirty string vest and said, “Don’t bring that boy anywhere near me! He’s not mine!” She explained that Dara had never been on a plane, and she was nervous about how he might cope. “I told you,” he said, finally acknowledging Dara, “to let the nurses smother him.” She cursed him. His new wife, barely twenty years old, and pregnant again, ran out of the house, and pleaded on her knees, “Ni suru,” have patience. Patience she has: She had no home or job when the man threw her out days after Dara was born. She was almost considering prostituting herself when Kazeem came along. She taught Dara how to dress himself, feed himself and helped him to adapt to his handicapped school. She was there when he learnt how to weave baskets and kick a football. This month, she has been training with him for his favourite event on

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F I C T I O N sports day, an obstacle race, parent and child. They run through hoops and jump over buckets. He wants to win every time and jeers at the losers. His headmistress is delighted with his academic progress. His report sheet is full of teacher’s comments like: “Omodara is an exemplary student” and “Omodara is a credit to our school.” She will continue to work for Kazeem to make sure Dara remains a student there. The school is not one of those where teachers beat or neglect their students. They are Christian-based; evangelical. They believe in the healing power of prayer, but their fees are expensive.

* It is early evening, and the sky bleeds a light shade of orange. She leaves her room with Dara carrying only a handbag, inside of which are their passports and plane tickets. The car that will take them to the airport is parked outside the gates of the tenement, a Peugeot 504 that reeks of lemon air-freshener. The driver informs her that her suitcase is in the boot. She doesn’t look too long at his face, in case he is one of those who don’t approve of women couriers. She does notice how he stares at Dara. “BA,” she says, startling him. “British Airways,” he confirms. They drive over potholes, past rubbish piles almost as tall as palm trees. The houses are mostly unpainted. The gutter that runs parallel to the road is thick with slime that resembles boiling tar. Pedestrians cross over it on wooden planks leading to their cement verandas. Street hawkers have already perched kerosene lanterns on their stalls on the roadsides, ready for the night market. Children walk around barefooted. A group of old men have gathered to play a game of ayo. One of them, his eyeglasses secured with cellotape, cries out in triumph. A rooster flaps its wings and scampers. The driver continues to sneak peeks at Dara through his rearview mirror. He takes the Third Mainland Bridge to the airport and drops them off in the parking lot. One good thing about the new government is that they have cleaned up the place. The last government was lax; the airport was teeming with touts, from the parking lot to the departure gates. She would have to forge her way through crowds, and was always worried about being mugged. Now, the police have erected barriers, and they patrol the airport with guns. They will stop anyone who attempts to cross the barriers without evidence to prove that they are travelling, or accompanying someone who is. The drug agency is also on the lookout, but Kazeem worries more about them than she does. Couriers who get caught look like they are couriers: They appear desperate for a start. One eyeball from an official and they begin to twitch. They don’t lack guts; they lack imagination. She always ties her headscarf with the aplomb of a Lagos fabric trader, wears conspicuous colours. Her flamboyance helps her to get through passport control and customs. Dara’s presence can do her no harm either, since people are too busy gaping at him. What she fears most are flight delays. An hour is nothing

to worry about, two hours and her heartbeat will rise; three, and they will leave the departure gates and find their way back home. She knows couriers who have convulsed and died when balloons burst inside them. That is why she refuses to travel Nigerian Airways. British Airways flights are fairly timely.

* Dara keeps playing with the rope that leads to the checkin desk. “Please,” she says. “Leave that thing alone for heaven’s sake.” People are looking at him as if he is unearthly. His hand drops immediately. One warning is usually all he needs. Customs officers ahead are preoccupied with a teenage boy who is travelling business class. They open his suitcase and ruffle his belongings, mostly jeans and T-shirts. The only questionable items they can find are two small ebony carvings. “Have you got written permission for dis?” one customs officer asks. “Pardon?” the boy says in an English accent. “Have you got written permission?” “Why would I need written permission?” “You’re not allowed to travel with national antiquities.” “But I bought them at Hotel Le Meridien. Daddy?” The boy waves at a grey-haired man who has been talking to a woman at the first class check-in desk. The man is definitely his father. The father has a pot-belly and the boy is lanky, but they have the same prominent widow’s peak. “What’s going on?” the man asks the customs officer. The boy explains. The customs officer fidgets with the carvings. Perhaps he thought the boy was alone and could get away with hustling him. “Come on,” the boy’s father says. “They’re just souvenirs.” The customs officer shakes his head. “They’re national antiquities, sah.” “I don’t believe this,” the boy says. “Book ends?” “He is a student,” his father says. “He is going back to school. Now, see how you’ve scattered his suitcase for no reason, eh? They’re common souvenirs for tourists. You can even buy them here at the airport. What is wrong with you people? The work you’re supposed to do, you don’t do. The one you’re not supposed to do, you do, eh?” “I’m following directives,” the customs officer mumbles. He has to be careful. He doesn’t know whom he is addressing. The elite are so well-connected that if this man isn’t someone important, he will certainly know someone who is. The commotion is convenient for her. She checks in without scrutiny. The customs officer, still sore about his dressing down, beckons impatiently. “Step forward,” he says, and then lifts his hand and orders, “Step back.” Customs checks are not for drugs, or terrorist weapons, or precious artwork anyway. They are for bush meat, stock fish, smoked herring, live snails and all the other foods that people slip in their luggage, knowing that they are prohibited overseas.

February 2006

A F R I C A

Between passport control and the gate, she loses sight of the boy with the book ends. He is probably in a special lounge, not in the row of seats by the gates with faulty air-conditioning. There are two Nigerias, after all, two ways to enter and two ways to leave: One for people with a lot of money, and the other for everyone else. She stops at the airport café to buy Dara a cold Maltina and tells him he deserves one for being good. He laughs; he loves to be praised. A waitress, in an over-sized waistcoat and trousers that are too tight, pours his Maltina into his glass. Dara claps to congratulate himself, and then spits out froth after his first gulp. “Behave yourself,” she says, as she pays the waitress. “You’re not a baby anymore.” The waitress says through her nose, “Burt it is nort his fault.” She does not defend herself. First of all, does this waitress imagine she’s living overseas because she works in an airport? Why else would she speak with such an odd accent? And who is she to judge? If she cares so much for the handicapped, doesn’t she wonder why there are so few of them around, or is there a special country for them too? Stray dogs are more prominent in Nigeria. “He’s making a mess,” she says. Dara knows how to behave in school to impress his teachers. He knows how to frustrate his grandmother so that she will tire of him. He certainly knows how to get the attention of a pretty girl. “Burt he’s nort doing it on purpose,” the waitress insists. “He is an intelligent boy. He knows exactly what he is doing.” Showing off, she thinks, womanizing like his father. Just wait. Wait until he grabs that high backside of yours, then you will know why I discipline him.

* Their flight boards twenty minutes late. She stops sweating as soon as the air-conditioning on the plane is on full blast. They settle in two window seats by the left wing. Across the aisle, a bald man clears his throat and snorts. She helps Dara to fasten his seatbelt and then loosens hers. If she presses her stomach hard enough, she can feel the balloons. She must not eat or drink, and since the flight attendants are on the look out for passengers who don’t, she will have to switch her tray with Dara’s. He can easily eat enough for two. Normally, she hides portions of her meals in her handbag and flushes them down the toilet. For now, she watches Dara as he studies the signs: Exit, no smoking, and then the long line of heads ahead. The most trying part of being his mother is the guessing –– not prompting him to feed and dress himself, not his allergies and ointments and wayward limbs, not even trying to restrain him whenever he gets excited over women. Just as she thinks she has a good sense of what is going on in his mind, it tightens and shuts her out like a knot.

Q U A R T E R L Y

He is fascinated not frightened as the plane takes off. The sky is pure indigo. Soon she is able to see the horizon, and the flight attendants walk down the aisles to offer drinks. Tonight, they are serving beef stew or tarragon chicken for dinner. The smell reminds her of baking meat pies. Her mouth waters. The passengers behind her choose the chicken. A flight attendant, blonde with coral lipstick, asks in a chirpy voice, “Chicken or Beef?” She chooses the chicken for herself and the beef for Dara. He plays with his fork. She makes a show of helping him to lift the foil cover of his packed meal. Close up, the beef smells like a burp. The bald man across the aisle protests, “I specifically requested a meal without salt.” “Give me one moment,” the attendant says. “I specifically requested,” the man says even louder. “No salt.” “Just a moment, please,” the attendant says in a pleasant voice, as if she is speaking to a wilful child. “For medical reasons,” he says and snorts. The attendant turns to her with a conspiratorial smile and asks, “All right?” “Oh, yes,” she says. Distractions are perfect for her. Dara is gobbling carrots. The attendant tilts her head as if she is observing a puppy. “He’s got a good appetite, hasn’t he?” she says. “Oh, yes.” You with your skinny self, she thinks, just don’t lean too far over him if you know what is good for you. The attendant carries on up the aisle. She exchanges Dara’s beef for her chicken and whispers, “Well done. When you finish, we’ll go to the toilet before you sleep.”

* He pees on the toilet seat and forgets to wash his hands. She sends him back in and he does as she tells him, but emerges with his head bowed. She ignores his sulky face and follows him down the aisle. As usual, she bites off corners of the blanket bags before tearing them open. She spreads his blanket over him, and hers over her laps. Dara raises his over his head. She lowers the window shutter, places her pillow against it and shuts her eyes. He begins to snore and she realises how long it has been since she’s had company on a flight. In the days of cocaine, Kazeem would fill a plane with carriers. Sometimes, twenty of them would be on board, smuggling in their luggage, in their clothing, or in their stomachs. Kazeem recruited grandparents, government officials, mothers travelling with their children. In those days, whenever a courier was caught, it caused a scandal. The newspapers would go wild with their reports “An Epidemic of Drug Mules,” and such. There was the case of the woman who stuffed cocaine in her dead baby and cradled the baby as if it was sleeping, and the other case of the society woman who swore she thought she was carrying diamonds. That woman had been smuggling when British Airways was British Caledonian, when British Caledonian

February 2006

F I C T I O N was BOAC. Princess so and so, famous for cramming a condom of cocaine into her vagina. These days, Kazeem sends only one courier per flight. He uses just as many men as women, and oyinbos from England and America. The oyinbos are rarely stopped. He pays them twice as much, and will use children as mules with their parents’ consent. There was that eleven-year-old boy who was caught at La Guardia with God knows how many grams of heroin in his stomach. The boy was charged as a juvenile. In England, Kazeem said, the boy would have been handed over to social services and placed with foster parents. “The English are more civilised,” he said, “far more advanced than the Americans when it comes to these matters.” He makes assurances like “Confess if you’re caught and they’ll give you a lighter sentence,” or “They have no space in their prisons. They will deport you back home,” and oh, oh, his best one is, “They’re not looking for people like you after 9/11.” So many of his own couriers have ended up as John or Jane Doe of No Fixed Abode. One was stopped at Heathrow and sent to Holloway Prison for her first offence. She discovered a whole community of Nigerians there. Another was stopped at JFK. She refused an x-ray, so federal agents chained her to a bed and waited for her bowels to move. She got five years with no probation. Then there was that other man, Lucky or Innocent something or the other, who, after spending time in an American prison, was deported, only to spend another nine years in Kirikiri Maximum Security before he was pardoned. He came out swinging his hips like a woman, eventually died of tuberculosis. She has heard of other couriers who were executed by firing squad in Nigeria, publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia. Granted, none of them are flying angels, but given their work hazards, five thousand is not too much to ask for. She sighs and shifts her headscarf to a more comfortable position. After this trip, she can afford to pay her rent. It is paid two years in advance. Her carburettor needs to be replaced, or so her mechanic says. She does not move in circles where last year’s iro and buba are no longer fashionable, but she does like to take care of herself. She will buy herself some lace and a few silk scarves, maybe matching shoes and bags from Liverpool Street Market. Of course, she has Dara’s school fees to consider first, but in less than twelve hours, she will have earned more money than most Nigerian women spend in a year. She has often wondered what it would be like to be one of those

who come to England to work. She sees them at Gatwick Airport, on the Gatwick Express and at Victoria Station, walking with the same hurried gaits, and recognises them by the shapes of their lips and noses. They are all jacketed up like English potatoes and their skin and hair are dried up from the cold. They have more education than she has. Some are even university graduates, but how legitimate can their work be if they are living here illegally? No, to come and go as she pleases is still the better option for her, even if she ends up spending one night in some cold hotel in North London, with a narrow staircase and worn out carpet, in a room that doesn’t have enough corner space to lay her suitcase down. When she gets there, she will take a dose of laxatives, and hopefully pass the balloons before her contacts arrive. She is humiliated by their expressions whenever they have to wait for her to finish up in the bathtub. She herself cannot stand the smell, or sight, as she rinses her faeces off. She wonders who would smoke a substance, knowing that it has come out of a stranger’s bowels, or sniff it up their noses, or inject it into their blood. She doesn’t expect sympathy from the world like the addicts who waste their money getting high. But each trip she makes she plays with death; each trip is her last, until the next. So she, too, is dependent on the drugs she carries. She, too, is living with a habit, after all. Dara keeps elbowing her, Mr. No Salt across the aisle continues to snort. She has several more hours to go, and wonders what it would be like if the plane were to crash and she never has to work again.

* After midnight she falls asleep. She dreams of death by plane crash, car accident; sees herself drowning in Lagos Lagoon, Dara peering over the Third Mainland Bridge, and her mother unable to stop him from slipping in because her hands are so crooked from old age they look like a couple of crabs. When she wakes up it is breakfast time. The lights are on and the attendants are walking down the aisles again. Her eyes are swollen and sore. She shakes Dara’s shoulder and he coughs. “Take it easy,” she says rubbing his back. The air-conditioning is no good for his lungs. She checks his socks are still on. The blonde attendant stops by them with

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A F R I C A a trolley and offers two trays of food and half a smile. Her lipstick has faded. “Had a good rest?” she asks bending over Dara. Dara reaches up and pulls her hair. She struggles to free herself. He drags her lower. She pries his fingers apart and straightens up with a red face. “Gosh,” she says. “He’s got quite a grip there, hasn’t he, Mum?” “Sorry,” Mum says. Maybe now you’ll leave him alone, she thinks. The attendant smoothes her hair back. As soon as she rolls the food trolley past them, Mum hands her sticky pastry to Dara, and then raises the window shutter. The ground below looks like geometric shades separated by green bushes. Roads curve through clusters of red brick homes. From the ground level, the red brick homes are the color of dried dirt, defaced with graffiti, a few of them, and their gardens are so tiny, so chinchini. She would not like to live in England. She wants to remain here, above the country, suspended. Dara eats his pastry after hers. The blonde attendant collects their trays and is more careful about keeping her distance. In no time at all the pilot announces they are about to begin their descent. “Nn,” Dara moans when the plan dips. “Hm,” she responds in his language. Taking off is easier than landing. She clutches her armrest and braces herself. The balloons in her stomach feel as if they are about to drop.

* Only Nigerian passengers clap and cheer when the plane lands with a bump, she is certain of this, and they also get up and remove their hand luggage from the overhead compartments before the seat belt signals are switched off. At Gatwick Airport there is a rush, as usual, through the corridors towards passport control. She would like to keep up with the rest, but Dara lags behind. He is preoccupied with the clusters of trolleys, and the lit signs saying emergency exit, arrivals and baggage reclaims. They reach the hall and join the long queue. Her heart beats on her eardrums and she tries to focus on a sign to keep calm: We. Take. Extremely. Seriously. Any. Attempt. To Inti. Midate. Our. Staff. Either. By. Threats. Or Assaults. We take. Extremely seriously. Any attempt. To intimidate. We take extremely seriously. Any attempt to intimidate… She takes hold of Dara’s hand, just in case it strays again. When they stop at the line on the floor that they can’t cross over, she mentally pokes fun at the man behind the immigration booth so she can speak to him with confidence. The man’s head is shaped like a boiled egg. His cheeks are as blotchy as half-ripe paw-paws. His mouth is no bigger than a kobo coin. “Morning,” she says, looking at his forehead. “How long will you be staying?” he asks. “Too weak…”

Q U A R T E R L Y

“Sorry?” “Too. Weak.” “Two weeks?” She nods. This one can’t understand her. She herself finds it difficult to decipher what oyinbos are saying especially when their mouths are as small as his, but he enunciates as the flight attendant had. “What is the purpose of your trip?” “Holiday.” “Visiting friends or family?” “Friends.” He stamps their passports after a few generic questions. She has found that white immigration officers are more lenient than blacks, and men are more lenient than women are. “Have a nice stay,” he says, nodding at Dara. “Thank you,” she says. Again, she has to remind herself to take even breaths. At Baggage Reclaims, she concentrates on the carousel to avoid making eye contact with those on surveillance. Her clothes don’t matter because they can’t differentiate between Nigerians. They can only rely on telltale signs like shiftiness and sweating. She is sweating again, under her arms. People continue to break from the crowd around the carousel to retrieve their luggage. She panics when she doesn’t see hers. She will not make this journey again, she tells herself. She should not and cannot. Her nerves will not survive another trip. “Wait for me,” she says to Dara. She walks around the carousel to stop her legs from trembling, and spots her suitcase with a pink and grey tapestry pattern. She reaches for it, as if it is drifting down a river, and grabs the handle. The suitcase is lighter than she recalls and she loses her balance. She backs into someone, and discovers it is Dara. “I told you to wait,” she says, without raising her voice. She is not upset. He has been the perfect diversion. Here in England, people glance rather than stare at him, as if they would rather be fake than rude, but he is shivering. Is he nervous or just cold? “What?” she asks, leading him away from the carousel. “What is it?” She is using the opportunity to check that there are enough people passing through Nothing to Declare. Two customs officers are on duty. One of them steps forward and her heart beats so loud it deafens her: Please, not now, not us. The customs officer stops someone else behind them. She takes steady steps before she is round the corner, and is relieved to see the shop, the one with all the colourful socks. They walk into the crowd on the other side, past people who are waiting for arriving passengers. An elderly woman kneels to embrace a toddler. A row of men display hand-written name cards. Dara raises his fists and cheers. Everyone watches as he runs a victory lap and returns to her. “Iwo,” she says, shaking her head: You. This is the last time she will travel with him, but he has given her so much trouble she has almost forgotten hers. He claps as if he knows she is pleased with him, and she is glad he has no idea why. ■

February 2006

G E N D E R

I S S U E S

Decoding the Urge TO WRITE Nandini C. Sen unravels the tangle of motivations that underpin women’s efforts to write in Africa through a close reading of the short stories of two contemporary writers –– Flora Nwapa and Sindewe Magona

hort stories give us a convenient bridge from oral to written literature. African women have been known for their story-telling abilities. In traditional rural Africa, women and children would gather together and recount stories to one another. This oral tradition would be passed down from one generation to another. Here, I have attempted to analyse two short stories by two significant women writers from the African subcontinent ––Flora Nwapa and Sindewe Magona. Nwapa is a Nigerian. She is a pioneer of women’s writing from Africa. It is her struggle to write against all odds and make a mark in the male hegemony where writing by a woman was considered suspect that has enabled her sisters to write. Nwapa also went a step further and established a press called Tana press from where she published her works. It was not easy for a woman to write and publish at a time when all she was considered fit for was to perform her household chores and rear children. Her most famous novels are Efuru, Idu, Never Again and One Is Enough. Sindewe Magona’s is a relatively new voice. She was born and educated in South Africa. She published her first book entitled To My Children’s Children, which is the first part of a two-volume autobiography. The second part, Forced to Grow, was published in 1992. She also published a collection of short stories entitled Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night in 1991. Writing was until very recently a man’s prerogative. Women’s writing from Africa has been constantly marginalised even though Nwapa had published as early as 1958; women writers were not anthologised nor were they talked about. The one question that was often asked was: “But, where are the black women writers?” As Gertrude Fester points out: “But black women are all around –– washing dishes, cleaning floors, typing in offices, rearing children and nursing the old and infirm…doing everything but writing. As in most professions and careers, the position of black women writers starkly reflects the inequalities of the broader society.

