Circumnavigating the World: Part 1- Africa and Australia

Its more than a year since we have been locked up at home. Courtesy: Fear of Coronavirus. It’s strange how we register the passage of time. For a myopic view of our life, we look at the clock and calendar and fret at the hours and days utilized in work and other mundane activities that define a typical human life in pursuit of bread and house. Clothes are taken care off by the huge sale of Myntra and Amazon. However, for the big picture of our lives, we tend to dwell on important events in our lives which define our journey of life- birth of our own, milestones achieved in life, memories of carefree childhood or courtship before marriage (apparently, those are the best times of marriage 😊) and the myriad experiences during our travels. The time between these events is just hours and minutes of the suffering that is human life. I am extremely fascinated with the last part- Our travels. Today you would see Instagram and Facebook filled with anniversaries of travels of people in the pre-Covid era. How everyone reminisces in these posts about the freedom to travel and visit places. I am also a social media puppet and even I do the same.

My story goes back to two vivid moments in my memory about my tryst with travelling. One is that of centuries worth of superstitious garbage- the tradition of Oracle or future telling. The other one more a practical which inculcated the HIGH of travelling. Let me start with the ridiculous one. It was like the Matrix scene of Neo going to Oracle to learn about the future. Imagine the same situation in the back drop of Rajasthan’s City Palace. An Engineering college student (Neo-me) visits the city palace as part of my Industrial visit trip and ends up at the stall of the local palm reader (Oracle). My current marketing mind would have been super impressed with the way the palm reader read by hand and convinced me in such vivid detail about my bright future and sold me the concept of a “Happy future”. It was this soul that told me that I would travel the seven seas and be a Globe trotter. I instinctively paid him double the money listening to this favorable fortune of travelling the world. It took me a while to realize my foolishness. It was not the conviction of this person but the seeds of travel with my parents in my childhood that would sprout into desire to roam the world. This was a more practical logic to explain my love for travelling. Even though my parents would certify that what a pain I was during our travels with constant crying and grumpy faces, I believe these travels have been an incredible blessing in my life. It would not be until my late 20s that I would embark on this beautiful dream of circumnavigating the world.

I will emphasize mainly on three aspects of my visit to the six continents- What I learnt, some unique experiences and some similarities to my culture which begs the question- Are we that different from our fellow humans across the world.

Continent No: 1- Africa

About millions of years ago, Humans traced their origins to the humble continent of Africa. My first international travel also co-incidentally started with a country in Africa- South Africa. Within 3 years I had travelled to the Zenith (Morocco) and Nadir (South Africa) of Africa. Both trips have been courtesy my companies which gave me the opportunity to travel to these markets. Both countries have been colonized in the past and various elements of previous rulers are present in the culture of the countries.

North Africa: Friends from Morocco
South Africa: Friends from SA

Starting off with my visit to South Africa. The jitters of crossing the immigration for a virgin traveler is nothing new. High heart rate, sweat on the brow and butterflies crawling through your stomach. I remember fumbling with some details in the immigration form and being sent back to refill it. I was almost positive that I won’t be allowed to board the plane. Mind games of a typical cynical human being. I passed the immigration and boarded the plane like a school boy up for his first day at school. My unique experience came in my cab from the airport to the hotel. It was a black driver. The brainwashing of our minds that black people are dangerous got activated in my mind. He started making conversation with me in English and asked me about my origins. Paying half attention to him, I was busy checking the Google Maps to ensure he was taking the right way. In my defense, it was night time. He suddenly changed the radio channel to some Hindi songs and I almost leapt out of my seat. We began talking and our conversation naturally veered off to IPL- Indian Premier League. It turned out that he was a big fan of Bollywood music and Cricket. In India, Cricket is religion and I realized that both of us belonged to this same religion. The melanin content in skin did not matter. The language accent did not matter. We had a commonality which transcended these shallow differences. He even offered me a chance to come up to his place for a meal. 

Enroute Drakensburg in SA

Perceptions need not be the final verdict about a person. In fact I even remember my time in Morocco where the entire team was sitting for a dinner and spoke about Bollywood for hours together. In their childlike excitement, the Moroccans showed me their favorite artists on Youtube. Music and Sports are the quintessential binding bond of people across the world.

