Togolais diaries......contd

map and location of Togo

Le 30^th Mars, 2009

Bonjour

Today’s highlights were mainly my interaction with Ismael, MCP Aiesec in Togo and our discussions regarding his N.G.O. REJED( Ressaeau des jeunes pour les Developpement) which basically means Youth for Development network. The N.G.O. deals with projects dealing with poverty alleviation. They run a child sponsorship programme, a youth civic participation programme. The N.G.O. even works with UNDP as well as the World Bank as Ismael has contacts with the resource person at the WB office. They are planning to conduct a workshop for all the NGO to be conducted by UNDP regarding efficiency in internal administrative and financial policy and also they are embarking on a Millennium Development Village programme where they envisage to work with a few villages initially to make sure that they realize the MDG’s! So the scope of work looks great and hopefully things should materialize soon enough.

Another highlight was my meeting with Madame Sylvia who works for the World Bank in Togo. Apparently WB had suspended their funding in Togo as Togo was one of the major defaulters in the repayment obligations. This year they have resumed their operations in Togo presumably after the EU too decided to resume its funding in Togo last year which was suspended in 1993 due to lack of democracy in the country. This was a great opportunity for me to ask various functions on the working of the oft-criticized bank and she did give many insightful answers even though she was disappointingly unaware of the WB poverty line as well as the political situation existing in the continent. Even then it was a great opportunity and I was happy that I was able to make good use of it.

There was nothing much apart from this which happened and on the whole the day was a good one with some insightful discussions.

P.S. I need to do something about my French. I just cant understand what people say here when they talk to each other. So no eavesdropping for me though when they do talk to me they try to make efforts to parle en Angle and slowly in French, so as of now I am managing just fine!

Also for all those who think that Tata's achievement in bringing out the Nano isn't much of a big deal then think again because people are aware about the Nano here too and are astonished to hear its price!!

As I write this, it is 12 in the night and 5: 30 Indian time, so bon nuit people!!

Togolais diaries

Bonjour!

le 29th Mars, 2009


The last night transcended into the next ‘day’ if 1 am can be called that. A bath and last minute scurrying around later, moi parents, moi soeur et me were off to the airport. Through some contacts I had the privilege to cut through all the queues at the airport and yes it was a big privilege parce que all the queues were big! Security checks were done soon enough and I had more than 2 hours to roam about in the duty free shops at the airport. There wasn’t anything much apart from perfumes, liquor et eateries. After 2 and half hours of tedious wait the boarding was finally announced. And so I headed off for my Africa-no sojourn. Pretty Ethiopian airhostess greeted us inside. Seriously Air India can take lessons here! :p
After an utterly disgusting breakfast consisting of some mumbo jumbo which I failed to comprehend and due to the general prevalence of good sense didn’t bother to ask and an extremely tiring 5 hour flight due to the lack of sleep, the plane started to descent and I got my first view of the lands of Africa! Green plains with lakes with a picturesque view of the hills greeted my landing in Ethiopia. Bole international took me by complete surprise. It was multi layered with a cool glass façade with a glitzy white appearance, truth to be told it beats the Mumbai airport by a long long margin. Time for collective shame people because India is said to be a rising power. Well!!
I had to wait for 2 hours at the airport to catch my connecting flight to Lome. After a 6 dollar bill to make a one minute and 28 seconds back home and a couple of enlightening hours later, I was ready to catch the next flight. I say enlightening because at the airport I had the privilege of seeing a white kid strike up a friendship with a kid from Oriental origins and soon an African kid who I guess was a Togolaise joined in and they did make a pretty good triumvirate! The white kid had the good sense of offering the candy, which he had to the other two kids before he ate his own. The three of them played in a happy manner together never letting the ‘difference’ distort the fun, which they had. Maybe it was because they were too young to notice or maybe it was because they just did not care. Seriously made me wonder that après we grow up and become ‘educated’ where does the empathy and kindnesses of most of the people disappear? How is it that after that we are supposed to become wise there is absolutely no initiative on our part to engage the less privileged? Surely many of us can learn so much about simple humanity by just watching these children. Just wish that the grown-ups had the views similar to those of these children. Many of our problems would definitely get solved then.