Black women are on the lowest rung of the ladder of power, privilege and opportunity. The majority of black women are still uneducated and concentrated in jobs like farm laborers, domestic workers and unskilled workers…”1 Black feminism is distinct from white feminism. As opposed to the individualistic trend of the West, the African model is rooted in the family. There exists an inextricable link between racism and feminism. The struggle is two-fold –– seeking one’s space as a woman and fighting the colour barrier. Filomena Steady, in her introduction to Black Women CrossCulturally, says the African feminism includes female autonomy and cooperation: An emphasis on nature and culture –– the centrality of children, multiple mothering and kinship, and a number of traditional rights and responsibilities which ties the women down. According to her, “True feminism is an abnegation of male protection and a determination to be resourceful and reliant. The majority of the black women in Africa and the diaspora have developed these characteristics, though not by choice…” 2 Molara Ogundipe Leslie’s African Women, Culture and Another Development talks of the additional burden on African women. She lists them as (1) oppression from outside –– (foreign intrusions, colonial domination, etc.); (2) heritage of traditional feudal, slave-based, communal past; (3) her own backwardness, a product of colonisation and neo-colonialism; (4) her men weaned on centuries of male domination; (5) her race; and (6) herself. The last one is the women’s worst handicap as she has her own negative self image due to the internalisation of the patriarchal order. Black feminism is nascent. It is still trying to define itself. While there is a large corpus of texts on feminism, the black feminists have tried to redefine feminism as it applies to them. Significant writing comes from the black feminist critics of the United States. Notable among them are Katherine Frank, Deborah MacDowell, Barbara Christian, Mary Helen Washington, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Barbara Smith, Susan Faludi and others. The black feminist aesthetic tries to see the woman evolve as she engages with her family, poverty, her colour barrier and the traditions of the land. Buchi

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Emecheta calls her brand of femiApart from Miriam Tlali, very The black feminist aesthetic tries nism, “feminism with a small f”. She few black South African women to see the woman evolve as she writers have had the time to write talks of her struggle for basic rights for women. Alice Walker gives it a engages with her family, poverty, novels. There are quite a few black holistic view terming it “womanism”. women poets. Many women have her colour barrier and the It is an effort to distinguish black femsaid it is easy to write poetry and traditions of the land. Buchi inism from its white counterpart. “A short stories because of time conwomanist,” she says, in parts, is “a straints. It is not easy for a woman to Emecheta calls her brand of black feminist, or feminist of colour write. Years of socialisation school feminism, “feminism with a . . . committed to survival and wholeher to be a dutiful wife and a caring ness of entire people, male and female small f”. She talks of her struggle mother. . ... [but who] loves herself. Trying to write and assert oneself for basic rights for women. Alice Regardless.” 3 is considered to be an aberration. In Walker gives it a holistic view The Nigerian experience is vastly the 1980s there was an engagement terming it “womanism”. different from the apartheid-ridden by white women to talk about South Africa. With Chinua Achebe’s marginalised black woman. The Things Fall Apart, the Nigerian novel writing had come of age. black woman finds herself in a double bind. It is important for Till date there has been a constant flow of writing from west her to be written about, but she also senses an appropriation Africa. Writing from South Africa has, however, been sporadic. about which she is uncomfortable. She feels that this is It is said that the black South Africans do not have the luxury exploitation similar to what her mother and grandmother sufof writing novels. They need more immediate forms to give fered as a domestic worker in the white household. Race and vent to their anguish. They prefer the “guerrilla hit-and-run colour are important constructs which cannot be glossed over. short stories”. This is seen in the writings of Alex La Guma, The white woman writer more often than not is privileged Bessie Head and Sindewe Magona. socially. She has more time and space to write. Her black coun-

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terpart has to struggle with poverty, lack of education and a hostile society as she engages in the pursuit of writing. As Andre Brink puts it: “Certainly it would seem that where power acquires a stake in representation an invisible boundary is crossed, and the adoption of another’s voice comes to be perceived as an act of appropriation. Such a situation can all too easily become just another instance of the powerful exploiting the weak.”4 African womanhood is a complex phenomenon. Writing by female authors in Africa is not a homogenised whole. There is diversity of cultures, heritages and personal experiences. However, despite the diverse forms, the literature produced by the women provides for some broad bases of similarity. There is a similarity of experiencing what it is to be a woman in a patriarchal set up where education is the prerogative of the male offspring. Writing by African women seeks a redefinition of the woman trying to free herself from the stereotyping she is subjected to. The prominent The cover of This is female voices from the conLagos and Other Stories, tinent belong to Ama Ata the collection of short Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta, stories which includes Flora Nwapa, Zaynab the story The Delinquent Adults; and, inset, Alkali, Micere Gitahe author Flora Nwapa. Mugo, Bessie Head, Efua Sutherland, Grace Ogot and Tsitsi Dangrembga.

Sindewe Magona’s story It was Easter Sunday The Day I Went to Netreg appears in Hot Days Long Nights, a collection of short stories edited by Nodezda Obradovic. It is a telling comment on the position of women in the apartheid-ridden and poverty stricken South African shanty. The Delinquent Adults is Nwapa’s indictment of colonial Nigeria where a woman has become a saleable commodity. The people who are supposed to protect her try to sell her off. It is a world which is dictated by greed, and a girl with no means for subsistence is forced into prostitution. The story begins with an air of suffocation. Ozoemena finds herself in a dark and dingy room. There is no outlet for sunlight or fresh air in the room. This claustrophobic atmosphere is likened to Ozoemena’s state of mind. She is in mourning and is not allowed to come out. “The room is dark and there is no air coming in through the small window which is high. Wire gauze is used to further block the little air that manages to come in. If all had been well for Ozoemena, she would have torn off the wire gauze, or refused to stay in the room, but all is not well with her.” 5. On the day her husband dies, Ozoemena has a troubled night as she dreams of her husband leaving her. It’s a very The Nigerian experience is potent dream and she wakes up with vastly different from the lora Nwapa’s The Delinquent a feeling of dread. Adults appears in her collection After her husband leaves for apartheid-ridden South Africa. of short stories This is Lagos and work, a troubled Ozoemena confides With Chinua Achebe’s Things Other Stories. This collection revolves in her friend. When her husband Fall Apart, the Nigerian novel around the changing face of the Ibo passes away, her friend talks of her society in the colonial period. The writing had come of age. Writing dream to one and all. In the superstivillage clusters have given way to an tion-ridden Port Harcourt and in her from South Africa has, however, husband’s village she is held responindividualistic city life. The Ibo community finds itself trapped between been sporadic. It is said that the sible for her husband’s death. The its traditions of yore and the harsh superstition stems from the fact that black South Africans do not realities of city life. The worst sufferOzoemena had been to school. Her have the luxury of writing novels. husband’s brother had been against er in this chaotic world is the woman They need more immediate who is doubly colonised. The the match as he felt an educated colonisers have colonised the men woman would not be a good homeforms to give vent to their who in turn colonise their women. maker. She would lord it over her anguish. The Delinquent Adults is the story of husband and try to dominate him. the young Ozoemena who loses her This fear of educated women runs husband in a hit-and-run lorry accident. According to the tra- deep in the psyche of most patrilineal societies and ditions of the Ibo community she is forced to surrender her Chukwuma’s (her husband) family is no exception. meager savings to her husband’s brother as the woman has no “When Chukwuma announced that he was going to right on her husband’s property. The sense of betrayal is felt marry Ozeomena, his brother did all in his power to prevent even more keenly as her own mother tries to sell her off as a the marriage. He was suspicious of girls who went to school. prostitute. He feared that they were too wise, and that Ozoemena was

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going to dominate his brother and make him not care for his forced to lead a cloistered life. own family.”6 Apart from surrendering everything to her husband’s famChukwuma and Ozoemena had had a happy married life. ily, she is even forced to part with her wedding ring as that Ozoemena was in school when Chukwuma saw her and pro- too is the part of her husband’s property. Her predicament posed marriage to her. She gave up her studies to be a good brings to fore the lack of a woman’s agency over her husband’s wife to him. They moved to Port Harcourt where property. She has no right to her own body which can be Chukwuma worked as a clerk. Ideally Ozoemena would have exploited by her husband’s brother, nor does she have any liked to do her school certificate examination, but Chukwuma right over her own children who are considered as part of the was impatient and Ozoemena had to be satisfied with her edu- husband’s lineage. cation till class four. But this did not worry her as her husHowever, the most shocking phenomenon in this band took good care of her and her children. But after his warped patriarchal society is the women’s internalisation death, all hell breaks loose. and perpetration of the system. Ozoemena’s own mother is Ozoemena is forced to no exception. Being return to her husband’s vildubbed as a fallen woman lage where she is held she realises that money is responsible for his death. All the key to happiness. A their property in Port hapless poverty-stricken Harcourt, including housewoman is at the mercy of hold items, is handed over one and all. In order to buy to Chukwuma’s brother happiness for her daughter who now becomes the she tries to introduce her rightful owner of his brothto a form of prostitution. er’s property and his wife. When she looks into the Here too rumours precede eyes of her potential buyer, her as it is believed that her Ozoemena realises that her The cover of Hot Days husband had left behind Long Nights, the collection mother wishes to send her of short stories which bags full of money and not on a journey of no return. includes the story It was merely the 10 pounds “She was a child as well Easter Sunday The Day I which are his pass book as a mother but she underWent to Netreg ; and, savings. To further add stood what it all meant. She inset, author insult to injury, Ozoemena becomes very uncomfortSindewe Magona. is threatened with dire cirable. The man watches her cumstances if she does not produce with interest. He is mysterious to Writing by female authors in the money. Ozoemena. She knows that he is an Africa is not a homogenised When her mother meets old hand in this sort of thing…so Uzonwane, her husband’s brother, that’s how it happens. So that is the whole. There is diversity of he tells her in no uncertain terms that beginning of the journey with no cultures, heritages... the money has to be produced or else return.”8 experiences. However, despite Through Ozoemena’s story, the young widow would be subject to Nwapa raises pertinent questions the public humiliation of swearing the diverse forms, the literature about a woman’s identity. She is conbefore the Gods in front of the whole produced by the women sidered to be public property after the clan. provides for some... similarity. death of her husband. If she is able to For a young widow to be harassed refuse the advances of her husband’s by her husband’s family is a comThere is a similarity of kin, she is forced into prostitution by mon-place occurrence. Ntianu, experiencing what it is to be a her own mother. In the neo-colonial Ozoemena’s mother had faced a simwoman in a patriarchal set up mercenary society of Nigeria, a ilar situation. woman remains triply marginalised She tells her daughter: “But I am where education is the –– she is suppressed because of her speaking from experience, my prerogative of the males. body, her race and a society which daughter. When my husband died, considers money to be the be-all and his people molested me. His brother especially molested me…our people said I was a bad woman end-all of a human being’s existence. but I did not heed them. It caused so much trouble and the indewe Magona’s short story is a strong indictment of fact that I did not have a son contributed to their making things the exploitative society of South Africa where racism difficult for me.”7 Ozoemena has to undergo the rituals of widowhood. She and poverty form a vicious circle to enslave women. has to wear black as a sign of mourning. For 40 days she is The exploitation is manifold and carries on generation after

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generation. Each time the oppressor’s face wears different cally “that most of the migrant labourers were very much masks but the style of operation remains the same. Magona’s married, bothered government policy makers not at all. It metaphor for the society that perpetrates this violence is the could not. The white, highly specialised and learned officials crude, forced abortion of the foetus as it is yanked away from had yet to grasp the simple fact that these men are being its mother’s body even before she has turned fourteen. human too”. It was Easter Sunday is the story of a child/woman who lives When the girl realises that she is pregnant she confides in in a one-room shack with her grandmother. Her mother her grandmother. The loving grandmother is transformed as works in the house of a white woman, Mrs. Wilkins. She she stares at her beloved grand daughter as if she were a monprefers live-in jobs as it cuts down on the cost of living. The ster. Then she starts wailing. Though she is seemingly rainprotagonist remains nameless, perhaps emphasising the agony ing insults on the girl, she cries for her lost innocence, her own of several such girls who face oppression on a daily basis in daughter’s and her own exploitation. It is through the grandtheir everyday lives. mother’s wails that the girl realises that she is an illegitimate An image of poverty pervades the story. It is linked with child. She also realises why her father is never mentioned in the bloody violence which the women are subjected to. the household. It is not clear to the girl whether the grand“Breaks grinding in protest, the blood-red Volkswagen mother’s face is contorted with grief, revulsion or pity. lurched to an uncertain, shuddering stop outside our gate. All “As if my own revelation had not caused enough pain, my cars lurch drunkenly in Guguletu, grandmother could not seem to stop Women have often been for what passes for streets are nothherself from dishing out further ing but pitted, dirt-covered trains stereotyped in literature. She is enlightenment. For my benefit; my pockmarked with ditches, and potdeath or hers? Her face was a hideous constructed either as a good holes so big a full-grown man could mask of moving emotions –– hate, drown in one. Shock still I stood, wife or a vamp, a city slicker or a fear and dire misery chased one looking out of the window opening another…In a voice I did not recoglobotomised idiot in a sleepy of the one-room shack I shared with nise she went on ‘your mother was a village. Nwapa and Magona tell child herself when she went and Makhulu, my mother’s mother.” 9 the stories of women around As they drive to Netreg, a boy on spread herself at the zones. I never the street catches the narrator’s eyes. them. Their characters are real even got any payment for damages The drive through the black ghetto from that man. Indeed I do not know and palpable. Instead of being his face because as soon as he knew brings to relief the redness of the new unidimensional, these women car vis-a-vis the nakedness of the that the she dog was riding with his onlookers. pup, he did what all these men from are multidimensional and “Me’m Sue started the car and we the zones do. Went back to his village operate in shades of grey. The and made sure he never again took a were on our way. Unconcerned the mothers... are victims of the car grunted and tottered while a contract to Cape Town.” 11 On Easter Sunday –– the day group of children in varying states of society. They, in turn, victimise Jesus Christ is said to have been resnakedness, sprinted alongside it. … their daughters. urrected –– the girl is taken to Netreg One little fellow caught my eye. He for an abortion. Ironically, Netreg was clad in a torn once-upon-a-timewhite vest. Absentmindedly, I noticed that he’d grow to be a means just right. The mother and her white madam take her. fine-membered man one day, for beneath the torn scant gar- She is made to lie down on the floor on newspapers and open ment dangled definite promise. That or he badly needed to wet her legs wide. What follows is sheer trauma as the girl feels her insides are on fire. the grass.” 10 Me’m Sue or Mrs. Wilkinson is a “feminist”. She is also a “This is what it must feel to swallow petrol and set a match kind mistress. She passes her old clothes to her maid’s family into the mouth. My intestines are on fire. A raging fire that but the narrator wryly observes that she has a body of “an ele- pushes and swells everything inside of me, puffing it up until phant in the family way”. Only her grandmother could wear I feel my tummy burst. I writhe, groaning. Tears wash my face. her clothes because she didn’t mind “folding, pleating and I am hot all over. Flames liquefy my insides, filling me as they wrapping the voluminous garments around her far from sub- spread ever upward and outward and downward. A terrorstantial frame”. filled scream pierces my burning ears. A mad woman’s Poverty is a great leveler. It exploits men and women alike scream? Or, a dying woman’s?” 12 On the way back she is allowed the luxury of lying spreadbut unlike men, it is the women who are saddled with the babies. Both the narrator’s grandmother and mother have eagled on the back seat of the car. On arriving home, she is worked as maids in white households. The mother had been made to walk straight so that the neighbours do not suspect impregnated by a man from the zones or single men’s quar- anything. Her mother is a member of the Catholic Mother’s ters. The zones are barracks to house African men who are Guild and a scandal would shatter her reputation. That night forced to live away from their wives and children when they the girl bleeds uncontrollably and has to be taken to the hosget permission to work in the cities. Magona observes cyni- pital. The secret remains intact as it happens in the dead of

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night. It is here that she comes to know that she can never become a mother again. But her scars are much deeper. She can never indulge in sex again. The horror of the first lovemaking comes back to her. “I would never be able to have sex and enjoy it, because as a man’s penis glides into me it triggers the memory of what glided out of me those many years ago.” Most of all it is the dark and deep secret that she carries which continues to torment her. On the fateful day, the family went to collect lobola or bride price from the girl’s lover who had promised to marry her. As is the custom of the Bhele clans, several male relatives had been summoned. The mother goes along with them to see the man who had promised to marry her daughter. And much to her horror she sees that it is the same man who had impregnated and deserted her fifteen years ago. Her daughter had been violated by her own father. The theme of incest has been built into the narrative in such a way that it seems almost imperative. The psychological scarring of the girl is complete. Later in life she becomes a trained midwife and cleans male children with immense concern. She is scared that her friends would get to know her innermost secret that she sees her own son in every boy child that she delivers. The mother and daughter have never been the same ever since. “Mother too has never been the same since that Sunday we went to the zones to get labola from the father of the child I was carrying, the day mother saw Mteteleli and recognised my father.”13

This violent story is Magona’s telling statement on the precarious condition of women. It is the woman who bears the brunt of the changing face of the society. There is some cushioning available to woman in traditional society but in the complex neo-colonial world of greed and unconcern, the woman finds no respite. Left to fend for herself, she is subjected to inhuman tortures but she has to battle her demons on her own and also put on a show for the outer world where she cannot make her fears known.

REFERENCES

6. Ibid, p 68 7. Ibid, p 63 8. Ibid, p 80 9. Sindewe Magona, It was Easter Sunday the Day I went to Netreg, p 47 10. Ibid, p 47 11. Ibid, p 51 12. Ibid, p 54 13. Ibid, p 55

1. Gertrude Fester, ‘Women Writing for Their Rights’; Stratton, p 123 2. Stratton, p 120 3. Carole Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves ed. Ngambika, p 35 4. ibid, p 65 5. Flora Nwapa, The Delinquent Adults, p 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY TEXTS ■ Magona Sindewe, It Was Easter Sunday The Day I Went To Netreg; Hot Days Long Nights: An Anthology of African Short Stories; ed. Nadezda Obradovic. New Delhi: National Book Trust, 2003. ■ Nwapa Flora, The Delinquent Adults; This is Lagos and Other Stories. London: Heinemann,1980. SECONDARY TEXTS ■ Boehmer, Elleke. ‘Aspects of Commonwealth Literature’; 1988-89. London; Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1989.

omen have often been stereotyped in literature. She is constructed either as a good wife or a vamp, a city slicker or a lobotomised idiot in a sleepy village. Nwapa and Magona tell the stories of women around them. Their characters are real and palpable. Instead of being unidimensional, these women are multidimensional and operate in shades of grey. The mothers of Ozoemena and the girl are victims of the society. They, in turn, victimise their daughters. The greatest plight of the woman is that she is not able to combat the twin forces of patriarchy and colonialism. Unable to resist, she is forced to connive and perpetrate a system which robs her of her dignity as a human being. The daughter’s innocence is disrupted violently. In both Nwapa’s and Magona’s texts the age of innocence is shattered as the father rapes his daughter and the mother forces her daughter into prostitution. It’s a telling comment on the plight of women caught in the crossfire of patriarchy and the changing face of neo-colonial society. ■

■ Conde, Maryse. ‘Three Female Writers in Modern Africa; Flora Nwapa, Ama Ata Aidoo and Grace Ogot’. Présence Africaine, 1972, 82.2. ■ ‘Davies, Carole Boyce and Graves, Anne Adams, Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature’. Trenton, Africa World Press Inc., 1990. ■ Graves, Annie Adams. ‘Studies of women in African Literature’. Trenton; Africa World Press, 1986. ■ James Adeola. ‘In Their Own Voices’. London; Heinemann, 1990. ■ ‘Leslie, Molara Ogundipe, Recreating Ourselves: African Women and Critical Transformations’. Trenton, Africa World Press Inc., 1994. ■ Stratton, Florence. ‘Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender’. London; Routledge, 1994.

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D I P L O M A T E S E

‘A RISING INDIA is Good News for Africa South Africa High Commissioner Francis Moloi speaks to Manish Chand about the breathtaking implications of a rising India for South Africa and other developing countries in the world and a new convergence of interests between the two countries. Q: India is emerging as a major world called Africa. power and is the flavour of the internaWhich is to say, these two continents tional media. What does a rising India were one. The relationship is solid, very mean for people in South Africa and warm, strong and based on a long associAfrica? ation going back many centuries. We A: It is time developing countries claim haven’t, however, taken full advantage of their rightful place in the sun of the interthis very warm strategic relationship. The national community. A resurgent, powcurrent level of trade, for instance, doeserful India ensures that the voice of the n’t reflect the full potential. Politically, developing countries is heard on the the relationship is very sound and strong, global stage. It has the potential to change but there is still a lot that can be done in the entire world order. It’s easier for the areas of trade and tourism. developing countries to emulate successQ: What can be done to boost trade and ful developing countries like India. A risinvestment between the two countries? ing India is good news for South Africa, A: The two-way trade between India and Africa, and the whole world. The more South Africa currently stands at $3.1 bilIndia rises, the better it is for Africa and lion. Earlier, because of the sanctions, it for everybody in the world. was very difficult to do business with the It’s a huge, momentous year for India rest of the world, not to speak of Asia. and South Africa relations. This year, we Part of the challenge is that India and celebrate the 100th anniversary of South Africa were not traditional trading It’s easier for developing partners. Before 1994, South Africa was Mahatma Gandhi’s launch of sxatyagraha. India had given an ordinary lawyer called countries to emulate suc- simply focused on the U.S. and Western Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to South cessful developing coun- Europe. Africa, but we gave back Mahatma to India was not a trading partner before tries like India. A rising India. We plan to celebrate South Africa’s that because of the economic sanctions India is good news for contribution to India’s independence in India had imposed on the apartheid a big way this year through events here South Africa, Africa, and regime. The result: We hadn’t learnt and in my country. much from each other and we hadn’t the whole world. The Q: India and South Africa established a focused on each other. One of the first more India rises, the bet- steps we need to do to augment trade and strategic partnership a decade ago. Are you happy with the current state of the strateter it is for Africa and for economic relations is to reorient the gic relationship? minds of the people of the two countries everybody in the world. A: When President Thabo Mbeki came to show them that the growth prospects to India in 2003 on a state visit, he said, in the future lie in developing countries, “India and South Africa are friends for all especially in countries like India, whose seasons.” Our relationship goes back many, many years. I economy is growing at the rate of 7-8 percent, and China. know here people speak about Gandhiji’s stay in South Africa, South Africa has to reorientate and look towards the East for but our relations go back three billion years to a time when this trade, business and tourism and people-to-people contacts and subcontinent called India was part and parcel of that landmass opportunities.

