Ethiopian New Year

Ethiopia celebrates its new year on a different date - September 11. The calendar that the country follows is different from the European one. They are 7 years back of the European year, which means that the present year being 2005, they are still in 1998. Come September 11, 2005, it will be the beginning of 1999. Wonder if they will have Y2K problems on their millenium year and even if they do (they wont have the problem), whether they will even bother about it. Nah........they won't even know that it had existed and was solved.

The Ethiopian calendar has 13 months, as opposed to the European calendar of 12 months. This is because of the following reason. Of the 13 months, the first 12 have 30 days each. The last month has 5 days (and 6 days in a leap year). The local people are very proud of this fact and always advertise their country as a country of "thirteen months of sunshine". Its not exactly so...visit Ethiopia during the months of May through September (European calendar) and you wouldn't say that. This time is winter in Ethiopia - winter being otherwise known as rainy season. Jimma is a place more prone to rains than any other place in Ethiopia and believe me, you wouldn't wanna be there during that time.

Coffee

Ethiopia is known for its coffee produce. Jimma is one of the best known places for coffee. People usually make fresh coffee at home. The beans is sold in the market, fresh from the plant. Many people have coffee plants at their home and use the beans from them. They roast them fresh and grind them and then make the coffee on a traditional pot called "gebanah". They brew the coffee on the gebanah and then serve it without milk.

This whole coffee-brewing thing is an important traditional ceremony in Ethiopia, called "Buna Ceremony" or "Coffee Ceremony". Its one of the hospitality ceremonies there. The ceremony is set elaborately. There is a plastic decorated sheet which is laid out first and many things are placed on it. There's a coffee table placed at the centre of the sheet. The coffee table is a small table with a drawer where the coffee cups, saucers and spoons are kept. The gebanah is placed on top of the table. The person who serves the coffee (its a woman thing) sits behind the table. They place the stove to one side of the table. The stove is a small mud one, runs on charcoal. They have a small grinding thing as well, dont know what its called. So they fry the beans, then grind it, then put it in the gebanah and fill it with hot water. They let it brew for sometime before serving it.

During festive times, Ethiopian people have a tradition of spreading grass on the sheet where the coffee table sits. They also spread grass in the house as well. I didnt get an explanation as to why they do it when I asked many locals. The buna ceremony is done after lunch, in the evenings and other special occasions. They also serve "korsa", fried peanuts or chickpeas. This is given prior to having coffee because they say that coffee should not be had in empty stomach.

Hindi Movie Addiction

People in Ethiopia love hindi movies. Mom tells me that this dates back to a long time ago. The Ethiopian film industry is just picking up so there aren't many amharic movies to watch. Hindi and English movies are widely appreciated by people there. Hindi movies come with english subtitles. When I was there, there was talk that hindi movies were gonna come with amharic subtitles. Its likely that it may have happened.

Everyone has watched almost all the movies that come to Ethiopia. Some were telling me the best movie they like is "Mother India", a movie I have not yet watched. Its an old movie, something patriotic I think. Whenever we go on the road and the locals see us and presume we are Indians, they start shouting all the words of hindi that they can remember from movies, character names, actors' names, movie names and so on. Like once me and mom were walking and a few men from inside a truck started screaming "Mother India, Haati Mere Saathi" and some more hindi movie names that I can't remember right now.

Everyone loves Shah Rukh Khan (SRK). They think that nothing better than him can happen in Bollywood. Most of the movies that come to Ethiopia are his movies. They have posters of him in music shops, grocery stores and so on. Other actors are not so popular but people know they exist. Of the actresses, people love Rani Mukherjee, they adore Kajol and Preity Zinta, and put up posters of any other actress who poses in any position other than normal.

Once when me and mom were walking on the road, a bunch of boys walking in the opposite direction noticed us and as we crossed each other, started singing a popular song from an SRK movie. They were good, actually. Funny how much they can get the lyrics right with just listening to the song and not knowing the language at all. I sang the rest of the song and we were given a big applause.

Hindi movies are aired in the only theater in Jimma every wednesday and friday afternoon. I once went to a movie with a few Indian friends of mine. The movie was a SRK one, "Phir bhi dil hai hindustani". The crowd was minimal. Not many people like to go to theaters. The ticket is of a very meagre rate - has to be when considering wooden chairs and no air-conditioning. But even that value could be expensive for a majority of the locals. Whatever crowd was there was surely more patriotic than us, I can say that. There was a scene where SRK does this "I won't tolerate injustice" dialogue and waves the Indian flag and walks past a bunch of fat policeman (who happen to have misunderstood the whole story) who try to shoot him. They dont and when a whole battalion of people march past, led by SRK, the crowd in the small theater started clapping their hands and cheering! This was so incredible to me! I mean, the sole reason I watched the movie was that the patriot thing was so silly and so funny and there are these people of a different culture and country feeling so serious about the same thing I found the other way round.

I discussed this clapping-for-hero thing with Mom and what she told me is really something to think about. The people of Ethiopia have been in bondage for too long. They dont have freedom of speech, their democracy sucks, they are not developed..... India represents everything they long for - the right to do what they want, speak what they like, move forward with the world, wear colourful clothes and have pretty women (pretty as in white pretty woman).

More on my retirement home

The basic idea of the retirement home is to provide a place for people to relax and enjoy the quiteness and peace of nature. So I was thinking I should have this open for middle-aged people as well as old people. Lets say we have a middle-aged person,very busy with everyday work (include daily tensions and stresses and yelling at people and thinking and stuff - the brain does get overworked!), having a spouse who is equally busy with work, a few teenage children who are so difficult to control. This person badly needs a break, maybe a month off from the mechanised world would do them good. The retirement home would be the best place to recreate! Hmm... I need to think of a name for the place.