After this extremely uplifting experience, with renewed vigour I headed off to catch the next flight to Togo. Maybe it was my impatience to reach Lome and my extreme fatigue or maybe it was the delay but nonetheless the flight seemed to be stuck up in the air for like forever. It was great dismay that I noticed that the sign for fastening one’s seatbelt just wouldn’t come on! Endless wait later it did come on though and we were finally descending! Green fields and a lack of any manmade structures greeted me as the first sights of this small country. Finally we landed at the airport and I was completely taken aback by what I saw.

Accustomed to the large sized airports, which I was coming from like the ones at Mumbai and Addis Ababa. The airport of Togo in complete contrast was extremely small. The terminal of arrival was only as big as the arrival terminal of the Srinagar airport as I remember from my memory. It was then I started realizing the obscurity of the land and its general lack of integration with the world. The airport had no A.C and merely had fans and only two counters for immigration. This would be really unthinkable in many countries and most of the people who travel frequently. The airport was named after the ex dictator of Togo who ruled the country for a whopping 38 years, Monsieur Geonssigbe Edymeyn. He died in 2005 and then his son was ‘democratically’ elected as the next president of the Republique des Togolaise.

After standing through the snaking queue, the immigration was finally done. It was here that I experienced my first problems relating to the language, as I was unable to comprehend quite a lot of what the official at the airport was saying. This did lead to some tense moments like when my passport wasn’t released because the official wanted to know who my contact was and I was not able to comprehend French. After sorting this out, I proceeded for customs and security check. And I had my first encounter with corruption here. In spite of my baggage being cleared by the customs, I was made to open in twice and after inspecting the baggage on both the occasion the officials wanted a ‘service charge.’ It did leave a bitter taste in my mouth, as I had to part with 10 dollars right at the beginning of my trip as bribes! Certainly not a very pleasant introduction to a new country that was completely alien to me. Though Alain and my host Sammuel greeted me rather warmly at the tiny airport and in no time we were out of the place. I then started to what I call ‘discover Togo.’ It was evident from the scene right outside the airport that I had taken a challenging internship as the country was in a state of relative poverty and India was way more advanced than this place. This fact was accentuated by the fact that Lome, which is the capital, is itself a demonstration of lack of general well being of people, one can logically conclude that the condition in the countryside would only be worse. It was the first time I saw a wood log being used a support to the bonnet of a car. This taxi, which alain and me hired was a Toyota and ironic as it may seem it, was in a car of foreign make that I went out to discover the sights and sounds of Togo. Small houses made of mud lined next to the streets, two lane streets often without a divider, cars of foreign brands often like many places in the world of Toyota, people sitting outside their homes seemingly free, roadside small café’s serving liquor, sounds of African beats, a group of people laughing joyously attired in extremely colourful dresses in bright colours like yellow, green, blue, people selling football jersey’s which hang on trees greeted me as I made my first trip across the town. Honestly, it was an experience for me of a completely different kind. Being an Indian I am not oblivious to poverty, having seen it at close quarters but to see the major chunks to capital city in this fashion was something completely different from what I had experienced or seen before. The Togolaise people take a lot of pride in their country as the government has made it compulsory for every car to have a number plate which has the flag of Togo inscribed on it. Even apart from in most of the cars I peered into I could not help buy notice the flag of Togo being installed at he dashboard.
Straight from the airport I made my way to the beach. Being a major tourist spot of the capital it was extremely surprising that there was not even a permanent road made of tar in place, there was in fact a mud road surrounded by farms in place.
The beach was one of the best I had come across, maybe after the one I saw at Pattaya. Sorry Goa. Sparkling water of the Atlantic ocean, or what the locale’s call it Gulf de Guinea surrounded by virgin white sands made this beach an absolute heaven!
The entire AIESEC local committee of Lome was here on a picnic. Met quite a few of them, as my granddad was telling me the people were very friendly an did not let me feel like an outsider. Though language was a bit of the problem, it worked out just fine and I even got a chance to play in a beach football match and got to see first hand the natural skills of Africans at football. Boy they are pretty talented and in fact I could not help but just feel a little stupid at my absolute lack of any kind of soccer skills!
This was followed by a trip to the best university of this country, Universite de Lome. A sprawling campus with open air classrooms with the presence of all the departments you could possible think of are the hallmark here. (Please don’t go into BMM and stuff though! :p)