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A F R I C A India, given its growth at the moment, is looking more and more to the rest of the world, particularly Africa. Africa as a developing continent has high prospects for growth. The kind of resources India needs to fuel its growth are there in Africa, like raw materials, minerals, oil or alternative sources of energy. This psychological reorientation is the first step towards building bridges of economic interaction. Besides, we need to step up joint ventures in areas of mutual interest. We have very good complementarities. South Africa is the world’s number one producer of gold and India is the largest consumer of gold. India has developed its small and medium industries (SMEs) very well. South Africa can learn a lot from India in this sphere. These are the areas where we complement each other and if we take the right steps, we can multiply trade, investment and tourism between the two countries. The South African economy is growing at the rate of 5-6 percent. There is nothing that can stop our two countries from growing at a much faster rate. Two-digit growth is quite possible in India. Q: What is the profile of Indian products in the South African market? A: There was a time when the reputation of Indian goods wasn’t very high in our country. Products from India were not considered that good or (of) high quality. That image has now changed radically. India is now widely seen as the leading nation in the world in areas like ICT, medical services, SMEs and pharmaceuticals. Indian scientists and engineers are all over the world. There is a radical change in the minds of South Africans towards Indian products. Our public sector is using more and more Indian vehicles. The message has gone loud and clear: India can compete with the best in the world. Bollywood films continue to be a big hit here. India is happening in South Africa. Q: What is the role of the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa Forum) in cementing ties between India and South Africa? A: IBSA represents three large, powerful democracies in the region. Today we occupy a sizeable portion of the world trade. When we pull our resources together, we can make a real difference. IBSA will provide another framework and another platform for cementing the India-Africa ties. Q: What can be done to boost people-to-people contacts and promote tourism and cultural ties between the two countries? A: There are more people travelling from South Africa to India and from India to South Africa. Greater people-to-people contacts are essential to strengthen our relationship. We set up a tourism office in Mumbai last year, which is dedicated to promoting tourism to South Africa. All these efforts are aimed at bringing people from both countries closer and closer. Q: Do you think the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is losing its relevance in today’s world? What role do you see for India and South Africa in the NAM? A: Some people say that the NAM is a huge talk shop that absolutely does nothing. That’s a wrong conception to have. We do not hold that view. It has played a critical role in shaping the world. You still need a voice for developing countries. We look to stronger countries like India to provide leadership to the NAM. It is not in the interest of non-alignment to see India float away from it. Nor is it in India’s interest.

Q U A R T E R L Y

Q: What kind of role do you see for the Indian diaspora in building bridges between India and South Africa? A: They are as South African as pap en vleis. South Africans of Indian origin have contributed to making South Africa a diverse country. This community links us directly to India. This is another source of strength to us. The diaspora is playing a key role in enhancing and strengthening relations between India and South Africa. Q: Some say China is rapidly increasing its presence in South Africa. Do you see some kind of India-China rivalry here? A: China, India and other countries are coming to South Africa in a very big way. I foresee a healthy competition in the South African market that will bring in their competitive advantages to the South African economy. I don’t think this competition will be destructive in any way. Q: How do you see defence cooperation developing? A: We are having substantial defence cooperation in areas like the training of pilots and naval officers. The Denel gun procurement controversy has, however, slowed down the process and affected the huge potential in this area. Q: Energy security is the driving force of international diplomacy these days. What can India and South Africa do in the sphere of energy cooperation? A: India now wants to diversify its sources of energy. It has vast deposits of coal and we also have large deposits of coal. We are the only country in the world that has the technology to produce fuel from coal and we can help India in this area. Q: What kind of role do you envisage for the private sector in what you call “building bridges of economic interaction”? A: If you look at the number of agreements India and South Africa have signed, they virtually cover just about every sphere of cooperation. There is a commitment on part of both sides to ensure that they create the right kind of environment which will allow our business people to do business. Governments can provide a framework and climate for doing business. The real challenge is now with the private sector to seize opportunities and push ahead. These are the people who create jobs and can bring in investment. There is an increase in the number of South African companies going to India and vice versa. Slowly, South Africans are beginning to see and focus on Asia in general and India in particular. The point is that the new centers of growth are increasingly in developing countries. Q: Finally, what’s you reaction to the India-U.S. nuclear deal? Does your country support it? A: We are members of the NPT. Our view is that at the end of the day the world should be free of nuclear weapons. It’s in the interests of everybody in the world. However, at the same time, we still hold the view that countries are at liberty to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The India-U.S. deal will have a huge implication for the current NPT regime, but in the absence of finer details about the deal, it’s difficult to look in the crystal ball and predict how it will affect the NPT. We will all have to wait and see what it contains. Right now, what we have is the general thrust of the deal. As they say, angels are in generalities, but the devil is in the details. Q: But God could also be in the details… A: Could be (laughs). But we will have to see the details first. ■

February 2006

R E M I N I S C E N C E S

Reliving the End of

APARTHEID

Anand K. Sahay recalls with relish the heady days of anti-apartheid struggle, the first all-race elections in South Africa, his first glimpse of Nelson Mandela in his trademark silk shirt and, above all, his sheer luck in seeing this history in the making up close.

t is common enough for Indians these days to head to South Africa for a vacation, but there was a time not so long ago when that country was on the proscribed list for us. “Not valid for Israel and South Africa”, our passports declared. As far as Pretoria went, the reason was apartheid. For nearly 50 years India had led the international campaign against statehood based on race laws and for the isolation of apartheid South Africa in the world. Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had both been very focussed on the issue and had played an eyecatching role internationally in opposing it. But Morarji Desai, an opponent of India Gandhi who became prime minister heading a party that was a key rival of hers, had also not changed the national policy toward the apartheid regime (though the overall tone of his foreign policy had been different from Indira Gandhi’s). Clearly, there was a good deal of moral indignation in the country on the South Africa issue, but also curiosity as we knew almost nothing about the place at the human level, about the pace of everyday life there. The information gap afflicted policy circles as well. This was not the case with other countries with stakes in South Africa, especially those of the Western bloc. They were perfectly conversant with the South African reality and the country’s enormous potential. For those of us who had gained adulthood by about the 1970s, South Africa can be said to be a part of our “pre-memory”; primarily it denoted a blank –– there was no human contact of any kind, and yet we understood some of the political picture (though just that); also, emotionally, there was an attachment. Mahatma Gandhi had spent many years in that country. That was a reason for our curiosity and some of the emotionalism. Also the fact that a good number of people of Indian origin were South Africans, having been taken there by the British as indentured labour. Working amongst such people, Gandhi had nurtured his concept of “satyagraha”, or non-violent

protest, which would afterward shake an empire and awe the world. But that was all so long ago. About the present, not much was understood at the ground level although the legend of Nelson Mandela had begun to reach us toward the end of the 1980s. In the circumstances, it was every Indian’s dream to see South Africa. But none of us thought we’d ever be lucky enough to get there though political developments in respect of South Africa were playing big on the world stage by then. The anti-apartheid struggle in southern Africa as a whole had become an unstoppable force with the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa playing a stellar role. In the annals of freedom struggles, that underground movement (now the country’s ruling party) was a by-word for heroic, selfless sacrifice. The momentum had begun to excite the political class in India and the support for the ANC and the cause it espoused was growing by leaps and bounds. Rallies and marches demanding popular rule in South Africa were becoming the order of the day. At the United Nations, India was playing a very proactive role on the issue. For a variety of reasons that are perhaps still worthy of debate though much water has flowed under the bridge since then, F.W. de Klerk, the last apartheid-era president, appeared to be doing a Gorbachev (whom he physically resembled!) rather than perpetuate the old regime. He seemed to be having a direct impact on all of southern Africa. The world could hardly remain untouched. We were not to know this then but the de Klerk government had entered into secret parleys with Mandela to work out a road-map for the future dispensation of the country even before the release of the ANC leadership from jail. Mandela, along with some of his key colleagues of the ANC, that included Ahmad Kathrada –– who was in India earlier this year for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas function in Hyderabad –– was imprisoned at the infamous Robben Island across the waters from Cape Town. By the time he was released, he had served a continuous 27 years, a record for a freedom fighter.) Personally, I’d been both lucky and unlucky. As a journal-

February 2006

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The painting ‘Apartheid’ by South African artist Madelaine Georgette. Oil on canvas, 2002. Georgette, a figurative artist who mainly works with oil and canvas, mixed media and clay, has extensively chronicled the apartheid era, the first all-race election and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (Photo, as it appears www.studiogeorgette.com)

ist I had the chance to be in countries Gandhi, then Leader of Opposition The incredible development of in India, who was given a rousing that were next-door neighbours of South Africa. That was quite terrific. Namibian independence led me welcome with the entire stadium Not many Indians then were in my erupting in applause when his name to gush in my paper something was announced as he made his entry position. But there seemed little hope of seeing South Africa itself. Indeed, shortly before free Namibia’s flag about the momentous event in practical terms the idea appeared so went up. giving “diplomatic hot-chase” to improbable that I dared not even Mandela’s presence in the think about it. Namibian capital on the occasion (he the apartheid regime in South The first time I came in some had been released from prison in Africa, which lay right across the February 1990) was the icing on the physical proximity to South Africa was when I landed in Botswana in border, not far at all from where cake. There was such a halo about the mid-1980s, accompanying then that stalwart figure. With the great we found ourselves that night. vice president (later president) R. man having a longish one-on-one Venkataraman. Gopal Gandhi, a meeting with Rajiv Gandhi despite grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, who –– he would later be our the very tight schedules, the Indian media was kept on its toes. ambassador to Pretoria and is currently the governor of West The incredible development of Namibian independence Bengal –– was then the secretary to the vice president. The led me to gush in my paper something about the momentous company of Gopal with his live Mahatma connection, and the event giving “diplomatic hot-chase” to the apartheid regime in fact that the water we were drinking in Botswana was piped South Africa, which lay right across the border, not far at all from South Africa –– this appeared to me quite amazing –– from where we found ourselves that night. seemed my only immediate links to the country I really so Witnessing the moment of transformation sitting next to desired to visit. Pavan K. Varma, then a relatively young Indian Foreign Service It would get even more tantalizing a few years later. The (IFS) officer (now director-general of the Indian Council for Hindu, where I was employed, despatched me to join then Cultural Relations), I wondered to myself if a similar moment prime minister V.P. Singh’s party to Namibia on the occasion of magic would arrive for South Africa, and if I’d be there to of that country’s independence, their “tryst with destiny”, in usher it in! Perhaps the twin presence of de Klerk and Mandela 1990. I was delighted. had set me off on a reverie. The scale of the problem wasn’t quite the same as South The moment, of course, did arrive not long after, and what Africa but Namibia was also apartheid-ridden and had broken a bang there was in the world. I busied myself, avidly reading free after a long struggle that had echoed around the world. Its whatever I could lay my hands on about the preparations for freedom too had been high on the global agenda of ending race the first all-race election in South Africa. Out of the blue one rule and de-colonisation. day my newspaper asked me to get ready to fly to What’s more, de Klerk, already making waves, appeared to Johannesburg. Just like that. I can still recall being swept by dishave a hand in the process. He was a high profile guest on the belief. This was some time in February 1994. historic occasion. For other reasons, so was the late Rajiv I landed in ‘Jo’burg’ –– as Johannesburg is universally

February 2006

R E M I N I S C E N C E S known in South Africa –– in the last days of March. I’d remain monly staunch political opponent of apartheid (this was quite there till about the middle of May. I think my first dispatch rare) who had been an armed cadre and had lived the underappeared in The Hindu on April 2 and then there was a flurry ground life, including in neighbouring countries, when white of news stories and articles. I kept up the pace for some time repression was fierce. Later I heard he’d been appointed ambaseven after my return to Delhi. sador to a European capital, perhaps The Hague. In this period I met or had lengthy phone conversations He had the reputation of being courageous as well as retiwith scores of people –– ordinary folk, key political figures, cent. I found him a brilliant man with a capacity for tact. I had people from universities and think tanks and social and reli- heard of him by chance and acquired his cell phone number gious organizations; blacks, whites and Indians, in with some difficulty as he was not in the habit of leaving it Johannesburg, Duraround. ban and Cape Town. Niehaus had an Among them was office room at the Mandela’s long-term Carlton, hardly a comrade and prisonblock away from the mate, the venerable Holiday Inn in the Kathrada, by now in central business dishis mid-70s. trict of He had been Johannesburg, named a cabinet minwhere I was staying. ister (though the govWhen I said I’d walk ernment was yet to be down to see him at formally inaugurated) the appointed hour and was already at in the afternoon, he work in a small office was slightly alarmed in Johannesburg. He and insisted that he spoke to me in genersend me a car. When al terms. I remember I absolutely refused, we also discussed the he insisted I take a Kashmir issue about hotel taxi, though the which his impressions ‘Going to Vote’ by Madelaine Georgette. Oil, 1995. One of a series depicting drive would be less the long lines of people who voted in South Africa’s first all-race elections seemed to me very when Mandela was elected president in 1994. Some stood in line for over eight than five minutes. I hazy. Kathrada, like hours to exercise their franchise. (Photo, as it appears www.studiogeorgette.com) was a bit nonplussed several others in the but took his advice. There existed in South Africa at ANC, was a life-long communist. He’d explained over the phone He surprised me when he said he that the social situation in the counthe time some anxiety about a “wanted to go down into the ground” try was in ferment. Hordes of poor possible white exodus... If this (the words are his own) as a Muslim. people from areas around Taking references from back came about, it would be nothing Johannesburg, still materially and home in New Delhi, in psychologically deprived from the short of a disaster since the Johannesburg I was also able to meet discriminatory excesses of earlier country’s financial resources as times, now freely roamed the great the unassuming Moosa Moola. He well as expertise lay chiefly in had served for many years as ANC’s city (earlier they needed special perchief representative in India before mits to enter it) in search of work or the hands of the whites and the liberation. Moosa was kind. He even plainly just to express their newthese had to be retained for showed me around Indian homes in found freedom and could sometimes national advance. the Johannesburg area –– all very well engage in criminal or unpleasant to do and hospitable, their food pretbehaviour. ty much like ours. Some days later I saw the merit of the advice when I was These were generally Muslim families, in conduct and mugged in broad daylight by a group of young hoods as I behaviour not unlike Indians in India, and yet slightly differ- sauntered down from my hotel. Fortunately I came to no ent, perhaps more outwardly European in their manner. After physical harm and actually enjoyed recounting the episode all, they had lived among white and white-dominated black afterward. people for several generations and had acquired a certain social I heard later that in the Durban area it is the Indians who patina and accent that was quaintly agreeable. might engage in similar behaviour, and in Cape Town the petty I was fortunate to have a warm discussion with Carl criminals might be youth of mixed parentage. Needless to say, Niehaus, the ANC chief spokesman at the time. A Boer (white decades of the most vicious state-sponsored discrimination South African of Dutch descent), Niehaus was an uncom- and human degradation was taking its toll and was getting

February 2006

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reflected in the social behaviour of the deprived classes. It is useful to note that the strategy of maintaining strong Meeting Niehaus was particularly useful for me in under- ties with the West as well as big business had the support of standing a key question troubling many in India at the time. the communist bloc in the ANC led by the charismatic Joe For reasons that had to do with India’s international role in Slovo. fighting apartheid, and also the Gandhi connection, there was Other than the political people I met, I particularly a feeling among many in this country that a liberated South remember Greg Miller, an academic at the University of Africa should have a “special relationship” with us but this Wittwatersrand, and Jackie Cilliers, a former white army somehow appeared to them not quite to be the case. Perhaps officer who had established a think-tank dealing with there was here a sense of ‘moral debt repayment’. security issues at Halfway House (between Johannesburg Niehaus was sympathetic to this concern and was indeed and Pretoria). confident that the two countries would share much together Both were extremely knowledgeable and dispassionate in in time, given the overall situation, especially his own coun- their analysis and shared their insights, sans white bias, with try’s needs in several sectors which India alone was best suit- me without reservation. Jackie, whom I had first met in the ed to meet. But there were equally important considerations, U.S. when we were both on a programme conducted by the not only of routine protocol that required, at least at a formal State Department, took me to his home in the country where level, an even-handed posture toward all major nations, he had ostriches as pets! including India, but also of South But what I really looked forward The aptness of the description to during my stay in Johannesburg Africa’s immediate requirements that only the financially and techno(which turned out to be my base in “negotiated revolution” struck logically powerful West was in a South Africa), were Mandela’s press me with the force of a revelation. conferences — they were sheer position to address. But as I mulled longer over it, I magic, to say the least — at the Besides, there were palpable social anxieties about not alienating the thought this description needed Carlton before election day. He was whites. There existed in South Africa quite a performer — stately in his some fine nuancing as the end bearing and without rancour. His at the time some anxiety about a posof apartheid would hardly have crisp and sometimes witty replies to sible white exodus on account of the fear of the unknown, or for fear of a been possible but for the death- questions from the Western media, backlash that was being spread by who had descended on South defying struggle put up by the some vested interests. If this came Africa, rang in ears long after the ANC’s resistance fighters about, it would be nothing short of a event was over. disaster since the country’s financial It was clear Mandela enjoyed stupreceding the protracted quiet resources as well as expertise lay pendous goodwill with the media. conclaves between the oncechiefly in the hands of the whites and Most of the time, I would be the lone armed revolutionaries and these had to be retained for national Indian present in those press conferadvance in the changed setting. those that they were seeking to ences. I don’t recall I got to ask any As such, a close equation with the questions. This was the first time I overthrow. Western bloc — indeed as a matter of had seen the great leader in his inforpriority — suggested itself to the new mal trademark flower-patterned policymakers, even as South Africa endeavoured to redress bush-shirts that would become famous only weeks from then past wrongs inflicted by apartheid. as he would wear them everywhere on his visits overseas, and Niehaus’ sympathetic attitude and his gift for a frank anal- it didn’t matter whom he was meeting. ysis of the emerging realities was refreshing. It helped me to I had arrived in the country well in time to catch the votgain some understanding of an extremely complex canvas. It ing in the first all-race election on April 27 and witnessed the was not for nothing, I reflected, that major transnational com- first Joint Session of the new-era Parliament in Cape Town panies operating in South Africa, such as the Anglo-American, on May 9 — delayed by three days on account of the inordihad fully backed the secret negotiations between the de Klerk nately slow counting - which unanimously elected Nelson government and the ANC about the country’s future before Rohlihlala Mandela the new nation’s president — burying 350 the holding of the defining all-race elections leading to power years of colonial rule and apartheid oppression. change away from the whites. Immediately flying back to Johannesburg, I found myself The aptness of the description “negotiated revolution” on the Johannesburg-Pretoria road only days later, urging the struck me with the force of a revelation. But as I mulled longer driver to step on the gas and get me in time for the formal inauover it, I thought this description needed some fine nuancing guration - in open grounds at Pretoria - of the “government of as the end of apartheid would hardly have been possible but national unity” led by the ANC, a history-shifting event of civfor the death-defying struggle put up by the ANC’s resistance ilizational import attended by leaders from around the world. fighters preceding the protracted quiet conclaves between the In the press gallery at the parliament house in Cape Town once-armed revolutionaries and those that they were seeking I bumped into Raj Chengappa of India Today. Apparently he to overthrow. had just arrived in the country. Raj and I were the only Indian

February 2006

R E M I N I S C E N C E S journalists present on that historic occasion. result of fierce political rivalry, as the prospect of self-rule This saddened me. The press area was overflowing with emerged, between the Inkatha Freedom Party, dominated by foreign correspondents from leading countries and news the Zulus who inhabit the Kwazulu-Natal area, and the ANC, organisations, and here were just the two of us from India - whose black support came from the majority Xhosa tribe. one a hack for a daily and the other representing a fortComplicating the picture was the heated atmosphere in nightly journal. Angola and Mozambique from which refugees as well as In India’s own perception, its ties with South Africa were weapons were streaming into South Africa. An AK-47 assault something special. Apparently the word had not reached news- rifle could be picked up for the equivalent of $100. paper managements. But neither had the principal news agenI am inclined to believe that the political calming of South cies bothered sending out their own correspondents, leave Africa with the demise of apartheid, and its predictable rise as alone posting their people in a key station such as South Africa. the economic powerhouse of the sub-Saharan region, and not Mandela’s formal election as president in Cape Town was just of southern Africa, has worked to soothe nerves in the an occasion surcharged with emotions not just for people of countries that border it. South Africa but all those who empathised with the oppressed South Africa was genuinely impressive in some aspects of all over the world. The visitors’ galleries of Parliament were its modernity. From the white era, it had inherited a highly filled with men and women of different races and colours. It developed physical infrastructure of European standards, modused to be a “whites-only” Parliament before as the 80 percent ern ports, and sophisticated banking, telecommunications and majority black population were non-persons in the republican university systems. Johannesburg, built by the Boers and sense. There was no question of peofounded on gold, coal and diamond, Everything mattered and ple of colour entering the precincts of epitomised a modern metropolis. Parliament. As someone was heard Here I found a marvellous, solid, was intensely debated –– how saying, “I didn’t think I’d live to see rich, city, European in tone, layout, to allot land to the blacks this day.” architecture, and the facilities it without expropriating the Dr. Freni Ginwala, who was offered such as restaurants and clubs. elected Speaker, called on a Muslim But the country’s surreal dichotowhites, how to create jobs, priest seated in the distinguished vismy was visible in black townships how to find the money to itors’ gallery to say a prayer for the such as Soweto, located on the outexpand health and education dispensation that had just been ushskirts of the great city. Soweto was a ered in. The priest called on Allah sprawling slum with few facilities, among the majority populace, “not to abandon us now in this hour the relationship between trade littered narrow streets, and poorly of need.” The Parliament chamber maintained housing. There was unions and big business and and the galleries resounded with cries some irony in the fact that tour comof “Amen” as the priest ended with panies took guests around for visits the reorganisation of the “Long live our beloved president, our to the townships as part of a “slum South African Defence Forces Mr. Nelson Mandela”. tourism” package. by overhauling their old Before Parliament convened that The country was naturally morning, a police lieutenant from schizophrenic. According to the character. Interesting times, Transkei, turned out in the spiritual U.N. Human Development Report, indeed. gear of the Xhosa tribe (to which if only the white population was conMandela belongs), ululated on his sidered, South Africa ranked 24th in whistle as the president-elect entered Parliament house. the world in terms of per capita income, just below Spain. If At the Johannesburg airport when I first arrived in the the blacks too were thrown into reckoning, the ranking would country, I overheard two young white gentlemen, who had plummet to 123, just above Congo but behind Lesotho, evidently flown in home after a gap, speak with emotion about Zimbabwe and (the then) Vietnam. “the new South Africa”. I was impressed. There was in their In 1994, only 11 percent of the black population above the tone neither bitterness nor irony. Clearly, the white people age of 18 years had studied beyond class 10, compared to 40 wanted to believe Mandela and the ANC when they said South percent Indians and 61 percent whites. The quality of schoolAfrica was the common home of all those who lived there, and ing for the three categories was also different, in keeping with that there would be no reverse apartheid. apartheid-era thinking. In my hotel, too, there was perfect camaraderie between the Pretoria, the country’s capital, is about an hour’s drive from black and the white staff. Often I would see gentle, mutual rib- Johannesburg — a quiet, neat, government town that you bing. In situations where the two races were thrown together, wouldn’t particularly want to visit other than on business, in I noticed neither triumphalism nor sullenness. This struck some ways reminiscent of Lutyen’s Delhi but not as exciting me as quite extraordinary. in the historical sense. The government buildings are impresRace relations clearly had little to do with the violence that sive, however. was in the air. About 11,000 people had been killed in the past Durban in Natal on the Indian Ocean coast and the counthree years but this was generally black-on-black violence, the try’s most important port, was quite different from

