Friday, February 23, 2007

More!

So I promised to write more. Here goes:
If you want magnificent and well documented roads, visit South Africa! They have one of the best roads in the world and it was such a pleasure. Good weather, which is typical around Feb-March, made it even better. The air is pure, and the skies filled with millions of stars. I had actually forgotten what the skies are actually supposed to look like. I remember when I was around 10 years old, I would sleep on the terrace just looking at the stars and there were just so many. Now, the skies of Bangalore are grey, and your lucky if you manage to see any.
The wilderness amazed me! Vast open lands, you could see the horizon. Nothing to stop the view, no buildings, no cables, no planes, absolutely nothing. And the serenity can tend to be a little creepy. I remember looking at a herd of springbok, a few zebras and sable, all of them almost still, just lazing and this will probably be the image of Africa that will be in my mind for a very long time.
The Sterkfontein caves, was probably what I loved best. The cradle of humankind, is the place where paliantologists found the oldest known human skull, Mrs. Ples. It was found by Dr.Robert Broom, somebody who spent decades studying about it and the origin of man. It is believed that it was here in Africa that humankind first orginated! So although I missed the trip to Pilanesburg, I thought a visit to the Cradle of Humankind was something I wouldn't have ever wanted to miss.
Apart from that, we fed the giraffes, ostriches and even got to petting some of the lion cubs. Very cool!
A country can't be so perfect can it? So what is it about South Africa, that a lot of people don't know about.Crime! SA has a very high rate of crime since and this is mostly because the rate of unemployment stands at 50%. So almost all buildings have high walls with electric fencing but that doesn't really help much. The people there fear for their lives which I wasn't used to here in Bangalore. I had wonderful colleagues who made me feel safe, and if it wasn't for them, I'm not sure if things would've been the same. One of them told me about how women wouldn't stop at traffic signals at night, if they could help it because in that short period of a few minutes, there are chances that they would be robbed. I met an Indian on my flight back, who had been robbed at gunpoint thrice and whose Uncle was attacked a few days ago, and was in the hospital being treated for broken ribs. Another Afrikaner woman with a 3 month old collicky baby- her brother had been shot and she was transporting his body to India. Very distressing and very sad. But having said all this, I would like to someday, go back to Africa simply because one week was too short. I miss it, the air, the skies, everything!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

South Africa!

It's pretty obvious isn't it that I have been upto a lot lately. Well, the year started out great. The big news, I got promoted to a Technical Leader, something that came to me quite unexpectedly. I'm not complaining.
Then on the 3rd of February, 2007 was my little sisters wedding. Well I guess she isnt little anymore. The wedding was in Hyderabad, a fairly small one in comparison to the typical Indian ones. So there I was taking the extra responsibility of a new role and trying to help out with the wedding (mainly the incessant shopping that I'm not too fond of). Just when I thought everything was under control, I was requested to visit South Africa to train a few engineers. Gosh, that was the most exciting day for me! Just a few months ago, I wrote down a list of places I wanted to visit and Africa was the last one. Not because that was my last choice, but because I never really thought that an opportunity would come my way. So it did!
SA is a beautiful country except for the high crime rate but thanks to my colleagues from work, I felt absolutely safe. Now, I have tons to write about this heaven on Earth and it will probably take me several long posts and I will take the time to do that. But for now, I will try and keep it short. I'll post some pictures soon.
I am back!