After meeting a few more people, I was finally led to the place where I would be staying. It was a humble abode where one more of the Aiesecer stayed. The house can be reached only after taking confusing turns through the narrow muddy narrow lanes full of houses and even shanties. My room is a compact one measuring not more then 12 feet by 10 feet with a bed and a table. The room has no fan and the bathroom cant be closed properly though people do have the good sense to peep though! (not yet at least :p). In spite of this it is very evident that this is one of well to do families of the country, it is a startling reminder of level of hardships faced by people. After a quick shower and dinner consisting of rice and local made tomato gravy made very kindly by Sam’s mother, an extremely affable and a kind lady though completely unaware of English, which is a problem even then nothing to take away from her extremely jovial and good nature and apparently like all the other people in Togo she too LOVES soccer and Emmanuel Adebayor, Togo and Arsenal striker, is the apple of everyone’s eyes here, yes sir, that includes even her mother who was telling me with a lot of concern in her voice and eyes in French about the injury sustained by Adebayor which kept him out for three months, I crashed to sleep!!

P.S.
Some might wonder like my parents especially after I described the conditions here that why did I decide to come to Togo or am I comfortable here. Well truth to be told even though this is just the beginning but I absolutely love my stay here! Maybe it is because of the extremely kind nature of the local people here, right from my host Sam, to his Mother or to his nephew Michael, about 7-9 years old who very kindly washed my plates though I didn’t let him do it the second time, or brought me water and is forever smiling at me and people like Alain who have tirelessly accompanied me everywhere helping me out. Or it might be because I am getting to experience life in a completely new city, country and a new environment, where Togo beating Cameroon in a football match a day before was a cause for national celebration. Or maybe it Or maybe I am getting to see first hand the resilience shown by people when poverty stares right at their face and how a win in a football match, a cultural week by some school or just the smallest of reason is the cause of major boisterous celebration. Or maybe because I do know that at my age there just couldn’t have been a better case study for my studies in Economics. Or maybe because I am just in love with the idea of the kind of potential this place holds regarding the work, which I can do in villages etc. Or maybe because it is my dream realized to come to Africa and notice their life first hand untouched by the tenants of what the ‘developed’ and the more knowledgeable people refer to as modernization which is more often than not involves opening ones soul to money.
So till now all great. In spite of some physical discomforts, the other factors more than compensate. Looking forward to get an experience of my lifetime here!

An ode to Indian democracy

As the elections dawn upon the vibrant democracy of India and as the battle for votes reaches its feverish pitch, I found myself thinking, where are the people worth being given chair of the Highest post of our country? As parties attack each other over each other records by pulling out petty stats, I found myself thinking where are the ideologies to vote for? As the world's largest democracy goes to vote, i found myself thinking where are the leaders worth voting for?

For far too long, elections in India have been characterized by throwing out incumbents rather than voting fro concrete manifestoes, ideologies, or sheer vision. NDA was famously ousted by the UPA on the basis of high onion prices and if the NDA had their house in order, it would have been very likely that UPA too could have been thrown out on the basis oh high food prices (CPI still stands at 9% as against the WPI which is a measly 0.44% for the week ended), this is a different issue that it would have given rise to a scary prospect of a communalist like L K Advani becoming the PM. Agenda's are commonly attacked rather than the vision of each of the party. The UPA and the NDA haven’t even bothered to release their manifestoes till date and the Third Front the touted 'alternate secular front which released one of its own, has things like scrapping the nuclear deal with the U.S.A.

The elite class has often been condemned for behaving in a chauvinist manner by not even turning up to vote during the elections and often treating elections dates as an extended weekend and thus due to this reason they have not turned into an effective votebank for political parties to pursue. But this behaviours needs to be inspected before dismissing the elitist sections of the society as snobs.

During the American elections this time around, people genuinely wanted a change, a change, which would blow across the battered, sails of America and undo the wrongs done and lead it towards reclaiming their former glory. Barack Husein Obama provided that change, here was a person who was of African origin, was into drugs at one point of time but had the courage to pursue his dream to reach the most important post in the world with dogged determination. Students came out to vote, the rich and affluent turned out too, no wonder that at his induction ceremony a record 2 million people were present.