So, anyway, they come to the home for a month or so. They can stay in their cottage and not socialise with people, or they can do otherwise. Talking or complaining about their busy lives will be strictly prohibited. Everyone comes here to relax, and about the last thing anyone would want is to be reminded of the world they have left for a few weeks. So until a dire emergency occurs, like the leaky-nosed child getting admitted in a hospital or something, they will not know anything about what is happening in their regular day-to-day world. Now, doesnt this sound amazing?

Retirement home in Ethiopia?

I had received an email from an aunt of mine saying that she was terribly busy with her work and I was suggesting that I am considering opening a retirement home in Ethiopia for her and people like her to relax and forget about the outer world (in the likelihood that I dont get a job in future), and why not? Ethiopia (or maybe, any country in Africa) will be the best place to open up a place like that. Everything in Ethiopia is natural, no pesticides, no harmful chemicals, no artificial flavours or additives, no preservatives, no tinned stuff etc. The vegetables are fresh and tasty, so is the meat (my mom says so, I dont eat non-veg). There are no sophisticated instrumentation so noise pollution is considerably reduced.

I was thinking of establishing this retirement home of mine in a place atleast an hour away from any town or village, so that people can have the peace and quiet they dream about during the course of their busy lives. There will be no telephone, so that they need not be disturbed by calls from anxious relatives, friends, and children. I will probably have a base station about 3 kilometers away from the retirement home, where I will have a phone through which people can call in to know about the conditions of their loved ones at the home. It will be upto me whether I pass the information or not. Ofcourse, we will have some criteria like emergency news, not-so-urgent news, good news, bad news and so on.

The home will be a collection of cottages, around a central building where there will be a TV with DVD player, cassette and CD player, newspapers that are one week old, magazines that are outdated, books, the dining room and a small cafeteria. Each resident will be given a cottage, which will have two rooms, a living room and a bedroom and a toilet and washroom attached. There will be no TV in the individual cottages, nor any other recreational facilities. The residents have to use the recreation room of the central building. There will be no cable TV, so they don't have to know what's going on in the outside world. Considering the location of the home, its likely that there will be no radio reception either. Current newspapers will not be delivered. Food will be delivered to them each day; the arrival and departure of the food van will not be known to the residents. The cafeteria will have a cooking range and there will be provisions to make tea and coffee. Light snacks will be stocked up in the larder for the use of the residents. Alcohol will be provided once a week, on sunday nights to party.

Electricity will be limited only to the central building. I still havent thought about what to do to the mosquitos but never fear! Grace will come up with something about that. I think its better that there be no electricity in the cottages; it gives people that natural touch. I will obviously be the caretaker, proprieter, owner etc. I may have a few employees to help out with the food and cleaning and general maintenance. I will make personal visits each sunday and stay over for the sunday night party.

Frequent visits to nearby cities will be arranged. That will surely be part of the package. What's the use of retiring in Ethiopia if you dont get to go anywhere at all? Ethiopia is a very beautiful country. There is so much to explore, so much scenic beauty to see, so many species of birds to watch. Since people will be retiring at the home, they have a lot of time to explore things slowly in their own time. This would be an interesting hobby for the residents - exploring, something they wouldn' t have done in their busy lives in busy cities. Wow, I am getting good at this!

Jimma

Jimma is a very small place; a trip of five to ten minute on a taxi will cover the whole townish village. Jimma is in a region called Oromia, which means that all people in that region talk in the language of that region, which is called Oromingya or Oromifaa. Its about 337 kilometers southwest from Addis Ababa. Its a coffee growing region. Its green all throughout the year. Its supposed to receive the highest rainfall during the rainy season when compared to the rest of Ethiopia.

Mom works at Jimma University as a lecturer in Biochemistry. Jimma University is said to be the second-biggest university in Ethiopia, the first one being Addis Ababa University, in Addis Ababa. Jimma University has innumerable number of courses running throughout the year and has more than 11,000 students.

I worked for around five months at the university hospital laboratory and the laboratories at the Laboratory School of the university. I did some voluntary service, helping with the servicing and maintenance of laboratory equipment, mainly microscopes and spectrophotometers.

About Ethiopia

This blog is gonna be about my experiences in Ethiopia. I was there for about 10 months, from November 22, 2004 until October 12, 2005. I had gone for a short vacation and it turned out to be a long one.

I lived in a place called Jimma. Its about 337 kilometers away from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Its supposed to be one of the best coffee areas in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is known for its coffee produce and export. I was actually surprised to see coffee from Ethiopia being sold in the Co-op markets and also at other cafes. I did ask the salesperson if the coffee was really from Ethiopia! They mostly sell stuff from Harar-thats another so-called city in Ethiopia. I havent been there yet so I dont know if it is a city or a town or a village.

Addis Ababa is a very big city. Its very modern and is very developed when compared to the rest of the cities and towns in Ethiopia. An uncle of mine says that this happens to be a scenario with all African countries- the capital cities are very developed while the rest of the country is not. Addis Ababa means "New Flower" in Amharic. Amharic is the national language of the country. There are other languages as well, according to each region; about 45 languages and 80 or more dialects. Amharic is the language of the Amhara people - the royal people.

Addis Ababa has the biggest markato in Africa. Markato is the Amharic word for "Market". The markato is a maze, a very big maze of a place. Any one can easily get lost there. There are so many many shops of all kinds of stuff; from spices to clothes to shoes to traditional clothes to vegetables to hardware to gold to sliver to carpets to luggage to photo studios to plastic to what not. Addis Ababa also has the biggest airport in all Africa, Bole International Airport. They are building the airport with some foreign help and it is expanding and now has a lot of facilities inside, something that was not there when I first came to Ethiopia.