February 2006

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Johannesburg. The city is English, rather than European. The lapse of the Soviet era. In South Africa, the discussion was surrounding countryside, too, seems very English with its about the RDP, the Reconstruction and Development rolling downs. The city reminded me of “British Bombay” a Programme of Mandela’s government of national unity. good deal in the way it was laid out. Everything mattered and was intensely debated — how to The majority of the population in these parts is diaspora allot land to the blacks without expropriating the whites, how Indian who appeared to be quite entrenched in commerce and to create jobs, how to find the money to expand health and eduthe professions. I also had the opportunity to visit the Phoenix cation among the majority populace, and the occasionally sharp Farm set up by Gandhiji. This is now retained as a memori- arguments on the relationship between the trade unions and big al. Not far from here I went across to the housing blocks of business, whose support the government could not do without, working class Indian families who, in their outlook, appeared and the reorganization of the South African Defence Forces by to be quite self-contained, if that’s the right word. No, the lega- overhauling their old character. Interesting times, indeed. cy of Gandhi is not something anyone recalls in this region. This was a truly a period of radical transformation, comI was overcome parable in modern with emotion history to the two when I drove out to world wars, the see the Russian revoluPietermaritzburg tion, its collapse station, not far from 75 years later, and Durban, where the freedom of Gandhi was humilIndia from coloiatingly thrown out nial rule that from a first class would kick off the train compartment process of the at midnight on unravelling of the account of his empire over colour. The rest is, which the sun did of course, history. not set. I was But that is not what grateful to the I was thinking. gods for the Memories came opportunity to be rushing to me of a privilege witness the times I had read to this historic that story as a event. schoolboy, and I My South may think of African safari had countless other not ended yet Indian school-chilthough I would dren who had read not know this as I ‘It’s Our Turn Now’ by Madelaine Georgette. Oil, 1997. This painting refers or heard about that to post-Apartheid South Africa where black women are now in decision-making left the country in history-making positions and are playing a major role in the leadership of the the winter (our moment countless country. (Photo, as it appears www.studiogeorgette.com) summer) of 1994. times. I hit the same trail Cape Town to the south, not from the Cape of Good some years later as a member of the media team accompanyHope, is enchanting in its beauty. The Cape area is again Boer ing then prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral. and this is Boer country by the sea. Not far from here are the This time I saw a revolution that seemed to be settling great vineyards of South Africa where world-class wines are down. The discussions this time around were at a governmade. Alas, I couldn’t make the time for a visit though I had ment-to government level as the two countries forged a made the arrangements. The Table Mountain within the city “strategic partnership.” This really was the crux of the “speis a much talked about feature, which is said to define its beau- cial relationship” many Indians had once hoped for, and it now ty, though I dare say I was not bowled over by its fabled appeared to be on its way. charms. But the sea-front and the road that winds up and I remember with special pleasure the experience of being down the coast are really quite terrific. interviewed two nights running on the main English televiIn the transition period from white rule to democracy when sion news bulletin at the South African Broadcasting I first visited South Africa, the country was bristling with polit- Corporation studios in Durban. ical discussion. It was like the beginning of time and I was More than a decade later, I relish happy memories of that reminded a little of the days that I’d spent in Moscow and eventful trip –– all that high drama and excitement makes other parts of Russia after the fall of Gorbachev and the col- you yearn for more interesting times. ■

February 2006

H E A L T H

Two Ways of Healing: FAITH and SCIENCE R.A. Olaoye compares the concept of sickness and health in modern science and the traditional healers of the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria and argues for a synthesis of faith and science in delivering quality health care to the people.

or the purpose of understanding, it is important to explain the context in which the words “modern sciences” and “traditional faith” are used in this study. Modern science is used in relation to modern medical practice which utilises orthodox medicine in the treatment of sickness. The traditional faith, on the other hand, has to do with the traditional belief that adopts the use of traditional medicine in dealing with sickness. In this context, both science and faith have a common goal of providing health-care delivery to the people. But while the objective is the same, the approach is not. This is so because of basic differences in the method and process adopted by each of them. Likewise, while both recognise what constitutes sickness, their opinions on the causes of sickness differ in fundamental respects. The point is that in the Yoruba traditional faith, most sicknesses that afflict man are not natural. Rather, they are always considered as the product of supernatural forces.1 But modern science thinks differently in that it believes that any sickness is a function of the disorderliness or derangement in the bio-chemical system of man’s body. It is the opposed views of the Yoruba traditional faith and science that inform differences in the methods adopted in the cure of sickness. This study, which examines the positions of modern science and the Yoruba traditional faith on sickness, focuses on how the two phenomena react to the composite aspects of sickness such as diagnoses, causes and treatments. Like in modern science, sickness in traditional faith is usually diagnosed. The method of diagnosis is, however, not the same. This is because the concept of sickness in traditional faith does not rest on the physical aspect of man and disease alone. Rather, the concept sees man as a combination of body, mind and spirit.2 These three aspects are regarded as crucial to what can cause sickness in man, and, accordingly, given due attention in trado-medical diagnosis. In the process of diagnosis, the Yoruba traditional medicine man usually adopts a holistic approach of probing into the

physical and spiritual elements of sickness. In doing this, he may, among other things, resort to the consultation of ifa oracle, ritual sacrifices and incantations. As far as this aspect is concerned, some authors have in their works eloquently discussed the value of the Yoruba native knowledge and this should not bother us much here.3 It is pertinent, however, to stress that all of these methods of getting at the root of sickness are intrinsically part of the traditional faith since there is hardly any sickness, death or calamity which can be said to be natural among the Yoruba people in particular and the people of Africa in general.4 The spiritual aspect of man figures prominently in this process of diagnosis. In this regard, there is always a recourse to the celestial being of the sick person. This is to find out what, in practical terms, is responsible for the problem of the patient. Thus, in addition to other means already mentioned above, the Yoruba native doctor usually employs the services of deity of divination called “osanyin” in order to consult “the unseen hand”. The deity may be interrogated either verbally or in the mind, to unravel the misery behind the problem of the patient.5 In most cases, a deity of divination provides a clue to the inquiry about sickness. Apparently, medical science is fundamentally different from the traditional medical method of diagnosis. Its concentration is essentially on the body of the patient as anything spiritual in sickness is not known to science. Consequently, what it does to diagnose sickness is to conduct tests based on blood, stool, urine, saliva, body pressure and, of course, x-ray.6 It should be pointed out that even though x-ray may appear unique in this category, its relative efficiency cannot go beyond the physical elements of sickness. Going by different methods of diagnosis adopted by modern science and the Yoruba tradition, it follows ipso facto that the causes of sickness in each of them are bound to be different. Because the traditional faith relies more on indigenous processes, the causes of sickness or any adversity for that matter, are not in any way ordinary. Accordingly, there is the belief that sickness is inflicted on man as a result of a plethora of causes that escapes the notice of ordinary eyes.

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Once there is sickness, the first culprit is the witchcraft. a punishment. In this regard, sickness is seen as a direct punWhether among the Yoruba or any other African community ishment for sin against the gods and the ancestors.11 Science differs fundamentally from the traditional posior, for that matter anywhere in the world, a witchcraft is believed to possess magical powers and can, therefore, influ- tion on sin as the cause of sickness. The orthodox medical science the affairs of man for good or for ill.7 In the context of ence finds it difficult to believe that sin has any thing to do with the Yoruba faith, however, a witchcraft is equated to anything sickness. At best, it is regarded as an assumption which runs evil and as such is a dreaded phenomenon full of diabolical parallel to the scientific belief. Indeed, the assumption of sin activities. Wizardry and sorcery also use the power of evil spir- as a cause of sickness is seen by science as a figment of the imagits and, therefore, function in the same way as witchcraf.8 ination. One may point to the fact that there are lots of people Jointly and severally all of these are often believed to be the in every community who despite being sinners are never sick causes of sickness for man through multiple sources such as to argue in favour of the scientific view. the accident, stomach disorder, headache, fever, cold, sleepIn human community, the idea of enemy is certainly not lessness, night/day-light dream, schizophrenial stooling, diar- new. Among the Yoruba, however, it would appear that the rhoea, small pox, chicken-pox and body-itching. idea has been elevated to the level of traditional dogma. This In the realm of medical science, it does not appear that the is apparent in one of the several sayings that “ehinkule l’ota wa, traditional position on witchcraft and its cohorts has any place. ile ni aseni ngbe” which literally implies “the enemy is in one’s The fact of the matter is that rather than suppositions, science backyard and the slanderer resides with one at home”.12 Thus stands by empirical data in its search for the cause of sickness.9 in the Yoruba society, the traditional belief in enemy and allied What one is saying here is that in its search for the causation immanent diabolical schemes are naturally a constant source of sickness, science probes the behaviour of microbes and of neurotic fear. In this mind-set, when any bad thing befalls other disease organisms in conjunction man, including sickness, it must be the with the behaviour of their hosts. It is the handiwork of the enemy. complexity of the problems which lie at In science the idea of enemy as a the heart of medical science that probasource of sickness is quite illogical. This bly explain why in its enquiry, the target is because sickness is located within a sciof science is always the “kingdom” of entific cause of element disorder in one germs and their agents. part of the body or another. The enemy Due to the position of science on can manifest himself through assault in sickness, it is common in modern times, the forms of physical combat, gun-shot, especially among the educated elites, to the use of dangerous weapons, etc., the rubbish the traditional belief of the peoaftermath of which results in sickness. ple, for instance, in witch-craft as the Therefore, the claim that an enemy can causative agent of sickness, death or any inflict sickness through supernatural other adversities that may befall man. means is yet to be established in science. They are of the view that such a belief The spiritual dimension of sickness in was a result of ignorance of the past the Yoruba traditional belief appears when people were bereft of formal edurather intriguing, but the belief is promication, science and technology and new nent and the concept of sickness is often ideas of how some things work in located within it. Although a condition of ‘Witch Doctor’ by Kenyan artist human life. Plausible as this view sin can be linked to spiritual afflictions at Moses Nyawanda. Oil on paper. appears, it probably can not stand the times, it would appear that the spiritual test of time because today, in spite of the high level of for- angle of sickness is in its own distinct realm. The reasons for mal education and modern science, the belief in witchcraft spiritual disharmony are many: Bad dream, the fear of ghost, and related supernatural forces is as rife among the people as the neglect of traditional worships and observances, indifferit was in the “dark” period.10 ence to the wish of ifa oracle and similar local deities. A man Within the Yoruba traditional faith, sin also plays a central usually carries spiritual burden, which is believed to be a strong role in what can bring sickness to man. This is seen in two source of sickness.13 In medical science, what appears to have a spiritual connospheres: The sin against the ancestors and the sin against the gods. The two spheres are intricately interwoven in that in mat- tation is psychological sickness. Psychology has to do with the ters of sin, references are usually made to both of them inter- state of the mind and the way it works and influences changeably. But while the ancestors are the forefathers or fore- behaviour. This type of sickness is usually imagined real. It may bears from whom one has descended, the gods/goddesses are be a function of fear of the unknown or excessive worry due deities (orisa) of worship. A sin against either or both of them to sudden circumstances. Thus while spiritual sickness has occurs when there is a contravention of the norms, customs celestial connotation, the one arising from psychology does and traditions guiding man’s behaviours towards the two of not. In this way, the spiritual and psychological sicknesses them either severally or jointly. Whatever be the context, the mean different thing to both science and traditional faith.14 In the context of the belief that every sickness among the traditional belief is that once a sin is committed, there must be

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H E A L T H Yoruba has its root in tradition, the system of treatment applied rests on the traditional medical practice, which is peculiar to the Yoruba community. Treatment generally relies on traditional medicine which interweaves various processes. The processes are time-tested and invariably effective so much so that the Yoruba have a time-honored saying that: Ewe gbogbo kiki ogun Ogun ti aba sa ti oje Ewe re loku kan (All leaves are medicinal The medicine which is not efficacious Must have lacked one type of herb or the other.)15 Indeed, in the treatment of the sick by the Yoruba, the use of herbal medicine occupies a very central position. It should be stressed that in the application of treatment, there is no hard and fast rule as to what to apply first or at what point to begin. Rather, each case of sickness is treated on its own merit. Part of the treatment is to prepare incense for the sick. This often involves the processing of leaves or a combination of leaves, roots and barks of tree for incense heat therapy.16 The incense heat treatment, which is called “turari”, is particularly applied in the case of sickness suspected to have been products of foul means by enemies. The remedy involves making the patient warm with the flames coming out of the incense burnt by charcoal fire. According to traditional medicine men –– called alternative medical practitioners in modern times –– the use of herbal incense is of utmost importance in dealing with metaphysical forces, which may impede the efficacy of subsequent treatment that will be administered to the patient. Apparently, incense heat treatment is not known in orthodox medical science. This may be due to the position of science which does not recognise supernatural forces as far as sickness is concerned. Indeed, in orthodox medical practice, the use of incense comes in only as deodorant or smell expellant when the patient is already dead. One other aspect of traditional treatment is therapeutic occultism. Occultism is said to belong to the realm of mystery in which the traditional healer deals with the unseen but powerful metaphysical forces. In the exercise, incantations or invocations are mostly involved.17 Naturally, an occultist is clairvoyant and endowed with extra sensory power. Accordingly, he is capable of sending out and receiving telepathic messages. It is also not unusual for him to undertake conscious astral journeys. In this respect, there are chances that the traditional medical practitioner would succeed in curing his patient. When it becomes necessary, it is not uncommon for the native doctor to engage in divinations and sacrifices in the course of treating the sick. The divination is to enable him to know what type of treatment to give. The sacrifice, on the other hand, is to appease the forces behind the ailment of the sick person. Once the sacrifice is accepted, the type of treatment to apply will be unraveled by divination. Through this process, the sick usually receives cure. In either occultism or sacrifice, medical science is apparently powerless. In the first instance, medical science is far

removed from the realm of metaphysics. The branch of medical science which perhaps imitates this aspect of trado-medical science is x-ray. But as already pointed out earlier in this work, x-ray has its limitations as it can only show what is natural. In this regard, when medical x-ray comes into contact with supernatural ailment, the result is always negative. Herein, therefore, lies the weakness of science in matters related to sickness of metaphysical nature. The use of herbal drugs is an important practice in tradomedical therapy. Herbal drugs are in the form of water solution (agbo); concocted diet (aseje); body lotion (ipara); pounded roots, leaves and barks of tree (agunmu), and powdered herbal materials for use either with oil or with water (lubulubu).18 The use of any of the above methods of treatment depends on the nature of the sickness. It should be stressed, however, either in curative or preventive treatment, it is natural in traditional medicine to use a combination of herbal drugs in the course of treating a patient. In fact, most traditional methods work in combinations and the quickest results are often obtained when several roots, herbs, barks, leaves, etc., are combined by the experienced traditional practitioner to formulate compound drugs. Although the use of drugs is a well-known convention in medical science, not all the processes adopted in the formulation of drugs can be said to be fool-proof. For instance, a test for effectiveness of a drug on germs and animals in order to find out its reactions on human beings is anything but realistic. This is because such a drug test conducted on animals in laboratories can hardly produce accurate results when dealing with human beings.19 Indeed, from the point of view of traditional medicine, which relies more on natural processes, such experiments conducted with animals like pigs, rabbits, cats, rats, etc., are somehow irrational and will only produce faulty results. It must be noted that the human being is not just an ordinary animal in that he has cosmic vibration and eats food, which differs from that of an animal. In this regard, human beings and animals will surely react differently to the application of a drug. In fact, an animal which generates a low vibrative force will find it difficult to resist the invasion of foreign elements and, therefore, reject it. This, no doubt, will cause harm to a particular organ which medical science may note down in error.20 In Nigeria, about 80 percent of the people who are sick consult the traditional doctors.21 This, as earlier noted, must have been due to the people’s faith in the wide-ranging nature of traditional medicine, which cures not only the body but also the spirit. Cases abound whereby patients are rejected in the hospital due to the inability of the Western medicine to treat some peculiar sicknesses which are thought to be outside the realm of orthodox medical science. The dictum “efi ese ile to” which literally means, “Consult the elders for traditional treatment”, summarises the situation well.22 It is a well-known fact that sickness which is a result of witchcraft spells, evil spirit attacks, astral and cosmic influences, to mention but a few, is usually referred to the traditional medical practitioner. Thus, conditions such as those of

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pregnancy, mental illness, stomach-upset, fever, head-ache, madness, emaciation, stooling, schizophrenia, broken-bone, etc., which come about as a result of unseen forces are always better handled by the traditional medical institution other than the orthodox medical center. The traditional remedies are, in fact, simple and in most cases the drugs enter the body in the form of food. There are also instances when the patient neither eats nor drinks or even manages to get treatment. In such an instance, it would be enough for the sick to mutter incantations on the remedy and blow it into the air or throw it somewhere as may be prescribed by the traditional healer. Moreover, the herbs for cure can be obtained from the immediate environment of the healer and most of his patients. Apart from the fact that the curative herbs are cheap to obtain and prepare, they are also more suitable to the body chemistry of the patient than the foreign drugs with different climactic conditions and cultural backgrounds.23 Thus, it is not surprising that in spite of the prominent position of medical science in the world today, a good number of people, particularly in Nigeria, continue to patronise the traditional medical institutions. Over 12,500 herbal preparations are competing for a piece of the business.24 In this study, an attempt has been made to analyse the concept of sickness in modern science and traditional faith of the Yoruba. The analysis pointed out that save for the same goal of curing the sick, modern science and traditional faith have different modes of operation. As shown in the study, modern science is only concerned with the physical body in its bid to cure sickness. But sickness goes beyond the physical body as

it can be metaphysical as well. The study has tried to demonstrate how the traditional therapy takes care of both the physical and supernatural sickness of man. To sum up, modern science and traditional faith, because of the differences in concept, apply different methods of dealing with sickness. In the treatment of sickness, science relies on orthodox medical approach which uses the method of laboratory tests, x-rays, water-drips, tablets, vaccine injections, etc., all of which concentrate on the body. On the other hand, the herbal treatment differs in certain fundamental ways. In particular, the aspect of the traditional therapy, which deals with the spiritual elements of sickness, is unique. The traditional belief is that the causes of sickness are more often that not very unnatural. Accordingly, the study drew attention to the paraphernalia of the traditional medical practice such as the deities of divination, offerings, sacrifices, incantations, etc., all of which target the cure of sickness. It is posited that orthodox medical science lacks the foregoing attributes. However, modern science has the same objective of curing a sick person. Even if the modes of operation are different from one another, and although people continue to patronise the herbal homes despite the ever-increasing number of hospitals and clinics, one thing is clear: Both modern science and traditional faith have the same basic objective of health-care delivery to the people. Given the fact the science and faith complement one another particularly in matters of sickness, it would be worthwhile to explore how both can work together towards a holistic health-care delivery system in Nigeria. ■

Notes and References

8. Mume, ‘Traditional Medicine and Development..’ p.5. 9. Krugman et. al., ‘Studies on Natural History…’, pp.101-104 10. Oral Interview, Chief Bakare Malomo, c.97, Traditional Medicine-Man, Ago-Ikotun, August, 2003. 11. Ibid. 12. Oral Interview, Pa Ariori Awotele, c.100, native doctor, IlaOdo, February 2004. 13. Ibid. 14. G.A. Mohammed, ‘The Development of Traditional Psychiatric Medicine in Nigeria, 1930-1995’. (B.A. Dissertation, University of Ilorin, June, 1999) p.40. 15. Oral Interview, Pa Ariori Awotele… 16. A. Tella ‘African Traditional Medicine…’, p.36 17. Ibid p.37 18. Oral Interview, Chief Baskare Malomo…. 19. Mume, ‘Traditional Medicine And Development…’, p.7. 20. Ibid. 21. T. Odumosu, ‘How to Use Herbal Medicine Safely’, Nigerian Tribune, 2nd June, 2005, p.25. 22. Oral Interview, Chief Nuhu Oba Ologun, c.86, Native Doctor, Ilorin, September, 2004. 23. D.N. Lantum, ‘Searching for the African Personality in the Traditional Medicine-man of Africa: The Cameroon experience’ in Okpaku et. al (eds.), The Arts and Civilization…p.47. 24. Odumosu, ‘How to use Herbal Medicine…’, p.25.