India too faces a crisis today, the numbing and chilling terrorist attacks have not only jeopardized the security of the nation but also its image. Isn't is shameful that a mega event like the IPL which would have been a great source of revenue for our service sector such as hotel industry, airline industry, tourism in such recession fuelled times had to be shifted because of dangers of security? Apart from this the naxal menace goes on unchecked, the Salwa Judum has only resulted in increased human rights violations, J & K continues to witness excesses by the Indian army, the sporting infrastructure has been a mess forever and the work for the Commonwealth nations 2010 is progressing at a snail's pace hence posing a serious threat to the credibility of India as a rising soft power along with China, there are increasing regional interests dominating the national scene and the rise of these hooligan regional factions seriously undermine the validity of the concept of India, the vision itself for which India was created.

In face of such crisis I found myself thinking that is their absolutely any leader in this country who inspires an iota of hope in our minds? Is there even a single leader who can be trusted by the Indian electorate to guide India towards Kalam's vision 2020?
An unfortunate answer, which stared back at me, was a deafening NO. A look at our prime ministerial candidates proves this point.
The main opposition front NDA has nominated LK Advani for the top post, a communalist who blatantly supported the demolition of Babri Masjid, the pain of which still resonated in the heart of every Indian Muslim and creating a rift not only between Hindu's and Muslims but also leading to disastrous consequences for the nation as a whole (think 1992 blasts, 93 riots, 2002 riots). Can we ever trust a non-secular terrorist like him to be a Prime Minister of our country? The Hindutva forces for long now have pursued a fundamentalist agenda buoyed by the blessings of the NDA forces present in the Government be it in the case of Orissa, or Gujrat or Karnataka. Thus as a force which has to lead India through this tumultuous and yet crucial stage the NDA definitely is a very unattractive option.

Mayawati has thrown her hat in the ring too and it is common knowledge that she has her eyes well set on the high post at Delhi. As a leader, she has been praised to her social engineering gambit and the way she has got the support of the lower as well as the upper castes. But rank corruption and a complete authoritarian style of governance has marred her image in the eyes of the intellectuals and the general perception of people educated and with a keen sense of politics has been negative. Instances of her rather grand birthday celebrations where she is literally worshipped by her followers, her collectors who in the past have actually murdered some people in UP for failing to pay up for her birthday celebrations and her rather disproportionate assets which she has attributed to gifts from her followers have evoked distrust from the intelligentsia which might be against the perception held by the common man.

And finally the role of Dr. Manmohan Singh too needs to be discussed. The affable and the highly astute man has often been called a politician by accident. His squeaky-clean image and gentle demeanour have led to these claims. What no one doubts though is the credibility of this economist. Highly learned and respected, Dr. Singh evoked through respect but sadly only as a person and not as a PM. Unfortunately he just doesn’t possess the firmness and charisma needed for a job of this stature and complexity. Though best among all the bets his party just doesn’t seem to have any sort of an ideology or a political alignment. That does go against Dr. Singh claims at leading India for the second term.

And there lies the malaise gripping the politics in India today. Dynastic successions in undemocratic parties has given rise to a generation of young politicians like, Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vasundra Raje, Omar Abdullah whose sole qualifications are being a part of political lineage. One might argue that it’s a common practise for sons following their father’s footsteps and continue the family practise or business. But the problem is that politics in principle not a business, it impacts billions across the lengths and breadths of the country, define the image which a country has among the world; shape the future of the living as well as the unborn. Thus I run scared to see absolutely no change at sight in the horizon. Politics will continue to be a family ‘business’, people who had the spark in them to prove effective administrators like Meena Sayal, Shashi Tharoor, Kapil Sibal will lose out in the long run to the pseudo youth representatives such as Rahul, Omar and the likes. Political manifestoes will continue to be recycled and then thrown away simply because nobody reads them and nobody cares. Votebank politics will dominate the national scene, the intellectuals will be disillusioned still not being able to come together as a votebank and the power of youth will be spoken about pseudos. For all practical purposes Indian democracy is dead; long live India!!

Being independent

This was Meera Sanyal's reply when she was aksed why would she stand as an independent candidate and not join a party. This is one of the most inspiring blog or reply or whatever you call it. Surely we need more people like her. FOr those who are unaware..Meera Sanyal is the India head of ABN AMRO, has some outstanding achievements to her credit and has decided to stand as an independent candidate frm South Mumbai. For more refer to her website : http://www.meerahsanyal.in.



Why Independent

This is a question I have been asked repeatedly over the past few days both on the blogs and by the media – why am I standing as an independent, and not with a party ?

