Yes, this is the day 0….the day when I have to leave Khartoum and set my foot on my ‘karm bhumi’[1] El Fasher.
‘Welcome on board flight 741 whisky the united nations humanitarian air service. The Flight from Khartoum to Nyala would take 2 hrs 10 minutes’
The ones who have discerned that Nyala does not spell like El Fasher and are wondering whether it’s the new de-arabised name of El Fasher, well I wish u were right but, no, you score a zero. Nyala is indeed a different town where this flight was supposed to make a stop over. My ultimate destination remains El Fasher, the capital (or so I believe) of North Darfur.
The small 48 seater plane takes off from Khartoum, offering a wonderful aerial view of the city. My attention is captured by the two winding hands of Nile, the white and the blue merging together to form a huge river. It is just wonderful to think that meandering river that I was seeing from above is the cradle of all civilization. These are the civilizations which have made it worthwhile to pay in pounds and euros and dollars for all the museums where we see wrapped up mummies and men with wolf faces.
As promised by the pilot, the plane lands in Nyala after 2 hrs and 10 mins. The steward, reminds us that our journey is not over as yet (apart from the 2 people who got off at Nyala) and asks us to disembark the plane and wait in the waiting room for the time that it took to refuel the plane. We shuffled out of the plane like obedient sheep. It was ok about refuelling but I want to put in ink and paper my protest against the term ‘waiting room’ being used for the enclosure. It had a fighting chance (with a bit of bribery thrown in) to classify as a room, but a ‘waiting room’, that’s just abuse of the term and all that it stands for.
After about 15 mins in the ‘waiting room’, the gates opened and we were again herded back into the plane. The announcement boomed ‘the flight to El Geniena will take 50 mins’. Well, I forgot to tell you that this flight with 48 people was taking 2 stop overs!!!!!!!!!!!!! The journey to El Fasher was going to take a minimum of 4.30 mins when the same could have taken 1.5 hrs in a commercial aircraft (not allowed to us because of low maintenance standards)! Do you think it is reflective of the extra long paths that UN takes to do anything?????????
45 mins in the air and the booming voice tells us that we were descending into Al Geniena. I, still a tourist at heart, plastered my face onto the window to see the city and the strip. But try as I might, I could not see the air strip! I brushed aside doubts about my eyesight because of the all clear I got from the medical checkup army in London last week who had checked me with efficiency of 23rd century robots. It was then I realized that the plane was about to land on something similar to a neighbourhood cricket pitch, just a few yards longer. To make matters a bit more heart thumping, the ‘strip’ was located in the middle of some huts with cattle and children running away just as the plane was making a touch down! With a thud, the plane made a touchdown on the red gravel of the pitch. The sight of mortal remains of two planes were scattered 20 mts from the strip ….I thanked my stars for not meeting the same fate and wondered whether the accidents were caused by planes skidding while trying to miss running over a fleeing child or cow! Then the truth dawned on me like a lightening- this is the reason why the UN plane had made no security/safety announcements and had brushed the matter aside by asking us to read the booklet. I guess with sights like this greeting the passengers at airports and with not a sliver of water seen post Khartoum, UN fellows would not like to remind people of the dangers confronting the passengers with each flight and would definitely not to like remind us that the plane’s floatation devises would not be of much use while flying over a desert! And they were surely in no mood to mention that the desert is peppered with rebels and govt armies, both hostile!
10 mins and exchange of another two passengers later, the flight doors were closed and the booming voice told us that the flight would be proceeding to El Fasher and the time taken would be 50 mins. Phew!, atleast now I had a good chance of actually reaching my ‘karm bhumi’. There was a negligible chance now of the flight turning around towards Khartoum due to insecurity in El Fasher. At Khartoum, my friends had told me that mid way cancellation is not an uncommon thing to happen!!!
The plane took off…‘Here I come El Fasher’. Another 50 mins, another 50 mins without sighting water and another announcement later I landed at El Fasher. I had finally landed on my ‘karm bhumi’ – and it felt good even though I was totally exhausted after the day which started with journey to the airport at dawn and had lazily wound its way endless series of taking off and landings.
Outside the airport, I had my first real sight of El Fasher from the ground. What greeted me was the sight of a dusty field full of NGO and UN cars with big logos which were waiting outside to pick up people from the airport. One of those cars is the one which has come to pick me up ….i could not spot it but I knew eventually I would and that I would be rewarded, much like a puppy under training, with an introduction to a new co-worker.
I am nervous but I remember my name, that should get me till the end of the day 0!!! One step at a time, someone wise had uttered ….and I intended to stick to it like Velcro!
For the next few hrs I will be the newest ‘namuna’[2] on the block, the one whom everyone would be measuring up with the first look, ‘he looks like a baby’, ‘he is not white’, ‘will he be able to manage the programme’…..those will be the thoughts streaking across all whom I meet ….BUT for me , all I had to do efficiently today was to remember my name!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Finally, the day 0 is coming to an end…So what am I thinking….my head is full of mish mash of incoherent thoughts. Dublin, London, Paris……were those places where I was 7 days ago? Was I uploading endless albums on Paris a day before??????? ???????????? The snow of Dublin, my couch in Dublin, the magic of Paris, India……or this dusty expanse….what was my true reality? Is there any one true reality or is it that the real reality is a just series of interim realities!
The journey today had been bumpy, but atlast I was here. I am hoping that the ride ahead will be less bumpy and would not unravel to be a series of endless take offs and landings with thud of failure. No doubt this will be a difficult but an exiting journey.
PS: Little did I know that Day 1 onwards, my work days will stretch 12 hrs and that my radio call sign will become my new name!
[1] Karm Bhumi: the land of one’s actions, where one has to make one’s destiny,
[2] Namuna: the odd spectacle/new freak thing/a new exhibit. In strict terms it means a sample
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