1. A. Tella, ‘African Traditional Medicine and Modern Health Practices: Prospects of Integration’ in J. Okapu et. al. (eds.), ‘The Arts And Civilisation Of Black African Peoples’, Centre for Black Arts and Civilisation, 1996, Vol. 8, p.37. 2. J.O. Mume, ‘Traditional Medicine and Development of Modern Pharmaceutical Industry in Nigeria’ (paper on Culture, Economy and National Development, Bauchi. NAFEST 1989, December 1989) p.5. 3. P. Ade Dopammu, ‘ESU: The Invisible Foe of Man’, IjebuOde, Sebiotimo Publications, 2000. CF, P. Ade Dopamu, Ma Dari Kan: Ofo Isegun, Ibadan, Sefer, 2000. 4. A. Sofowora, Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa, New York, Wiley Publication 1984, pp.36-40. 5. R.O. Rom Kalilu, ‘Medicine, Divination and Art: Osanyin Among the Yoruba’, The Nigerian Field Vol. 56, 97-108, 1993, Passim. 6. S. Krugman et. al., ‘Studies on Natural History and Prevention Re-examined’, Journal of Medicine, Vol. 300, No.3, Jan. 1979, pp.101-104. 7. S.J. Watts, ‘The Medical Dimension in Early Modern European History: A Much Modified Indealist Synthesis’, (paper for Conference of Historical Society of Nigeria, Maiduguri, April, 1981) p.9.

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Across an OCEAN of Wealth V.S. Sheth chronicles the pivotal role of the Indian Ocean in fostering trade and cultural ties between India and Africa

he Indian Ocean –– the only ocean which is land-locked in the north, east, and west while open in the south –– is spread over 17,000,000 square miles, which is smaller than the area covered by the Atlantic and Pacific ocean. The ocean is divided into two by the Indian peninsula from which it derives its name. On the left and right of the Indian peninsula are two seas providing access to the peninsular goods to Southeast Asian, Arab and African countries. The Indian Ocean1 provides to and fro passage from east to west for the ships travelling from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Being land-locked in three directions, it provides narrow entry exit points for transiting goods by ocean waters. Anything which blocks entryexit points will disrupt the flow of trade in the Indian Ocean entailing severe economic consequences for the countries all over the globe. The ocean littoral has several gulfs, bays and possess natural harbours, which makes its possible to trade with the hinterland through ocean waters. The ecosystem and climactic condition on ocean littoral and hinterland are deeply influenced by the geophysical conditions of the ocean. The large portion of ocean floor falls within the tropics, giving rise to seasonal wind patterns and changing climates on the land. Socio-economic and political systems in the hinterland are influenced by the huge mass of ocean waters situated nearby. The population on the rim, far from overflowing into the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, have developed self-production and trading patterns. The maritime significance of the ocean is inextricably linked with the history of east and southeast Africa, Persia, India and the Indonesian islands. There exists a close relationship between the naval and economic histories of the lands

and peoples of Indian Ocean. Though the smallest of the three great oceans on the world, it is almost at the centre of the Orient with its ancient civilisations. The geographical location as a middle sea between the Atlantic and South West Pacific is the most important resource of the Indian Ocean. In the past, man was chiefly concerned with the surface of the sea and shallow sea beds. But with the advance of technology in modern times, man’s ability to explore and acquire riches in and below the seabed is increasing apace. Money and skills are required to draw upon the ocean’s resources, and the advanced countries of the world are investing large sums in research and technology so as to tap undersea resources more efficiently. The Indian Ocean possesses rich reserves of minerals and livestock resource. Nodules of phosphate and manganese on the continent shelf, high-density brines, sediments rich in heavy metals such as zinc, copper, lead, silver, gold in the Red Sea and other basins, vast reserves of natural gas and oil in the off-shore areas and large quantity of different types of fish and minerals exist for exploitation. Several extraregional powers such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Soviet Union take away large catches of fish by means of sonarbased equipment from the waters of the Indian Ocean. India has a long coastline (400 km) and a vast continental shelf (450,000 km). The Indian Institute of Oceanography in Goa has been doing tireless research in geological and geophysical exploration of the continental shelf. The terrigenous deposits containing monazite, limonite, zircon and garner, magnetite, sillimanite, kyanite occur in the black sands along the coasts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra. Far away from the land and continental shelves, scientists have discovered large quantities of manganese iron in the Bay

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of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and near the Malagasy coast. The control. Since ancient times, life on the ocean littoral has been continental shelves south of Sumatra, the Persian Gulf, Red influenced by trade. Sea, and the Malaysian waters contain large amounts of tin, Interactions between local African societies living on the gold, sea food and petroleum. ocean littoral and aliens settled on African shores blossomed The ocean resources are matched by the resources on land. into new cultural and linguistic forms such as Swahili and India and African countries on the east and south-east coast African cultures in the east and the south while African possess minerals for domestic and export purposes. Iron ore, slaves captured by the traders were carried to India for gem stones, diamonds, gold, silver, tin, mica, salt, copper, oil, increasing military strength and manual labour available chromites, coal, manganese, nickel, tin and bauxite are avail- with the Indian kings. able in plenty in the African countries and India. The trade in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans from the 16th India has a quarter of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iron ore and is the third- to 19th centuries gave rise to historical determinant in the highest producer of manganese. Besides trading in these, shape of slave trade and colonialism. Colonisation of Africa in Indian and African countries produce tea, coffee, tobacco, cot- the 19th century entailed severe economic and political conton, sisal, sesame, cloves, sugar, cocoa beans, vanilla, coconuts, sequences. wood products and fresh fruits for sending these to world The migration of people to the east and southern Africa market using ocean waters. transformed these societies into multi-ethnic in character and The warm waters of the Indian Ocean have provided a those in West Africa were debased of manpower resources. good medium for inter- and intra-regional trade and migra- Second, the African continent witnessed uneven development tion of people long before the birth of Christianity. The river at the internal and intra-regional levels and the economies systems of Mesopotamia facilitated trans-shipment of goods were integrated into metropolitan European economies, givbetween ancient India and the Greek and Roman empires, ing birth to situation of integral dependency. and the trade from Central Asia flowed to the ocean before Third, colonial powers arbitrarily segmented African peoheading for distant places. An account of intra-regional trade ple into different spheres of influence, which provided the in the Indian Ocean was detailed in Greek writings 2,000 basis for the transfer of power to the Africans in the post-war years back. period. These colonial legacies continue to bedevil African The importance of the Indian Ocean increased gradually states after 50 years of achieving independence. The east and over a period of time. The Europeans created new entry exit southeast African countries and islands of western Indian points for the ships to travel from the Mediterranean Ocean Ocean were populated by migrant Indians who through their to the Red Sea and the mobility and capacities of the ships to hard work and skills occupied important positions in the social, carry men and material increased with the arrival of steamship economic and political hierarchies after 1960 and, in some navigation in the 19th century. cases, political power through their numerical superiority. The Indian Ocean is like a pond with the life on its edges The Indian Ocean continues to play the role of a determiinfluencing life on its nant under changed shores. According to India-A global conditions. Africa Trade Mabel Jackson Under the current During the year 2003, India's exports to East, South-East and island Haight, historical phase of globalisation countries of Africa were on the increase though these constituted a small determinants reach and interdependence, part of global exports received by the African countries into the Indian Ocean trade and cooperation from almost all parts (Figures in U.S. $ Million) among the Indian of the world and December 2002 December 2003 Growth in % Ocean littoral counexplains the influence tries has assumed fresh of the region.2 significance. Botswana 2.88 3.66 25 The arrival of Ethiopia The economic 46.26 61.14 32.4 traders by the ocean Kenya development of the 147.62 147.95 0.22 route culminated in Indian Ocean littoral Madagascar 9.06 25.53 181.82 the colonisation of litand island states conMauritius 126.36 144.14 12.29 toral societies as the tinue to lag west. Areas 47.06 26.45 flag followed the trade Mozambique 37.21 around the Indian 4.32 7.60 75.67 and church missionar- Seychelles Ocean are rich in 373.87 343.10 8.33 ies in Africa and India. South Africa physical and natural 18.149 31.94 60 The Indian and Tanzania resources but contin48.32 63.52 31.49 African societies, for Uganda ue to remain poor and the first time in histo- Zambia underdeveloped. A 11.05 14.45 37 ry, did not face exter- Zimbabwe close look at the 11.83 17.31 46.36 nal attacks aimed at growth figures reveals Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exports in 2000-2001 were 4.08 percent of the total global exports. subjugating them wide disparities in per Source: commerce.nic.in//focus_africa.htm#6 under alien political capita economic

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growth rate of India and those in the African littoral Agriculture is a predominant activity of the majority of the African countries, on the whole, have the lowest per capi- population of east and southeast African countries. ta growth rate growth rate (of 2.3 percent during 1960-2000) Encouraged by the success achieved by the Indian farmers in as compared to the per capita growth rate achieved by other West African countries, 500 Indian farmers have been sent to developing regions situated in east, south and southeast Asia. Kenya to set up model farms on government-leased land for In order to enhance economic development of the western boosting agricultural production. Indian Ocean littoral and island states through self-reliance, Free trade intersects at the educational and public health trade and production cooperation, an Indian Ocean Region levels. Free trade can succeed only if well-informed and Association of Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) has been healthy manpower is available. While offering modern educaestablished. tional and training institutions, India has offered cooperation The trade among countries of the south during the 1980s to African states in research and development of cheap critical had shown consistent growth though it was unable to breach medicines for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, typhoid and the neo-colonial linkages that African countries have with the TB. Indian medicines are popular in countries like Zambia, West. Though free trade and open markets are important Kenya and Tanzania. instrumentalities for Indian and Exploitation of natural physical Global inter-dependence is African countries for achieving highresources is another area in which er growth rates in a unipolar, inter- impinging on the western Indian Indian public sector companies could dependent world, free trade needs to Ocean countries and India. India help. Oil and Natural Gas be supplemented by increasing coopCommission’s (ONGC) overseas is economically and militarily eration between India and Africa for arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) is better placed than African self-reliant development. The Indian participating in multinational collabOcean continues to remain an countries and must increase its oration in the exploitation and transimportant carrier for strengthening portation of oil and natural gas in capabilities to build mutually trade, investment, technology-transSudan and several other African beneficial and cooperative fer and exchanging manpower states. Indian private investment is resources for the development of relations with African states on increasing and there are several joint human skills. 3 ventures in Kenya and Mauritius. the western Indian Ocean India desires economic and techThe Indian automobile, informalittoral. African countries are in tion technology (IT) and pharmanological cooperation with the African countries for expanding the the immediate neighbourhood of ceutical sectors are beginning to do terrain of harmonious and interIndia. The Indian Ocean has tied good business in several African states dependent coexistence between such as Zambia, Tanzania, South them in an age-old relationship Africa and Senegal. Trade is imporopen, diverse and inclusive societies. There are several areas in which India tant in boosting economic growth out of which India cannot can cooperate with African countries and upgrading cooperation between extricate itself. It is, therefore, bordering the western Indian Ocean. India and Africa. The Indian prudent on our part to help During their recent visits to Africa, Department of Commerce has instithe top leadership of India has offered tuted the ‘Focus Africa’ programme African countries to grow and the country’s technical and profesto promote Indian trade and investbecome self-reliant. sional expertise for the following: ment with the eastern, southeastern ❖ Setting up a seamless, integrated and western Indian Ocean island satellite fibre optic wireless network in three years time con- countries of Africa, and EXIM Bank offers lines of credit to necting all 53 countries of the African Union. Indian businesses to cover risk in trading with African states. ❖ Establishing in Mauritius and other African states instituThese efforts at promoting trade and cooperation with tions of excellence in the fields of technology, management and African states have enhanced India’s trade with Africa, though medicines on the lines of those available in India. in absolute terms it remains small.4 Indian exports to Africa ❖ And to technologically upgrade African small and medium in contemporary times have broken new grounds and there is industries for employment generation and train African youth a mix of traditional consumer items and engineering and manin entrepreneurship through government and private sector ufactured products. Chemicals, iron and steel, and pharmasupport. ceutical products of India’s export basket to east and south Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated Africa are also increasing. 5 a cyber tower in Mauritius, built with Indian financial and Besides the ‘Focus Africa’ programme, the Indian govtechnical help, and welcomed its participation in the Pan ernment has offered to the members of Southern African African Network. Indian private and public sector companies Customs Union (SACU) and to Egypt preferential and Free can also usefully participate in building roads, bridges, railway Trade Agreements (FTAs) to boost trade and the Indian lines, power and low-cost housing, hotels, airports on a build- prime minister has offered to Mauritius a Comprehensive operate-transfer basis in these countries. Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement with

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India, to be anchored around an FTA. India has ancient trading relations with the African continent, which have been transformed from those between communities living on littoral to that between nation-states under the impact of global changes. The conditions in the Indian Ocean region have undergone a radical change in recent times with the growth of global terrorism, low-intensity conflicts in littoral countries and sustained interest of extra regional powers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and others for ensuring the safety of the global trade to and from the Indian Ocean and exploit resources both in the deep-sea bed, continental shelves and on land. The countries of the western Indian Ocean region are small, economically underdeveloped, politically and socially fragile, and militarily weak. They continue to maintain close linkages with former colonial powers. France and the United States have their military presence in the Indian Ocean region. The existing power vacuum has combined with the rich economic potential to create a potentially explosive situation in the western Indian Ocean region. Relations between India and the African countries bordering western Indian Ocean have to be viewed against this emergent background in a unipolar, inter-dependent world. India

is a nuclear power and has strong military strength. Indian naval and ground forces have played an important role in maintaining peace in Somalia in the 1990s and recently the Indian Navy provided protection cover to the Africa Union Summit meeting in Mozambique. Besides, India has to safeguard narrow entry and exit points in the Indian Ocean from hostile takeover, provide safe passage on the high seas to Indian and world shipping lines in the face of terrorist threats, prevent smuggling of narcotics and arms useful in low-intensity conflicts, preserve and protect resources on the seabed and the continental shelves for the benefit of littoral countries, guard against state collapses and failures endangering Indian investment, trade, and lives of the Indian immigrant community. Global inter-dependence is impinging on the Western Indian Ocean countries and India. India is economically and militarily better placed than African countries and must increase its capabilities to build mutually beneficial and cooperative relations with African states on the western Indian Ocean littoral. African countries are in the immediate neighbourhood of India. The Indian Ocean has tied them in an age-old relationship out of which India cannot extricate itself. It is, therefore, prudent on our part to help African countries to grow and become self-reliant. ■

Notes

Mimeographed; November 2005. 4. There is a great potential for the export of engineering goods from India to several African countries. These include agricultural implements and machinery, irrigation equipment and water pumps, diesel sets, mining machinery, pharmaceutical drugs, electronic goods, bicycles and parts, automobiles and auto components, leather goods, consumer agricultural products, gems and jewellery, and household appliances. India offers a large market for imports from Africa such as wood pulp and products, mineral products, plastic materials, artificial resins, chemicals, asbestos, newsprint, rough diamonds, various agro-products, latest mining and power generation technologies. B.P. Dhaka, Ibid. 5. V.S. Sheth (ed.); ‘Indian Ocean Region: Conflict and Cooperation’; Allied Publishers, Bombay; 2004.

1. Alvin J. Cottrell, R.M. Burrell (ed.); ‘The Indian Ocean: Its Political, Economic and Military Importance’; Praeger Publishers, London; 1973. 2. Mabel V. Jackson Haight; ‘European Powers and SouthEast Africa –– 1776-1886’; Routledge and Keagen Paul, London; 1967; Revised Edition. 3. Indian exports to Africa in contemporary times have broken new grounds. Besides the traditional consumer items such as rice, pulses, tobacco, grains, meat, sugar, jute, oil seeds, cotton yarn and fabrics, India has begun exporting equipment, machinery, manufactures, iron and steel, pharmaceutical drugs, chemical and allied items, glass and glassware. B.P. Dhaka, ‘Indo-African Cooperation’; Paper

References 1. Shanti Sadiq Ali and R.R. Ramchandani (ed.); ‘India and the Western Indian Ocean States’; Allied Publishers, Bombay; 1981. 2. Satish Chandra (ed.); ‘Indian Ocean: Explorations in History Commerce and Politics’; Sage Publications, New Delhi; 1987. 3. Bureau of Mines; ‘Minerals Year Book: Metals and Minerals’ Vol. 1; Government of the United States; 1980. 4. ‘An Open Society and Open Economy are the Pillars of our Nationhood’; extracts of Prime Minister’s speech at the India Today Conclave, The Indian Express, Bombay; 12.3.05.

5. Kalam.speech.htm 6. PM. Mauritius.htm. 7. African Safari of Andhra Farmers, The Times of India, Bombay, 28.11.04. 8. FOCUSafrica.htm. Website of the Department of Commerce, Government of India. 9. Kishore Kumar and Mihir Ray (ed.); ‘Indian Ocean Region Strategic Aspects’, SIOS, April 2002, New Delhi. 10. Madan Mohan Puri; ‘Indian Ocean Island States: A Geopolitical Perspective’; SIOS, January 2000; New Delhi. 11. keghome.harvard.edu drodik.growthstrategies.pdg 12. R.R. Ramchandani; ‘India Africa Relations’ Vol. 1 and 2, Kalinga Publication, New Delhi; 1990.

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THEN and NOW A coffee-table book that has many stunning images of contemporary as well as not-so-contemporary India. India Then and Now; Text by Rudrangshu Mukherjee and Vir Sanghvi; Photo research and editing by Pramod Kapoor; Publisher: Lustre Press/ Roli Books; 276pp; Price: Rs. 2,975.

Virgin snows at Solang Nala in Himachal Pradesh and, photo right, an artist prepares a Bollywood billboard.

ip-shaking dancers on a glitzy Bollywood set, shy Muslim women peering through their veils, beautiful people playing polo and villagers enjoying bullock cart races –– these are just some of the stunning and contrasting images of contemporary and not-so-contemporary India showcased in this lavishly produced coffee-table book. Clearly, it is an ambitious task for such a book to chronicle the life of a country as diverse and multi-layered as India, but this elegantly produced book and its thoughtful collection of photographs do manage to convey some of the energy that keeps this country of one billion-plus people ticking. As opposed to these visual treats that form the “India Now”, section, introduced by celebrity journalist Vir Sanghvi, there are a string of black and white sepia photographs in the “India Then” section that take the readers back to the era before independence, giving an insight into the defining moments of the country. If the “India Now” section abounds in vibrant and colourful photographs capturing the mood of a robust nation, the “India Then” section, introduced by veteran journalist

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Photo above, the modern skyline around the bay in Mumbai as it is today, and, inset, an undated photo of the bay. Photo right, top, a group with a portrait of a deceased relative. From their attire –– colourful turbans and dhotis (the black and white photo has been hand-painted) –– it can be surmised that this group belongs to the merchant community, most likely from the state of Gujarat in western India. Photo right bottom, a photo taken by Samuel Bourne in 1864 of the Madan Mahal in Jabalpur. Before becoming a part of the Mughal empire, the kingdom, in present-day Madhya Pradesh state in central India, was bravely defended by Rani Durgavati.

Rudrangshu Mukherjee, connects readers with some of the deeper civilisational undercurrents that imbue Indians with a sense of distinct national identity. But there’s no clear demarcation between the India of “then” and “now”. Or could it be that it is impossible to dissociate the present from the past –– what poet T.S. Eliot has called “the presence of the past”? Publisher Pramod Kapoor has clearly benefited from “providence that comes with perseverance in photo-editing” –– and it shows in these diverse photographs culled from contemporary practitioners and canonical names like Felice A. Beato, Samuel Bourne and Lala Deen Dayal. There are some rare photographs like that of American sculp-

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tor Jo Davidson giving finishing touches to a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in 1931 with the father of the nation posing for it. And then there are haunting images like the ones showing priests praying for peace and harmony in the aftermath of communal riots linked to partition and drought-hit farmers praying for rain. Needless to say pictures are the soul and substance of the book. The commentaries accompanying both the sections, given the limitations of the coffee-book genre, are, however, rather glib and tend to simplify complex truths about this country that has been the victim of an image trap.

Sanghvi does a fine job of capturing “a sense of great optimism” that has seized the post-liberalisation period in India. Some skeptics may snigger at such feel-good India sentiments and point to the other India that is still shackled to illiteracy and poverty and lacks basic infrastructure of civilised life. Despite these problems, Sanghvi finds it hard to be pessimistic about India. “Despite our problems and our missed opportunities, there is a sense that not only the slumbering elephant has finally awakened, but that it is moving forward,” writes Sanghvi. ■ — Manish Chand

Bestsellers in India Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s The Argumentative Indian returns as number one on the non-fiction bestsellers list while Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram makes its entry as top fiction favourite in February. TOP 10: NON-FICTION 1. The Argumentative Indian –– Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity Author: Amartya Sen; Publisher: Penguin Books; Price: Rs. 295 2. Impossible Allies: Nuclear India United States and the Global Order Author: C. Raja Mohan; Publisher: India Research Press; Price: Rs. 495 3. Two Lives Author: Vikram Seth; Publisher: Penguin Viking; Price: Rs. 695 4. The Aligarh Movement and the Making of the Indian Muslim Mind 1857-2002 Author: Tariq Hasan; Publisher: Rupa; Price: Rs. 500 5. The Highly Civilized Man: Richard Burton and The Victorian World Author: Dane Kennedy; Publisher: Tara-IRP; Price: Rs. 495 6. I Was Nehru’s Shadow: From the Diaries of K.F. Rustamji, IP, Padma Vibhushan Author: P.V. Rajgopal, IPS; Publisher: Wisdom Tree; Price: Rs. 395

3. The Sea Author: John Banville; Publisher: Picador; Price: £3.50 (Rs. 272)

7. Delhi: A Thousand Years of Building Author: Lucy Peck; Publisher: Lotus Roli; Price: Rs. 500

4. My Friend Leonard Author: James Frey; Publisher: John Murray; Price: £3.50 (Rs. 272)

8. Bridge of Rama –– Book Five of the Ramayana Author: Ashok K. Banker; Publisher: Penguin Books; Price: Rs. 350 9. Diddi My Mother’s Voice Author: Ira Pande; Publisher: Penguin Books; Price: Rs. 250 10. God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad Author: Charles Allen; Publisher: Little Brown; Price: £8.99 (Rs. 699) TOP 10: FICTION 1. Shantaram Author: Gregory David Roberts; Publisher: Abacus; Price: £4.99 (Rs. 388) 2. The Inheritance of Loss Author: Kiran Desai; Publisher: Penguin Viking; Price: Rs. 495

5. My Sister’s Keeper Author: Jodi Picoult; Publisher: Hodder; Price: £3.00 (Rs. 233) 6. The Secret Supper Author: Javier Sierra; Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Price: $11.25 (Rs. 500) 7. The House Author: Danielle Steel; Publisher: Bantam Press; Price: £11.50 (Rs. 894) 8. The Unspoken Curse Author: V.K. Madhavan Kutty; Publisher: Tara Press; Price: Rs. 295.00 9. The Caliph’s House Author: Tahir Shah; Publisher: Doubleday; Price: £9.75 (Rs. 758) 10. CELL: Is Your Number Up? Author: Stephen King; Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; Price: £11.25 (Rs. 875)

(Source: Bahri Sons, New Delhi, www.booksatbahri.com. All the books listed above are available online)

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A selection of new books on Africa and by African writers from www.africabookcentre.com Revolution, Counter-revolution and revisionism in post-colonial Africa: The Case of Mozambique, 1975-1994 By Alice Dinerman Routledge, 394pp, £90. THE BOOK investigates defining themes in the field of social memory studies as they bear on the politics of post-Cold War, post-apartheid southern Africa. Examining the government’s attempts to revise postcolonial Mozambique's traumatic past with a view to negotiating the present, it stresses the path-dependence of memory practices while tracing their divergent trajectories, shifting meanings and varied combinations within ruling discourse and performance. It focuses on the interplay between past and present, the dialectic between remembering and forgetting, the dynamics between popular and official memory discourses and the politics of acknowledgement. The African Union: Pan-Africanism, Peacebuilding and Development By Timothy Murithi Ashgate Publishers, U.K., 182pp, £55 EXAMINING THE limitations of the OAU, this book discusses whether the African Union can adopt a more interventionist stance in dealing with peace-building and development in Africa. It assesses the OAU’s peace and security institutions and analyses how it is beginning to collaborate with civil society. It takes a critical look at the Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development and argues that Africa needs to adopt a developmental and governance agenda that will be much more responsive towards improving the well-being and livelihood of its peoples.