The meaning of “independence” is to be free. Free of constraints imposed by others, free of the dictates of those who make decisions on citizens’ behalf based on the cold calculations of party politics, free to vote on issues on the basis of principles without having to worry about trading off one interest against another.

I listen to my conscience. I’m guided by our constitution. And I represent my constituents. I can do it effectively only if I am an independent – independent of parties, but connected with the people.

Our mainstream political parties seem to choose candidates based on their perceived powerbase, not on experience, principles, or ideology.

Some candidates are chosen because they are related to politicians who held the seat before them; others are chosen because they belong to a particular caste, group, religion, or background; others because they have a mass following like filmstars or sportspersons; yet others because they are perceived to be “winnable” notwithstanding a criminal background.

I can only assume this happens because political parties are interested in acquiring power and winning elections, by any means, and the candidate’s background doesn’t matter. It used to be said in Jawaharlal Nehru’s time, that such was his charisma, that even if a lamp post stood in the Congress’s name, it would win an election. Today, we have no Jawaharlal. But we have many lamp posts.

Since the candidates are chosen to ensure that the party wins seats, they remain exempt from any internal scrutiny or examination. All transgressions, even the most heinous ones, are forgiven for the sake of political imperatives.

I want to change that.

As an independent candidate I will represent my constituency without being beholden to the murky business of large-scale politics. My causes are the causes of my constituents, not those of helping a party in coming to or remaining in power.

I will be directly accountable to the people who elect me. They will be my High Command. My motivations are not diluted by expectations of office. My allegiance will always remain with my constituents.

The last time a single party secured governing majority on its own in India was 25 years ago. Since then, we have had coalitions, alliances, and groupings; and our coalitions are getting more and more fractured. As a result, even a single MP’s vote on issues as well as voice in Parliament will count.

Needless to say, who that MP is, matters—but what she stands for matters even more. We have had scandals of suitcases full of cash changing hands to support governments; of MPs taken away to guest houses for days before votes in legislature, to ensure that nobody changes alliances. 20% of our MPs have a criminal record – what will they, and the parties that support them, stand for ?

My constituency is my home and I believe its citizens can and will identify with me. I grew up in this constituency; I studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Fort Convent and later at Cathedral; my college was Sydenham; and I work both from Nariman Point, and my office in Lower Parel. I shop at Crawford Market for my fruits, at Sassoon Docks for my fish, at Nal Bazaar for meat and at Byculla for vegetables. I have jumped on and off locals and run to catch buses. I have sat and debated on the steps of the Asiatic Library, spent endless hours at Jahangir Gallery’s Samovar, delighted in the monsoons on Marine Drive and drawn inspiration from Mani Bhavan. I am the daughter of South Mumbai which is why I am standing from this constituency.

I have seen the deterioration of our city, and I know how vulnerable it is—not only to the terror attacks of 2008, but the many bombings – at the Gateway of India, at bus stops, in suburban trains, at Air India Building, at the passport office, over the past two decades. I have seen the city come to a halt and worried with other mothers when communal statements and riots have forced a panicked shut down at schools. And I’ve seen the city crumble after the torrential rains in 2005.

Are we satisfied with things as they are? Or do we want change?

We undermine ourselves if we continue to choose between candidates who despite having been elected and had the opportunity to improve matters have not done so.

I want to trust the good sense of the people of this city, who believe in rising through merit, irrespective of caste, creed, language, faith, family or connections.

Political calculations are important—I make them too. But what business has taught me is that if you have a good product or idea, you take it to the market. And the market will reward you if your product is right. In the business world, I did not stop myself, or my bank, from introducing a fresh approach because somebody had entered the market before me.

From a bank that was completely unknown in 1992, we have built ABN AMRO to the fourth-largest foreign bank in India. Starting with a team of just 10 people in 2001, I built ACES, into a global ITeS firm employing approx 6000 people, of whom over 2000 work in Lower Parel.

I am in this election to win. I am not taking away anyone’s votes; I am winning my votes.

Other products have been tried and tested and found wanting. I don’t take a single vote for granted. And I don’t want to insult any individual or community by assuming that they are part of an undifferentiated vote bank, who vote similarly on every issue. I know that irrespective of their views on different issues, the citizens of my Mumbai, feel that we must reclaim our city.

This is why I am an Independent and also why I am not alone.