Oromia and Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethnonational Conflict, 1868-2004 By Asafa Jalata Red Sea Press, U.S.A., 291pp, £19.99 THIS TOME traces the cultural and political history of the Oromo, their colonisation and incorporation into the modern state of Ethiopia and the racialised/ethnicised capitalist world system. It argues that state terrorism, genocide and gross human rights violations from the Tigrayan-led Ethiopian government has increased Oromian commitment to determine their destiny as a nation. Focusing on the development of the class and nation-class contradictions manifested in the continuing crisis of the Ethiopian state, Jalata examines why the reorganisation of that state in the 1970s and again in the 1990s failed to change the nature of Ethiopian colonialism.

■ Editor’s Pick Africa: The Politics of Independence and Unity By Immanuel Wallerstein University of Nebraska Press, 280pp, £19.95. THIS BOOK combines into one edition for the first time two works, Africa: The Politics of Independence and Africa: The Politics of Unity. With a new introduction by the author, this edition provides some of the earliest and most valuable analysis of African politics during the period when the colonial system began to disintegrate. The influential Africa: The Politics of Independence was written as Africa was just realising independence and still revelling in the optimism it brought. Immanuel Wallerstein was one of the few scholars who had travelled throughout Africa during the collapse of colonial rule. As a result, his interpretive essay captures the dynamism of that period of transformation and adroitly analyses Africa’s modern political developments during the nascent process of decolonisation. Africa: The Politics of Unity, published six years later, examines the African unity movement that arose between 1957 and 1965 and its revolutionary core. It is often considered the first thorough analysis of the post-independence history of Africa.

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Reappraising Kwame Nkrumah’s socialism Kwame Nkrumah’s Liberation Thought: A Paradigm for Religious Advocacy in Contemporary Ghana By Robert Yaw Owusu Africa World Press, 282pp, £19.99 THIS IS a work that attempts to revitalise the liberation philosophy of Kwame Nkrumah, arguing that, from the African political and economic viewpoint, Nkrumah advocated a socialist system created out of the inculturation of African religio-humanist values with the inherited Euro-Christian political culture and tradition as a strategy to liberate, unite and integrate Ghana and the rest of Africa. The work reappraises the pre-colonial social and political system in Ghana and assesses the impact of British colonial and post-colonial hegemonies on the state, religion and civil society. With a view to recapitulating Ghanaian self-dignity, self-realisation

and self-subsistence, he argues that diverse religious communities, ethnic groups and the state must endeavour to co-exist peacefully.

■ Fiction Blue Shoes and Happiness By Alexander McCall Smith, Polygon, 233pp, £9.99. THE SEVENTH book in the phenomenally popular No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series. More adventures for Precious Ramotswe and her fine assistant Mma Makutsi, including an encounter with a cobra, a sinister blackmail plot, a rather tightfitting pair of blue shoes, as well as plenty more bush tea and Botswana skies. The Parliament of Idiots: Tryst of the Sinators By Tayo Olafioye, Africa World Press, 72pp, £9.99. THIS COLLECTION of poems epitomises a new voice –– a voice speaking of political tyranny and elaborating more complex themes than the old standard of white rule and colonial Christianity. Included too are tender family moments, metaphysical speculation and nostalgic reminiscence, wrapped up with a typically detached Nigerian humour. Moses, Citizen & Me By Delia Jarrett-Macauley, Granta Publication, 240 pp, £10.99. SET IN Sierra Leone this first novel recounts the story of Julia, returning to Sierra Leone from London to support her uncle on a death in the family. In pursuing answers to the terrible circumstances of her aunt’s death, she confronts the horrific reality of life for child soldiers and difficulties of reintegration into society. Never Pull a Lion’s Tail: A Collection of Poetry and Photographs About Animals in Africa For Sophisticated Children of All Ages By Barry J. Freeman, Camerapix, 120pp, £14.95. THE POEMS are about the animals of Africa, and they are accompanied by photographs taken by the author and some of Africa’s most eminent photographers. In most of the poems the animals are given a human persona and described in the context of both the animal and the human condition.

February 2006

Transformational Leadership in East Africa: Politics, Ideology and Community Eric Masinde Aseka (Ed.) Uganda Dountain Publishers, 472pp; £6.53 DISCUSSES the relationship between politics and power in East Africa, examining how the exercise and contestation of political power and the role of leadership have played themselves out within the various ethnic communities, and at country and regional levels. . The Crisis of the State and Regionalism in West Africa: Identity, Citizenship and Conflict Alade W. Fawole & Charles Ukege (Eds.) Senegal Codesria, 235pp, £16.95 COLLECTION of essays critically interrogates the internal dimensions of the identity and citizenship crises at the root of the political crises of states in West Africa, and considers the steps that have been taken thus far to address them. It shows how the alienation of ordinary people from the state, coupled with factors of identity and citizenship are at the heart of the crises. African Philosophy: The Analytical Approach By Barry Hallen Africa World Press, 286pp, £21.99. AUTHOR argues that the analytical approach to philosophy predominant in the world today can both be applied to and derived from Africa’s indigenous cultural heritage. Income Differentials and Gender Inequalities: Wives Earning More than their Husbands in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania By Luce Cloutier Mkuki Na Nyota, 332pp, £24.95. STUDY of women living in Dar es Salaam who have higher incomes than their husbands. The research exposes the social construction of gender in everyday life, pointing to the contradictory nature of gender relations in a dynamic urban and social context in a developing nation.

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CONNECTING with Africa Shubha Singh delves deep into the Indian Ocean that connects India and Africa and swims ashore with some rare gems embedded in centuries of civilisational crossings.

ndia and Africa –– connected since antiquity by the waters of the Indian Ocean –– have a long history of commercial contact, cultural influence and movement of people across the high seas. The coastal regions of the Indian Ocean rim, particularly the north-western rim, have been linked for centuries with flourishing port cities on either coast. Ancient texts speak of the thriving trade across the Indian Ocean that connected peninsular India with the African states across the ocean. The Indian Ocean was well travelled much before the Greek sailor’s navigational guide called ‘The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea’ was written in Alexandria in the first century CE. The ‘Periplus’ is said to be a first-hand description of the commercial opportunities that existed at that time in the coastal area of the Red Sea, the eastern African coast and the Indian coast. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote of Osiris “from Ethiopia, he passed through Arabia, bordering upon the Red Sea as far as India. He built many cities in India, one called Nysa, after the city in Egypt where he was brought up.” Archaeologists have discovered similar art forms in use in rock art in India and in Africa that provide indications of a commonality of cultural tradition in the prehistoric period. Since early times there were Indian settlements in the coastal regions in Africa and evidence exists of Indian connections in the deep hinterland as well. Indian beads and coins have been discovered as far inland as south-central Africa showing the range of the engagement. Indian and Arab traders and mariners could reach several points on the east African coast from the Horn of Africa to present day Mozambique and beyond. Many of the familiar Indian plants have their origin in Africa. The common Indian house crow was introduced into Zanzibar, east and southern Africa from Bombay as a scavenger bird and is now firmly established in those parts. Trade and commerce was facilitated by the monsoon winds that helped to cross the wide waters of the ocean. Once the important geographical character of the monsoon in the Indian Ocean with its seasonal reversal of the winds was recognised, it made crossing the ocean much easier. During the winter

months the trade winds of the northeast monsoon carried the wooden dhows across the waters from Cambay on the western Indian coast to the Horn of Africa and the East African coast. Traders waited along the coast for the trade winds to change direction for the rest of the year, for winds that would take their ships back across the ocean. Indian, Arab and African traders laden with cargoes of fine cotton, ivory and beads regularly crossed the seas. The long enforced stay on either coast led some of them to set up home across the ocean while others moved into the hinterland to look for greater opportunities. Indian traders were an important presence in Zanzibar, Mozambique and Madagascar even during the period of the Chola dynasty in the third century CE. The Cholas of southern India were a dominant maritime power in that era and traded with Africa, Arabia and Iran exporting spices, camphor, rich textiles and precious stones. History books suggest that the volume of trade and discourse within the northwest Indian Ocean grew with the rise of Islam in the seventh century as proselytising became an important accompaniment to the impetus for commercial interaction. Before the Western foray into the Indian Ocean waters, this part of the world was ruled by maritime and trading connections that ranged from East Africa through Arabia, the Persian Gulf, India and Southeast Asia and even extended to the Chinese shores. African seamen were well known for their seafaring skills, and they served on the ships that plied these seas. They sailed on the ships of traders from the Swahili coast, Arabia and India and later on the ships of the Portuguese, British, Dutch and other European trading companies. When Vasco da Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and up the East African coast, it was an Indian sailor who piloted his ship to the port of Calicut in southern India. The Portuguese took over the Indian Ocean trade by defeating the existing maritime forces. The traditional patterns of trade and discourse around the Indian Ocean went through a change during the colonial period; the trade between old neighbours across the ocean languished as the direction of trade came to be dictated by the requirements of the imperial powers. Indian medieval history has many references to Africans living in India as slaves and as free men. India had no shortage of

February 2006

C R O S S I N G S labour but there was demand for ing local traditions and customs, Africans for specific kinds of they still held on to some aspects work. Abyssinians were highly of their spiritual, religious, musiregarded as warriors in Indian cal and medicinal knowledge, and armies and many of them rose to other customary practices. become commanders and generThe advent of the European als in the armies of Indian rajahs powers into the Indian Ocean and maharajahs. Some Somalis eventually resulted in Indians and highland Ethiopians travbeing taken as slaves to African elled on their own to find work territories. There are records of as mercenaries in the princely Indian slaves in Mauritius during armies. There were several the Dutch and French period, instances when the Abyssinian much before the British took commander took control over them as indentured labourers to the princely state after the ruler work on the plantations. How was killed or defeated. Ibn these Indians came to Mauritius Batuta, the great traveller of the is not clearly known but there are Indian Ocean trade routes, circa 1200 AD. 14th century who journeyed references in old Dutch records through Africa and Asia, said that the of punishments meted out to runAfter Vasco da Gama sailed Siddis were the guarantors of safety round the Cape of Good Hope away slaves of Indian origin. The of the Indian Ocean –– let there be Dutch renamed their slaves using and up the East African coast, but one of them on a ship and it common Christian names, but the would be avoided by pirates, he place of origin of the renamed slaves the Portuguese took over the wrote. He also mentioned in his writ- Indian Ocean trade by defeating was tagged on in order to identify ings a meeting with an Ethiopian them, such as Mary of Coromandal. governor of a small town in Gwalior the existing maritime forces. The When France took over the islands in central India. traditional patterns of trade and from the Dutch and named the During the 15th century, colony Isle of France in 1715, French discourse around the Indian Abyssinian slaves called Habshi ships brought in Indian slaves from Ocean went through a change their enclaves in India, mainly from (from the Arabic word for Abyssinians) became an important Chandernagore in Bengal and during the colonial period; the factor in the politics of the royal Pondicherry. trade between old neighbours courts in Bengal. In 1490, the conWhen the Dutch set up a settlequering ruler of Ahmadnagar across the ocean languished as ment at the Cape of Good Hope in rewarded his African troops by giving the direction of trade came to be 1652 to provision their ships sailing them charge of the Janjira island fort. dictated by the requirements of round the Cape and carrying goods The Siddi rulers, as they were from India and the East Indies to the imperial powers. known, dominated this western their home ports, they brought coastal region for more than a centuAsians workers. Slaves were prohibry. The Nizams of Hyderabad had a retinue of African soldiers ited in Holland but many Dutch officers and traders brought as royal guards, their descendants still live in Hyderabad which their servants from the Indian trading posts and sold them as has a crowded locality known as Habshiguda. The Europeans slaves at the Cape before leaving for home. who arrived in India, especially the Portuguese, brought Many of these Indian slaves were bonded domestic servants African slaves as sailors on their ships and as domestic servants. in India but were brought to the Cape by their masters and When slavery was abolished many of the freed Africans moved were eventually sold into slavery. Old Cape records make refout of Portuguese Goa to settle in other parts of India. erences to Indian slaves, both men and women at the Cape, It is not certain whether the scattered, present-day Siddi mostly from Bengal and Bihar and the Coromandel and communities through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh Malabar coasts. and parts of Karnataka are descendents of the early Siddis since When slavery was abolished in the British empire, the slave many of these communities exhibit traits and traditions from labour was replaced by indentured workers from India. The different parts of Africa –– in the remnants of their original lan- indenture system was nominally a voluntary contract for five guages, the songs and musical instruments that they use as well years but many of the conditions of slavery were carried over as the distinctive motifs that the women embroider on their in the terms of the contract; and the workers lived in the same clothes. Diverse historical circumstances brought Indians and conditions as the slaves on the plantations. The indenture sysAfricans to each other’s lands. They adapted to the life around tem began in 1834 when Indian workers were taken to them and over the years carved out a space for themselves, in Mauritius to work on the sugarcane plantations. Later, Indian which they retained their ethnic identities, and while accept- workers were taken to Reunion Islands and South Africa.

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Indian indentured labour in South Africa The construction of a cross-African railroad connecting lar workers. Mombasa on the Kenyan coast to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, After India’s independence in 1947 its relationship with required a large workforce and Indians, mainly Sikhs, were Africa acquired new dimensions. In 1949, it sponsored a scholtaken to East Africa for the construction work. The intrepid arship programme that provided an opportunity for young Indian workers cleared the jungle, laid the tracks for the rail- Africans to study arts, humanities and basic sciences in India. way and opened up the interior regions. They faced a variety Starting from that modest beginning, thousands of African stuof difficult situations in the inhospitable terrain, from ram- dents have studied in Indian universities and technical and paging lions and other jungle predaprofessional institutions over the After India’s independence in tors to unfamiliar diseases that killed years. At one time India was a 1947 its relationship with Africa favoured destination for young large numbers. The construction acquired new dimensions. In work also brought along an army of Africans pursuing higher studies service providers: Peddlers, traders, 1949, it sponsored a scholarship because of the low cost of education barbers, washer men and small shopin the country. Aside from the Indian programme that provided an keepers catering to the needs of the government-assisted programmes of opportunity for young Africans study, several African governments railway workers. Many of the support workers stayed on after the construcalso provided scholarships for their to study arts, humanities and tion workers returned home. nationals to study in India. basic sciences in India. Starting The Asian traders helped open From the late 1960s to 1990s, from that modest beginning, up the interior of the East African thousands of Indian teachers went to region to white settlers, playing a Ethiopia to teach in the primary and thousands of African students crucial role in the economic develsenior schools in the country. Other have studied in Indian opment of the region. Indian traders countries also recruited Indian teachtravelled to remote villages to barter universities and institutions over ers, who built up a strong image for their boxes of colourful goods for themselves in the African countries the years. the local produce and transport it to as far apart and diverse as Ethiopia the coastal areas. Winston Churchill in his book, ‘My African and Liberia. Journey’, wrote that it was the Indian trader who developed The traditional cultural discourse across the Indian Ocean the early beginnings of trade and opened up the first slender has flowered in many areas. Indian and African sufi music means of communication to all sorts of places to which no draw from the same mystical roots. Indian films have often white man would go or earn a living. From small beginnings, absorbed foot-tapping African beats and rhythm into their the Asians went on to professional and middle-level jobs. songs while Indian pop music can be heard from Egypt to Later, the Indian communities provided the skilled workers Kenya to South Africa. The bonds across the Indian Ocean and artisans, the small businessmen and also the white-col- have acquired new dimensions with the changing times. ■

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DREAM of a Kenyan SAFARI Arun Bhattacharjee rhapsodises about myriad charms of Kenya –– magnificent wildlife, lush greenery of the Rift Valley, breathtaking views of lions and, above all, Kenyans’ infectious sense of humour –– and wonders why so few Indians bother to visit this marvellous country.

t was the season of short rains in Kenya. A backpackers and budget tourists. period when the sun reveals its veiled face Surprisingly, I was the only Indian tourist on the flight. just about once a day for a very short peri- There were Indian businessmen, Kenyans of Indian origin od, penetrating the normal overcast skies to and a handful of whites, who boarded the plane from Mumbai. remind us of its radiant existence. It was In sharp contrast, the British Airways flight that landed almost drizzling when the Air India flight at the same time were full of tourists to feed Kenya’s tourism approached Nairobi Airport. I could see, sector, that accounts for 22 percent of the country’s economy, through the foggy window, zebras swishing whose other strengths are dairy products, tea, coffee and flowtheir tails while enjoying the short rains with ers, delivered fresh to destinations in Europe. equine disinterest. A couple of giraffes were trying to nibble The reason for so few Indians visiting Kenya as tourists was from a thorn tree (acacia Africana) not very far from the fragile, not difficult to guess. Indian tour operators were –– and are wired boundary of the airport that separated it from the even now –– more interested in organising tours to the Nairobi National Park. It looked difEuropean, the U.S. or Australian It could be an interesting study cities than in poor Africa to explore its ferent than when I landed one dark why citizens of a globalising night three years earlier from Cairo heritage, its people, forests and aniin an Egypt Air flight. As the plane India avoid East Africa where 5 mals. Even when India is flush with landed with a soft thud and reversed funds, and over three million Indians percent of the bureaucrats, its thrust to shorten its race on the travel, against less than three million physicians, professors and runway, I noticed the lights on both tourists coming to India, which tiny sides rushing behind appeared engineers studied or trained in Malaysia gets every year, there is unusually bright under the gloomy, hardly any effort to promote tourism India; where retail trade and overcast sky. One would hardly in Kenya, which has easily the best industry are jointly run today by tourism infrastructure in Equatorial notice that the flight landed on a plateau 5,000 feet high above sea Africa. Kenyan African and people of level. In fact, it can be an interesting Indian origin, whose ancestors study to find out why citizens of a The airport is modern and cuswent there as bonded labour, toms and immigration clearance took globalising India avoid East Africa very little time. As I was on my own, where 5 percent of the bureaucrats, and where Indian money can I told a taxi to take me to the United physicians, professors and engineers buy more than in other develKenya Club, almost at the centre of studied or trained in India; where oped parts of Africa. the town –– a mixed club for blacks, retail trade and industry are jointly browns and whites that came up as a run today by Kenyan African and challenge to the former all-white Muthaiga Club. people of Indian origin, whose ancestors went there as bondAlthough I was aware of the tiny size of Nairobi, Kenya’s ed labour, and where Indian money can buy more than in capital, I was yet not prepared for so small a town, fairly clean other developed parts of Africa. Especially at a time when India and hardly four square kilometres in size, boasting a 32-floor has finally crafted an “Africa Policy” and is keen to collaborate conference centre with a revolving restaurant on top and sur- in the fields of energy, industry, trade and other areas. rounded by groups of hotels ranging from four to five stars, My head was buzzing with these thoughts as I walked out and a few modest ones not far from the city centre meant for of the United Kenya Club with a map of the city of Nairobi.

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The author at the Equator in Kenya. All photos are by the author. To my surprise, I found I could cover the city in an hour, if I walked along its broad streets from north to south and from east to west. As I continued along the Kenyatta Avenue towards the Conference Centre to book my safaris, I was amazed to find Ethiopians, Somalis, Ugandans, Tanzanians and even people from the far-off Mozambique in the downtown area as Kenya, unlike most of Africa, was without tribal wars and could boast of a reasonably sound economy in those days. Some of these people were being absorbed in tourism, running massage parlours, or simply polishing the shoes of the tourists; some became workers on coffee plantations. Those on the fringe would not hesitate to work as prostitutes or gigolos, depending on the tastes of the visiting European clientele. I was attracted by the huge thorn tree in the front court of the New Stanley Hotel as I was walking towards the Conference Centre; a very special thorn tree that has been bonding the world for more than half a century since Ernest Hemingway rested under it before his exploration of East Africa. I noticed the board attached to the huge acacia tree with hundreds of letters addressed to people visiting Kenya with their names on the envelope and addressed as just “Care of Thorn Tree, Nairobi.” This is an address every tourist would visit once before leaving Nairobi. I wondered if the information technology explosion and the overriding dominance of the Internet would ever diminish the special status of this legendary thorn tree. The beer garden around it never sleeps. One can buy a bot-

KENYA FACT FILE ■ GETTING AROUND

Air: There are regional flights from Kenya throughout Africa and domestic flights within Kenya departing Nairobi and Mombasa. Train: Kenya has an efficient and comfortable rail service connecting Nairobi to Mombasa, Kisumu and Malaba. Bus: A wide network of buses runs throughout the country connecting almost every town. It is cheaper to travel by bus than train. Self Drive / Car Hire: Kenya has an extensive network of roads, mostly sealed and passable throughout the year. You may have problems on unsealed roads, particular in the game reserves, during the rains if you don’t have 4-wheel drive. ■ Places One Must Visit

Mount Kenya National Park, Shaba Game Reserve, Samburu National Reserve, Lake Nakuru National Park, Naivasha Lake and Masai Mara. ■ Fast Facts

Capital City: Nairobi Languages: Swahili (official), Kiswahili and English are both official languages. Religion: 35% Protestant, 30% Roman Catholic, 30% Muslim, 5% Animist Currency: Kenyan Shilling (KSh), 1 KSh = USD .013

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T R A V E L O G U E tle of excellent Kenyan beer, the Tusker, at a very reasonable price. In Kenya, the acacia trees look all white as their barks are stripped by giraffes, or by elephants rubbing their backs against them. But the New Stanley Thorn Tree lost its bark because people love to lean on it while sipping a glass of beer waiting for a chair. African myth has it that it was because of the tall thorn trees that the giraffes had to have their necks very long, to reach the leaves for forage. The New Stanley Hotel, one of the old ones like the Norfolk from where the U.S. President Ted Roosevelt went on his safari with a convoy of nearly a hundred people, holds a secret, often whispered around the thorn tree, that relates to its segregated past In those days Nairobi was out of bounds for the blacks, and New Stanley, like the Norfolk Hotel, was for the whites only. It is rumoured that one Indian brigadier returning from peace-keeping duty in Congo landed one evening with his tired officers and went straight to the New Stanley Hotel. When he asked for accommodation, the front lobby manager, a Kenyan of Indian origin, informed him that the hotel was for “whites only”. The story goes that the Indian brigadier held the manager by his collar and put a revolver to his head and said, “The hotel is desegregated from this moment.” The poor manager called his British owner who promptly agreed to this radical move, albeit at gun-point. The New Stanley is hardly two hundred yards from the Kenyatta Conference Centre (KCC). As I entered through the main gate I came face to face with Ahmed, a huge elephant, with its two six-and-a-half-feet-long tusks curved like Arab scimitars facing the entrance. The diameter of each tusk would be around eighteen inches. A guide at the Conference Centre informed me the name was given by the country’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta. The president was so concerned for this living symbol of old Africa that he had deputed three askaris –– national guards –– to follow it all the time so as to protect the tusks from poachers. Ahmed’s tusks were so big that it used to plough Kenya’s red soil, as its head could not support the nearly two tonnes weight of the tusks any more. It used to roam the savannahs alone in its old age with three askaris as company. was greeted with a ‘Habariako’ by a smiling receptionist with dazzling white teeth, contrasting her dark complexion. I suddenly felt a simple warmth exuding from her, which I later found in all Kenyans; a part of their culture and embedded in their supple and rhythmic body movements. She asked me about my options and handed me a brochure, which said, “In many ways, Kenya is the entire African conti-

nent in microcosm. It is a land of dramatic contrasts where endless horizons, breathtaking scenery, snowcapped mountain, wondrous wildlife, sun-drenched beaches and the azure waters of the Indian Ocean fulfil your every expectation.” Later, I could not but agree with the brochure’s claim. I opted for a five-day tour that covered Amboseli National Park, a lake basin which dried up at a prehistoric age, Masai Mara, Meru Malika and Samburu National Parks. The other, the Tzavo National Park, where from a distance the elephants appear like grazing herds of brown goats –– they are so many –– I saw on my own. There were others that I visited later such as the Tree Top –– a huge hotel on stilts and resting on a gigantic African oak, where Queen Elizabeth was declared Queen of England as the news of her father’s death reached her when she was at the Tree Top. As I walked the fifty yards to climb the wooden stairs to the Tree Top, I saw several wild buffaloes grazing nearby. Although we had a guard with a gun, I was sure that it was not loaded, which did not help my courage, specially because I knew fully well that buffaloes in Kenya were the second-largest killers after the crocodiles and hippos, and not lions or leopards. I was quite impressed by the efficiency of the game park management. This is not an easy task in a place where a rapidly expanding population –– growing at the rate of over 4.5 percent per year –– had to compete with the country’s wildlife for living space. The game parks had to fight the bandits, shiftas, from bordering Somalia and Ethiopia, who would come with Kalashnikovs and other automatic weapons to kill elephants and rhinos to feed their greed. They made literally a killing in markets in Southeast Asia, always hungry for more of their tusks and horns. Rhino horns are in great demand in the Arab world, either to be used as an aphrodisiac or for making handles of Arab knives. Kenya has spotter planes flying over the game parks to protect her animals as well as to keep an eye on tour operators, who would often, egged by the tourists, try to drive near the animals on the grass verges. If they were caught, they would lose their license. The other feature was the “Flying Doctors” of Kenya, who would fly in very small planes to land on small strips in the Savannahs near the game lodges to treat sick tourists or whisk them away to a larger, well-equipped hospital in Nairobi. The rangers are in constant contact with the head offices of various game parks through wireless sets. In spite of all these, Kenya has been fighting a losing battle to pro-

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A F R I C A tect rhinos, cheetahs, leopards and elephants. Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa are pulling the tourists away from Kenya and they have proved more successful in protecting the animals from poachers. Kenya’s beauty lay in its stark contrasts. The lush greenery of Nairobi on the way to the Rift Valley would peter out, as one drove towards Lake Baringo, known for its bird species and hippos and the desert climate. In the north towards Samburu, the heat would be equally suffocating, yet invigorating, soothed by a vast horizon beyond the undulating savannahs, stars dazzling like bright silver coins in the unpolluted dome of the sky appearing closer, the smell of the savannah, and the roar of feeding lions in the night. Lying within a zipped-up canvas tent in Masai Mara, not far from the site of the kill, would offer a totally different kind of thrill mixed with fear of the “king of the African beasts”. There was the Aberdere Country Club from where one can reach the Kikorock Game Lodge. After the night stay at the club I was driving to the Game lodge. It had rained during the night and I had experience of a lifetime driving over that stretch of slippery muddy road to reach the black top road to the lodge. On one side was the hill and the other was a sheer drop. As I put my foot on the accelerator, the car started moving like a snake with the rear moving sideways. I was sweating, and soon learnt the art of driving on muddy African roads; put the car in first gear, hold the steering wheel at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock and continue moving it only a degree to the right and then to left. It was almost like walking on a tight rope with a short stick to balance. The Rift Valley, hardly three hours drive from Nairobi over a beautifully graded black top road, was another experience. The Rift Valley is another of nature’s marvels, created by a fault –– like embedded spine in the human back –– from north to south dividing the whole continent. The bottom of the fault, around 5,000 feet deep, held some of the most gorgeous wildlife of Africa. Many people lived in the Rift Valley where the soil was fertile and the climate warmer than on the hills on both sides. I had to drive over an altitude of 9,500 feet from Nairobi to reach Nyere above the Rift Valley, and for the first time noticed how automobiles could behave when starved of oxygen. Even when I pushed the accelerator to the bottom, the speed continued to fall and the car was crawling at less than 20 km an hour. When I stopped at the peak of the hill and looked down into the Rift Valley below, it was worth all the trouble. Though I was almost on the equator, it was bitterly cold and the wind speed was no less than 40 km an hour; enough to whip away your cap or a loosely held basket 5,000 feet below. I made another trip from Nairobi to Lake Baringo. I crossed

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the equator three times on that trip as the road went winding around the high hills, and whenever I crossed the equator there were huge signboards announcing “You are Crossing the Equator’. Everyone would stop to buy local handicrafts or enjoy a cold drink. The Kenyans, I found, have a strong sense of humour. They love to joke about the places they love, like Kericho, where Kenya grows its best tea. Kenyans will tell you the meaning of the word ‘Kerichoo” –– which means god’s urinal, because of the excessive rain the place receives. Lake Naivasa is another wonderful spot where beautiful furnished cottages are available. Only one has to be careful not to have a hippo as a dinner guest, as these huge beasts come out of the water for grazing and are known for their highly unpredictable behaviour. Another late, the Nakuru Lake, is well known for its flamingoes, cormorants and other exotic birds. I found driving out of Nairobi a pleasure. As you get out of the city and into the savannahs, you find huge cacti on the roadside along with Thomson’s gazelles, dik diks, the smallest type of deer, slightly bigger than a sewer rat, and in the game parks reticulated and Rothchild’s giraffes, gerenuks, wildbeest, Gravey’s Zebras, kudus or elans with their huge dewlaps hanging, not unlike the Jersey bulls. Lake Victoria, at Kisumu, will appear like an ocean with its huge waves and abundance of resources. It is pleasure to sit on the veranda in a hotel and watch the steps being lapped by the waves, and having dinner of fried Nile Perch or grilled Tilapia. The Nile Perch, close to Indian Bekti fish, weighs up to 175 to 200 kilograms and the fishermen had to use cranes and electric saws to cut those giant fillets. On the coast are Mombasa, Malindi and the ancient Lamu Island, still looking like an old Arab village selling quaint Arabic furniture, chests with hidden drawers, and woodcarvings. Wherever I went from Nairobi –– north, south, east or west –– I found different people and different cultures and different religions, dominated by the two major tribes, the Kikyus and the Luos. The Masais in their red robes and loin cloth and their seven-feet long spears always preferred a nomadic life, herding their cattle and protecting them from

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lions and other predators. Kikyus, who spearheaded the bloody Mau Mau movement against the British under Jomo Kenyatta and his elite supporters from the Luos and other tribes, continued to rule Kenya till before his death. Fearing a tribal confrontation between the Kikyus and the Luos, Jomo Kenyatta nominated Daniel Arap Moi from a smaller tribe to rule the country. Moi’s 23-year rule was mired in controversy and allegations of dictatorship, personality cult, ruling through a monolithic party and, above all, ruining the country’s economy. There was a coup attempt against him in 1982. It failed, as contingents of the British Expeditionary Forces training in Kenya in mountain warfare happened to come to Nairobi as the coup was in progress. Moi was saved, but not Kenya’s economy. Kenyan currency, the Kenya Shilling, a very strong currency twenty years ago and valued at $1:Ks. 11 is today valued at $1:Ks. 78.33. This is an additional incentive for Indians to visit Kenya as hotel tariff would be much cheaper in Indian currency. Unlike countries in South Asia, hotel tariff for tourists groups in Kenya is nearly fifty to fifty-five percent less than the posted rate. To many Kenyans of Indian origin, the narrow gauged railway track from Mombasa to Nairobi symbolises the bondage of their ancestors as well as their achievements, as they look at it. More than 5,000 Indians lost their lives, either killed by wild beasts or diseases, while building the railroad that once connected Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Following independence, East Africa became three countries and with troubles in Tanzania and Uganda, the railroad near the borders became the rusted symbol of an epic struggle to build it. In the last one hundred years Kenya has not expand the railway track to broad gauge, thereby severely limiting it’s utility; it takes nearly twelve hours to reach Mombasa by rail, from Nairobi, a distance of only 500 km. Kenya opted for automobile-based economy, instead of developing its railroads. Huge trucks could be found grinding the grades from the coastal

plains of Mombasa to the 5,000-feet high plateau of Nairobi on imported fuel, as Kenya does not produce an ounce of petrol or diesel. The elections in 2002 brought about a change of guard and the rule by the Kikyus, the dominant Christian tribe, while the Luos, mostly Muslims, were waiting in the wings for their one big chance at power. Democracy is back, but unemployment has already reached an unprecedented level; trade is suffering and inflation has reached its peak. The lovely city of Nairobi has become a security nightmare as bands of unemployed youth have flooded the city at a migration rate of 5 percent, the highest anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, the World Bank has put Kenya on notice and has pulled it up for its failure to manage its economy, although it had a World Bank economist working with the government. In a “Restricted Circulation Paper,” the World Bank said: “Once the most prosperous country in East Africa, Kenya’s economic performance worsened markedly in the 1990s, due to inefficient use of public resources, loss of economic competitiveness, soaring costs of doing business, deteriorating security conditions, and loss of donor funding, which led to a significant fall in external capital inflows during the 1990s. Poor governance practices led to a deterioration in the Bank Group’s relations with Kenya, and it was in a low-case lending scenario for several years. However, the elections of December 2002 brought to power a new government, and the positive steps it has taken since arriving in office have created a much better environment for development. The government has started to reverse the poor governance practices of the past and enacted several key pieces of anti-corruption legislation.” The World Bank has its formula ready to resuscitate Kenya’s economy. India has also chalked out an Africa policy. But the success of that policy largely depends on a steady and better exchange of ideas, communications and investment between people and leaders of both sides. ■

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Continents of Creation — The Africa Asia Literary Conference, New Delhi, February 14. Keynote Address by Dr. Karan Singh, President, ICCR

y friend and colleague, Anand Sharma, the newly appointed Minister in our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I very warmly congratulate you and greet you here; Director General of ICCR, distinguished civil servants and other guests, representatives of the press and electronic media, fellow writers form Asia and Africa, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you this evening not only in my capacity as President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, but as a fellow writer, now for over half a century. My first writings were published way back when I was just in my teens, in 1953. Writers and thinkers represent the conscience of society, reflecting their hopes and aspirations, their fears and fantasies, their dreams and their nightmares. Though necessarily writing in a particular context, they deal with universal themes, with love and death, with union and separation, with kindness and cruelty, with the human and the divine. Writers mould the contours of the consciousness of generation after generation, and between them they constitute a single family, cutting across divisions of caste and creed, of religion and nationality, of sex and sexual preference, of all the differences that divide society; the writers constitute a community that transcends them. This significant conference has brought together writers from the huge continents of Asia and Africa, over 40 writers from over 20 countries, a rich and unique gathering of literary talent, to discuss the three interrelated themes of the Conference: Legacy, Identity Assertion. The nations of Asia and Africa — we have described them as continents of creation, because much of the creation, biological, cultural, anthropological and linguistic, took place in Asia and Africa, all the great religions of the world were born in these continents — they have had much in common, specially the indignity and ignominy of centuries of colonial oppression and exploitation. It is only in our own lifetimes that the dark cloak of colonialism has finally been lifted. I have myself had the privilege of seeing and meeting some of the great iconic leaders of Asia and Africa. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, Chou En Lai and Ho Chi Minh, Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyata, Kenneth Kaunda and Julius Nyerere, and the miracle called Nelson Mandela. These and many others led millions of their countrymen in the fight for freedom, for the right to reassess our legacy, to rediscover our identity, and to reassert our personality. While much of this task devolves upon political leaders, writers have a crucial role to play in this context. You have to decide what sort of society we are going to build — are we going to build walls of hatred, or bridges of understanding? Are we going to have dreams of hope, or nightmares of despair? Are we going to have a creative inter-faith dialogue, or a retreat into a sterile fundamentalism? We in India have an ancient civilization, an amazingly rich and varied literature in over thirty different languages, all the

way down from Sanskrit, thousands of years ago from the dawn of our history, down to English in the present day. We are happy and proud to host this conference, as our culture has always been one of inclusion, always ready to assimilate new inputs, without losing its distinctive character; we are a blend of the ancient and the modern of tradition and contemporaneousness, of the past and the future. The new century AD, (I mention AD because for many of us our calendars go far beyond the Christian calendar, many thousands of years behind that). The new century AD has brought new challenges and fresh opportunities, as we move inexorably towards a global society powered by science and technology. We need to stand firm in the best of our traditions, and yet reach out boldly to the future, confident and undaunted. Indeed, Asia and Africa have a crucial role to play in determining the contours of the emerging global society — and its writers, represented so impressively here, are the ones who must be at the cutting edge of this process. We should not allow the West continuously to define the terms of our modernism, nor to lay down the contours of the future. We have as much right as any other nation on any other continent to make our imput into the emerging global society, and that has to be done particularly by our litterateurs, our writers, our poets, our thinkers, our philosophers. In the final analysis, friends, it is in the crucible of your inner consciousness, of your innate creativity, that the way ahead will become clear. We often find ourselves groping in the dark, but there is within each one of us a light that can show us the way, what the Bible calls the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, what the Sufis call the noore-ilahi, what the Hindus call the light of a thousand suns (recites a Sanskrit Shloka) that light is within us, and I sincerely hope that in the beautiful setting of the Neemrana Fort you will find the opportunity for individual and collective expression, for a creative dialogue cutting across all barriers, and for an inner movement towards wisdom and enlightenment. I have great pleasure in inaugurating this conference.

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D O C U M E N T S Text of ICCR Director-General Pavan K. Varma’s speech at the inaugural session of the Africa Asia Literary Conference held in New Delhi on February 14.

r. Karan Singh, president of the ICCR, Mrs. Karan Singh, Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and above all, our very valued and honored guests here who have come from 19 countries across Asia and Africa to participate in the conference that will begin at Neemrana tomorrow and is being inaugurated today by Dr. Karan Singh. We in the ICCR … so this conference as a conclave for introspection. Our purpose was to once again to recall the spirit of Bandung; the spirit of solidarity that it symbolized, but we felt that sometimes these matters are done not merely through reiteration of intent or the emphasis on ideology, but they are done better perhaps more effectively by bringing together people to discuss common concerns — to discuss the question of common roots — to evaluate where are the overlappings of culture, to allow them to consider together where they’ve come from, what are their roots, where they’ve reached and where they are likely to go to. We believe that the issues that we will discuss — legacy, identity assertion — are important. Legacy; because we are all inheritors of a unique, distinctive legacy, and that compels us very often to search for an identity. And identity which in turn

J.R.D. Tata Memorial Lecture, titled Is There Hope for Humanity?, by Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, in Bangalore on December 13, 2005. PREAMBLE It has become a cliche that the 20th Century was one of the most violent in living memory. ‘That ~ saying quite a mouthful when one has regard for how past centuries have been red in tooth and claw, when people were burnt at the stake on suspicion of being witches and those who were regarded as heretics and mavericks who bucked whatever system held sway in that particular status quo, who refused to toe the line rocking the boat of the prevailing orthodoxy, were given short shrift. imprisoned. scourged and drawn and quartered. Those past centuries were indeed gory, but though many. many thousands were killed those figures pale into insignificance in contrast to what we managed to do with such brutal efficiency. The numbers get to be mind boggling. There have been two so-called World Wars. In the Holocaust in Germany alone 6 million men. women and children were done to death simply because

needs to be asserted; an identity which in our cases is recovering from the impact of colonialism, and is struggling to face the onslaught (perhaps ‘onslaught’ is too strong a word), and is seeking to interface with an aggressively globalizing world. Between these two — the question of identity and then its assertion. And an assertion once again which does not go back to our obscurantist past, an assertion that does not make us jingoistic, an assertion that does not make us narrowly chauvinistic — but an assertion that allows to interface with this globalizing world while retaining our own roots, our own identity, our own selves in an authentic incredible manner. So ladies and gentlemen, that was the purpose of legacy, identity assertion, and as I said we look upon it as a conclave for introspection. I would like to say how grateful the ICCR is for the presence of Dr. Karan Singh who will inaugurate this conference. As many of you know Dr. Karan Singh is not only a statesman but a scholar, and a writer; although I wish he had more time to devote to his writings. His own autobiography is not only a testament to the evolution of India, not only a document of history, but an exceptionally readable account with very many passages which qualify for the finest categories of literature. I would request Dr. Karan Singh to now light the inaugural lamp after which he would deliver his inaugural address. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Karan Singh…may I also request Anand Ji to kindly accompany him.

they were either Jewish, or homosexual. or gypsies. Previous centuries did not have at their disposal the devastating power of weapons of mass destruction. The 20th Century saw a civilized Christian nation unleash the horrific death dealing power of the atom bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima killing over 80,000 civilians at one fell swoop. Many survivors are still suffering from the after effects of radiation 60 years after August 6th 1945. It has seemed as if we want to prove the cynic right who declared we learn from history that we do not learn from history. World War II happened only twenty years of World War I. We have demonstrated it appears the incapacity to learn from our mistakes repeating them almost with gay abandon. And so the holocaust in Germany was followed by the socalled ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia: The atrocities committed during that bloody chapter in the Balkans almost defy description. Women raped as a deliberate weapon of war, many being callously infected with the HIV/AIDS virus, family members mown down in front of their relatives and we are now being appalled by the mass graves being uncovered. It just seems as if there are no depths to which we

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A F R I C A cannot sink in our depravity and inhumanity to one another. There have been episodes such as the Armenian genocide and the ghastlinesses that happened during the Rwandan genocide. But the catalogue does not end there. We learned during the processes of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that we have a remarkable capacity. all of us, to commit some of the most gruesome atrocities for the perpetrators did not have horns or tails. They were seemingly ordinary human beings who to all intents and purposes behaved like most of us. The banality of evil indeed. And we have not mentioned the many regional or intranational conflicts. We know what happened after India gained her independence which led to the partition that spawned Pakistan and Bangladesh, fuelled by sectarian disagreement between Hindus and Muslims and which is still simmering today with an uneasy truce between the two major nations. We know of the awful things that have happened between Indonesia and East Timor and the civil war in Sri Lanka. And then there has been the conflict in the Middle East and the strife between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. And you might want to say tell us about only the countries that are not in turmoil in Africa, don’t tell us about Algeria, Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, DRC, Sudan, Angola, Zimbabwe, etc. etc. No, don’t tell us about the turmoil in Latin America. And then there has been the scourge in so many lands of the HIV/AIDS pandemic which is mowing down huge sections of the population especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We had hoped that the end of the Cold War would usher in a period of peace, stability and prosperity for all. We felt a euphoria when the nations of the world adopted the Millennium Development Goals, so idealistic and yet apparently achievable. But it has all been shattered by the immoral invasion by the USA with her satellites. Britain and others of Iraq for the spurious reason that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. When this turned out to be a lie, the invaders scrambled to find other excuses and so they concocted the notion of a beneficial regime change. What would happen if countries decided there had to be a regime change in their enemy’s territory; would we not have monumental global chaos? A new century that had promised much began with a horrendous totally unnecessary war which has left Iraq in a shambles. The first post Saddam Hussein prime minister, Mr. Alawi, has declared that human rights violations are as bad as in the days of Saddam if not worse. And here is the blot on the world’s only super power’s image of the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and the erosion of the rule of law represented by Guantanamo Bay. I never thought I would live to see the day when I would hear the rulers of the USA and Great Britain use the same argument for the use of detention without trial that the apartheid Government employed and that there should be so little outcry in the lands that we thought were paragons of democratic values. Today the world seems a great deal less secure and far more violent than before September 11th and its aftermath. Now there is a war against terrorism and some use the unfor-

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tunate paradigm of the West versus the Muslim world and we glibly speak of Muslim or Islamic terrorism. No one ever described the IRA or the Protestant para-militaries in Northern Ireland as Christian terrorists. And the world is now as polarised as it ever was during the Cold War period and the tensions are growing. So is there hope for humankind in this dolorous situation? THE STARK REALITY There is no doubt that the situation is fraught. There are riots in Manchester and Birmingham and in France and at their heart is the frustration of an under class of those who have been left behind, the poor. the marginalised, the voiceless who almost always are people of colour. It was revealed so starkly that there were gross inequalities in some of the most affluent nations — hurricane Katrina revealed that this was so in the USA. Yes. we cannot pretend that it is otherwise. What is the case in many nations is replicated globally. There is a chasm between the haves and the have nots and that gap between the rich and the poor is widening. There is poverty and disease and ignorance abroad in the global South as there is plenty and affluence and prosperity and good health in the global North. But just as the riots in France and the United Kingdom demonstrate, those inequalities will spawn instability, no, not will spawn, but are already causing instability and turmoil. 50 we should heed the warning lights flashing, there is no way that we will win the war against terror as long as there are conditions in so many parts of the world that make people desperate. People want to know and feel that they matter and in the world of big business and the G7 they know that on the whole they count for very little. They are very small beer indeed. They are of little account. they feel humiliated and sidelined and that can’t be good for the world. The eradication of poverty and disease and ignorance by those with the means to do so is not altruism. No. it is the best form of self interest. We can be free only together. We can be secure only together. We can be prosperous only together. A MORAL UNIVERSE Yes there are without any doubt many horrendous things happening and that have take place. But is that the whole picture? When we were involved with our TRC we were often devastated by the gory details of the gruesome atrocities perpetrators revealed, showing the human capacity for committing great evil. But we were exhilarated to discover that this was not the whole story. nor the most important. When we witnessed those who had suffered grievously not consumed by bitterness. not baying for the blood of their tormentors. It was oh. so wonderful to witness the magnanimity of victims as they offered forgiveness and not retribution. Yes it said. we wonderfully. also had this remarkable capacity for good. We realised afresh that indeed we inhabit a moral universe. that good and evil. right and wrong matter. that there

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D O C U M E N T S is no way that injustice and oppression. lies and evil could ever have the last word. We had seen just how the perpetrators of wrong had strutted over the stage of the world seemingly invincible and oh so cocky and then. and then. as sure as anything they would bite the dust comprehensively and become the flotsam and jetsam of history. Where are Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Franco. Amin. Boukassa. Verwoerd. Malan. PW Botha and myriads of others of their ilk? They have become Qainly footnotes to history. We are shocked when we see evil happening and we are even more appalled if it goes unpunished. We are distressed to witness suffering on a huge scale as that caused by natural disaster and war. Witness the amazing outpouring of compassion and sympathy for those who are victims of manmade or natural disasters. There was such an outpouring for the people of the United States after September 11th. a wave of sylhpathy they dissipated wantonly and quickly when they behaved so badly in their desire for revenge. Witness the amazing sympathy for those hit by the tsunami disaster and Katrina. It seems odd that we should care so much about evil and wrong and disaster if it was not that we believe

we know that they cannot be the norm. they are aberrations. The norm is the good. the just. the beautiful, the right Even in hardnosed cynical cultures it is amazing that those we admire. indeed revere. are not the macho. The aggressive. the successful. No. the people we hold almost universally in high regard are such as a Mahatma Gandhi. the Dalai Lama. Mother Teresa. Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King Jr. and why? because they are good. We have internal antennae which home in on goodness because you see we are created for goodness. for love. for gentleness. for compassion. for sharing. We are almost the ultimate paradox. the finite created for the infinite. St Augustine of Hippo said. Thou (God) hast created us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. We are created by God. like God. for God. We have each a God hunger which only God can satisfy. We have a God shaped space which only God can fill. The Upanishads declare about the human soul that it is ultimately divine —Tat tuam asi (that thou art the divine). Yes, and so I believe fervently that there is hope for humankind.

Excerpts from the address by Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, at the Eighth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union, in Khartoum, Sudan, on January 20, 2006.

pany Africa as it strives to achieve development. I essentially see the primary role of ECA as being one of providing technical support to member states in their development efforts either directly or through the African Union. For ECA to do so effectively, I strongly believe that its programmes must be in full harmony with the African priorities and seamlessly woven into the work fabric of the AU Commission. AU Commission and ECA must therefore be prepared to think, plan and work closely together in support of Africa. Furthermore, given the immense challenges faced by the continent and the bold regional response to meeting them expressed through the AU Strategic Plan and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), I believe it is of the utmost importance for AU, ECA, and ADB to now significantly upscale their trilateral partnership. Earlier I also had extensive discussion with President Alpha Konare on how best we can optimize our personal and institutional partnership in order to serve Africa better... I am glad to note that the three of us have a strong convergence of views on how this can be done. A key aspect of this will be through the revitalization of the joint AU-ADBECA secretariat under the leadership of the AU Commission as well as through the harmonization and rationalization of the ADB and ECA meetings. Excellencies, 2005 was a year in which significant attention was focused on Africa’s development needs and in which commitments to upscale efforts were made both by regional leaders and by our international partners. The Debt Initiative, The Commission on Africa Report and UN World Summit, among others, were part of the sustained effort to place Africa’s development challenge foremost on the global agenda. While these have yielded some initial result... We now must strive to ensure that the momentum

Mr. Chairman, your Excellency, Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, your Excellency, Lam Akol, representative of the First Vice, President of the Republic of Sudan, Honorable Ministers, distinguished Commissioners of the African Union, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to begin by saying how delighted I am by the honor accorded me to address this esteemed Executive Council of Ministers today, for the first time. I wish to take this opportunity to thank each one of you and your respective governments, for the encouragement and support you have expressed to me since my appointment. Honorable Ministers, I have come to ECA from UNDPa sister United Nations institution that is a key and committed partner to Africa. While at UNDP I was privileged to work very closely with African countries in support of their development agenda as I did with the African Union Commission, particularly with the Chairperson and Commissioners in supporting capacity building for institutional transformation as well as the AU Peace and Security Agenda. Through this collaboration and with the leadership of the Commission, we were able to build a strong partnership in support of Africa’s development initiatives. It is my intention to build on this broad and positive experience and bring ECA and AU into closer partnership and upscale collaboration between the two organizations. This renewed partnership will take full advantage of the favorable factors of our shared vision and mandate..., to effectively accom-

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generated by that attention is not allowed to dissipate and that concrete results accrue from it. It is important for the international community to live up to its commitments in aid delivery and ensure the predictability of resources for African countries. ...we must acknowledge that we also need to work harder on the key issues of governance, peace and security that continue to constrain development effectiveness. Africa has made appreciable progress in this area and the Africa Peer Review Mechanism is one eloquent testimony to Africa’s commitment to strengthen and improve governance. ECA is honored to be a strategic partner to the implementation of the mechanism and will continue to render its contribution in this regard. Mr. Chairman, let me turn now to trade, another area on which there was particular focus last year and where Africa’s concerns resonated in the global arena. Last month, in Hong Kong, the Doha Round negotiations once again did not go as well as we had expected even though some modest gains were made. The challenge will be to secure those gains and build on them...Let me in this regard acknowledge the solid work the AU Commission has done in facilitating the building of common positions by African countries in global, regional and bilateral negotiations. On agriculture, an agreement was reached to end farm subsidies by the end of 2013 instead of 2010 as proposed by African countries. On cotton, it was agreed that there will be an end to export subsidies by 2006 and that there will be duty and quota free access for cotton exports from LDCs into developed country markets as from the beginning of the implementation period for the Doha agreements. However, on domestic support, which is the most important issue in the cotton debate there was no specific commitment. Clearly, the modalities phase of the negotiations will be critical in determining who gains or loses from the Doha agreements. It is therefore important for African countries to be prepared to make their concerns known and to protect their national interests. Trade is pivotal to economic growth and development. It therefore must be given the utmost priority and mainstreamed across government activity. ...I am pleased to inform you that ECA is now going to be working very closely with the AU on the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy, which we jointly launched in Tunis. ...The role of education and training in the promotion of economic, social and political development cannot be over-emphasized. They play a crucial role in achieving higher economic growth... Education and training also contribute to the health of nations, cultural development, democratic values, political stability and nation building. This is why there is a strong correlation between the standard of education and training and the level of eco-

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nomic and social development. There are huge challenges at all levels of education and training in Africa in terms of access, quality, relevance and equity. The quality of education in higher institutes of learning has also declined due to a number of factors such as inadequate textbooks and journals, poor libraries, poorly equipped laboratories, brain drain, and low morale of teaching staff. Education also goes hand in hand with culture. ...The Cultural Charter for Africa encapsulates the value of culture in the African society. It aims among other things to rehabilitate, restore, preserve and promote the African cultural heritage. These values are as valid today as they were in 1976 when the Cultural Charter of Africa was adopted. It is encouraging to observe efforts made in the context of Africa’s regional integration to promote cultural cooperation among African countries not least, through the formulation of protocols on culture and sports. Many of our Regional Economic Communities for instance emphasize the promotion of culture as stipulated in the African Charter and the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community. But the real challenge is to make culture one of the centerpieces of Africa’s development agenda at the national level. Excellencies, the linkage of education and culture is also crucial when we discuss the HIV/AIDS pandemic — the most serious constraint to Africa’s development efforts — and the quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The challenge of HIV/AIDS looms large over Africa’s limited performance in attaining the MDGs, illustrating that all Goals are linked and must be achieved as a package. Undoubtedly we all, as leaders, need to do more to turn back the tide... Mr. Chairman, to conclude, I would like to briefly highlight some of the challenges we continue to face in advancing the regional integration agenda. Regional integration and the creation of the African common market has been the vision of African leaders since the early years of independence. The rationale for this is clear. A common market combining Africa’s 53 mostly small and fragmented economies will lead to economies of scale that make countries competitive. Good progress in many areas of regional cooperation has been made, but much remains to be done. Moving forward on Africa’s integration agenda will therefore require sustained effort. ...I assure you of our continued support in the months leading to the AU’s Summit decision on the issue. Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, let me conclude by wishing you fruitful deliberations and assuring you that my colleagues and I at ECA are fully at your service as you undertake your noble task of advancing the continent’s integration and development agenda. I thank you.

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Mount Abu

Oasis in the Desert It is the one cool spot in the desert state of Rajasthan. Mount Abu, at over 1700 metres above sea level, is a hill station that boasts of an ethereal beauty that is all its own.

nsconced among the rocks on a granite table mountain in Rajasthan’s far south-west is Mount Abu, the desert state’s only hill station that is built around a lake and surrounded by forested hills. According to legend, the place derives its name from Arbuda, a serpent who descended to the spot to rescue Lord Shiva’s bull, Nandi. Besides having all the features of a pleasant hill resort, Mount Abu is also well known for the famous Dilwara Jain temples and many more archaeological remains. There are interesting treks and picnic spots, romantic royal retreats of the various erstwhile families of the bygone Rajputana dynasty and some relics of the British period.

ble cow. This is said to be the site of ancient fire rituals. Government Museum: The museum was set up in 1962 within the premises of the Raj Bhawan to preserve the archaeological wealth of the region. Nakki Lake: Situated at the heart of Mount Abu is this sparkling blue artificial lake that is said to have been gauged from the earth by the gods, using their fingernails (‘nakh’ means nail). Nearby is the 14th century Raghunath Temple. On the western edge of the town centre, Nakki

ATTRACTIONS Dilwara Temples: This complex consisting of five Jain temples is one of the finest in Rajasthan. These beautifully carved temples were built between the 11th and 13th century AD and are sheer poetry in marble. These marvelous monuments are dedicated to the Jain Tirthankaras. The Vimal Vasahi Temple is the oldest of these, dedicated to the first Tirthankara. Built in 1031 AD (by Vimal Shah — a merchant and representative of the then Gujarat ruler), it is a superb example of temple architecture. Gaumukh Temple: Dedicated to Lord Rama, this small temple (the cow’s mouth) situated 4 km from Mount Abu is centred on a spring gushing from the mouth of a mar-

Temple of Vimal Shah at Dilwara

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Lake Road circles the entire lake. Rowing boats are available for hire from the jetty adjoining Gandhi Park. View Points: Several points around the edge of the plateau offer spectacular views across the plains. These include Anadra Point and Sunset Point, where people gather to watch the sunset every evening in a carnival atmosphere of pony rides and souvenir sellers. Achalgarh Fort: This is an impressive fort with some beautiful Jain temples enclosed within. Among the noteworthy temples are Achaleswar Mahadev temple (1412 AD) and Kantinath Jain temple (1513 AD). The latter has a gold plated image. Adhar Devi Temple: This ancient temple dedicated to the serpent goddess, Arbuda, is carved out of a huge rock. The black-painted marble idol, riding a solid gold tiger, is claimed to be about 5,000 years old. Guru Shikhar: The highest peak on Mount Abu (1722 metres above sea level) allows a birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye view of the idyllic surroundings. A small shaivite shrine and a temple of Dattatreya on the peak are worth a visit. Trevors Tank: Named after the British engineer who constructed it, Trevors tank is a delight for birdwatchers with densely wooded hills that are a haven to pigeons, peacocks and partridges. â&#x2013;

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TOURIST INFORMATION How to Get There BY AIR: Nearest all-weather airport is at Udaipur, about 190 km away.. BY RAIL: Main railhead is at Abu Road, about 29 km away, and it is well linked to New Delhi and other important cities. BY ROAD: Well-connected by road from Delhi and other important cities. CLIMATE: Winter: Maximum temperature is 28 degrees Celsius, minimum is 11 degrees Celsius. Summer: Maximum temperature is 34 degrees Celsius; minimum is 23 degrees. BEST TIME TO VISIT: February-June and SeptemberDecember. WHERE TO STAY: Aranya Village, Hotel Cama Rajputana, Hotel Savera Palace, Hotel Jaipur House

February 2006

Intricate carvings inside a Jain temple

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■ Contributors ■ SEFI ATTA is Nigerian writer whose new novel Everything Good Will Come is being published in the United States, England and Nigeria. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, she was also educated in England and the United States. A former chartered accountant and CPA, she is a graduate of the creative writing programme at Antioch University, Los Angeles. Her short stories have appeared in journals like Los Angeles Review and Mississipi Review and have won prizes from Zoetrope and Red Hen Press. Her radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC. She is the winner of PEN International’s 2004/2005 David T.K. Wong Prize and, in 2002, the opening section of her debut novel was short-listed for the Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa. She teaches at Meridian Community College and Mississippi State University. ■ URVASHI BUTALIA, a publisher and writer based in New Delhi, is the co-founder of Kali for Women, India’s first publishing house set up in 1984 to increase the body of knowledge on women in the Third World. Butalia has recently launched a new publishing imprint under Kali, Zubaan. A well-known women’s and civil rights activist, she writes on issues relating to women, the media, communications and communalism. She has authored many books, including The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India, the critically-acclaimed and path-breaking chronicle of the untold stories of Partition, which has been translated into several languages. Her main interests are gender and history and she has published various articles and essays in local and international journals. She has also been teaching a course in publishing at the University of Delhi for over two decades. ■ ARUN BHATTACHARJEE is a free-lance journalist with wide experience in India and abroad. He had served with two United Nations organisations in Africa. His last assignment was Communication Advisor, Asian Institute for Development Communication at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was the Deputy Director, Press Institute of India, and is currently an advisor with the Technia Institute for Advanced Studies. ■ MANISH CHAND is editor of Africa Quarterly. He writes on foreign policy, politics, culture and books for the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS). He has also worked with The Times of India, The Asian Age and Tehelka. His articles have been published in leading national and international dailies. ■ CHARLES R. LARSON is chair of the Department of Literature at American University, in Washington, D.C. His books include The Emergence of African Fiction (1972), Under African Skies (1997), and The Ordeal of the African Writer (2001). ■ R.A. OLAOYE teaches history at University of Ilorin, Nigeria and has written extensively on various facets of Yoruba tribes. ■ ANAND SAHAY is a commentator on foreign policy issues. A senior journalist, he worked with The Hindu as diplomatic correspondent and The Hindustan Times in his decades-long journalistic career. ■ NANDINI CHOUDHURY SEN is a senior lecturer in Bharati College, Delhi University. Born in Kolkata, she has a Master’s and M.Phil degree in English Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Delhi, respectively. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in African literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has presented papers, written and published articles on various aspects of gender and literature. She is a Charles Wallace Scholar and has presented a paper titled ‘Rethinking the Canon’ at the 16th Oxford Conference at Oxford University. Sen is also the member of the African Studies Association and the Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies. ■ Dr. V.S. SHETH is professor and director of the Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai. ■ SHUBHA SINGH is a senior journalist and has worked with leading Indian newspapers for more than two decades. She has been writing a weekly column on foreign affairs and politics for over 10 years. She has travelled extensively as a journalist, taking special interest in regions that have large settlements of people of Indian origin such as Mauritius, South Africa, the Caribbean, the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. She has written two books titled Fiji: A Precarious Coalition and Overseas Indians: The Global Family.

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Q U A R T E R L Y

Note to Contributors Africa Quarterly, published since 1961, is devoted to the study and objective analyses of African affairs and issues related to India-Africa relations. Contributions are invited from outstanding writers, experts and specialists in India, Africa and other countries on various political, economic, social-cultural, literary, philosophical and other themes pertaining to African affairs and India-Africa relations. Preference will be given to those articles which deal succinctly with issues that are both important and clearly defined. Articles which are purely narrative and descriptive and lacking in analytical content are not likely to be accepted. Contributions should be in a clear, concise, readable style and written in English. Articles submitted to Africa Quarterly should be original contributions and should not be under consideration by any other publication at the same time. The Editor is responsible for the selection and acceptance of articles, but responsibility for errors of facts and opinions expressed in them rests with authors. Manuscripts submitted should be accompanied with a statement that the same has not been submitted/accepted for publication elsewhere. Copyright of articles published in the Africa Quarterly will be retained by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). Manuscripts submitted to Africa Quarterly should be typed double space on one side of the paper and two copies should be sent. A diskette (3 ½” ) MS-Dos compatible, and e-mail as an attachment should be sent along with the two hard copies. Authors should clearly indicate their full name, address, e-mail, academic status and current institutional affiliation. A brief biographical note (one paragraph) about the writer may also be sent. The length of the article should not normally exceed 7,000 to 8,000 words, or 20 to 25 ( A-4 size) typed pages in manuscript. Titles should be kept as brief as possible. Footnote numbering should be clearly marked and consecutively numbered in the text and notes placed at the end of the article and not at the bottom of the relevant page. Tables (including graphs, maps, figures) must be submitted in a form suitable for reproduction on a separate sheet of paper and not within the text. Each table should have a clear descriptive title and mention where it is to be placed in the article. Place all footnotes in a table at the end of the article. Reference numbers within the text should be placed after the punctuation mark. Footnote style: In the case of books, the author, title of the book, place of publication, publisher, date of publication and page numbers should be given in that order, e.g. Basil Davidson, ‘The Blackman’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State’, London, James Curry, 1992, pp. 15-22. In the case of articles, the author, title of article, name of the journal, volume and issue number in brackets, the year and the page numbers should be given in that order. In addition to major articles and research papers, Africa Quarterly also publishes short articles in the section titled News & Events. They may not exceed 2,000 words in length. Contributions of short stories and poems are also welcome. Contributors to Africa Quarterly are entitled to two copies of the issue in which their article appears in addition to a modest honorarium. Contributors of major articles accepted for publication will receive up to a maximum of Rs. 4,000. Contributions may be sent by post to: The Editor Africa Quarterly Indian Council for Cultural Relations Azad Bhavan Indraprastha Estate New Delhi-110 002 Contributions may be e-mailed to: africa.quarterly@gmail.com

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Volume 46, No. 1 February-April 2006

A F R I C A Q U A R T E R L Y !

Celebrating carnival of creativity

Decoding the urge to write

Reliving the end of apartheid

Across an ocean of wealth

In Conversation: Francis Moloi

Connecting with Africa

Dream of a Kenyan safari

Indian Council for Cultural Relations Azad Bhavan Indraprastha Estate New Delhi-110 002 E-mail: africa.quarterly@gmail.com Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India Regd No. 14380/61

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