                                        The African birthday celebration: Love and positivity

In my visit to Morocco, the similarity to our culture that I saw was the deeply rooted humility in their approach to life. Every conversation filled with gratitude and positivity. Every colleague ensured that they accompanied me to show around and coalesce me in their culture- their medinas, their eating places, drive around the Casablanca marine, “khair Zubbaini’- Street food and the famous Jemma El Fna. There is a reassuring tone to their speech peppered with utmost humility that draws people’s attention towards them. No condescension in their good times nor the will to give up when things are not bright. The entire experience restored the belief that there is positivity in people. 

Top(L): Hassan II mosque,Casablanca, Morocco
Top (R): Near Jemaa El-Fnaa, Marakech, Morocco
Bottom: French influence in desserts

Another similarity is the effect of colonization on the day to day culture. French influence in the language and food is deeply ingrained with the cornerstone of Islamic beliefs. The British and Dutch influence in South Africa. In India, the British too had an impact in the culture and functioning of our day to day affairs. Assimilation of foreign cultures supported with the roots of own history color the canvass of these beautiful nations.

Continent No: 2- Australia

Sydney Opera House in the background

The visit Down Under was quite uplifting. My connection with Australia dates to middle secondary school.  I had chosen my school project on ‘Australia’ and in the process of submission learnt quite a lot about the country. I remember posting pics of Ayers rock, making a mental note that Canberra and not Sydney/ Melbourne is the capital of Australia. The hope of visually seeing all the mental images I had made during the school project made this trip sweeter. To put an icing on the cake was my opportunity to meet my sister who had settled in Australia. I realized that all the calories from this sweetness is allergic to the Australians because they are addicted to fitness. Something that blew my mind was the obsession of running in the middle of the afternoon on a working day. I see a swarm of runners running along the Sydney harbor like it’s the dooms day and it’s a pretty normal thing to do in Australia. 

Manly Beach

Which brings me to my unique experience. I was in Australia to determine the future strategy for the company in the coming years. Seemed pretty serious stuff as the future in the country was at stake. We were all gathered in the meeting room and some intense discussion was going on. It was six in the eve with no clear end of discussion in sight. Out of the blue, one of our Australian colleague raised her hand. We waited for her response with bated breath for giving us some local insight. “Gents, its six and you must excuse me as I have my tennis practice?” was the response. It was a brain freeze moment for me. “Work! Work! Work is Worship” chanting person that I am, this response totally perplexed me. My internal CPU just did not have a response for this input. Looking at the gravity of the situation at work, this response would have flabbergasted us. Our commitment to work was unquestionable but this person’s commitment to a wholesome meaningful life was solid. They exercised the right to doing things that they loved and that’s what got them happiness. Work is just part of your life. I don’t remember achieving anything significant that evening working overtime. The work was as screwed up as it was the day before however the Australian colleague secreted endorphins through tennis practice which must have deposited more positivity into the emotional bank balance.   That was the day when I learnt that my perception that ‘my work defines me’ was completely flawed and I must change my outlook. Obviously, our beliefs don’t change overnight and I did struggle to change it. This episode was certainly a start for me to change my outlook to life and enjoy more things outside work. I have come a long distance from there and now I make sure I blog, run and read more than I used to.

top row: italian, lebanese, australian
middle row: korean, continental, mexican
last row: mexican, malaysian, thai

The amalgamation of multi-cultures brewing in the wok of this nation is like us. Asian influence is profound in Australia. I remember making it a point to visit different country restaurants each night. I stayed in Melbourne and Sydney for about 12 days.  Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian, Filipino cuisines were relished with utmost satisfaction. Not to forget the wonderful home cooked Indian food prepared by my sister. I am a big proponent of the idea that Genetic diversity produced strong off springs and diverse cultures produce strong ecosystem to live in.

Another unique experience: long walk along the Bondi-Bronte coastal project is mesmerizing. The canopy of clear blue skies is the perfect backdrop for an amazing adventure. The clear blue ocean trying to gather your attention with white crystal waves and the deep infinity in its blue is breath taking. Not to forget the long walk is deep breath inducing (Respiratory therapy never ceases to demand attention in my blogs). What a view for the dead from the Waverley cemetery that oversees the ocean over a cliff. “Is it the perfect place for Nirvana?” – Many would agree to this view. The parade of pets on this coastal route is mind boggling. Another unique thing in Australia is the attention given to pets. I wouldn’t be surprised if they represent a higher social strata in our human civilization. The walk on this route culminates with a dip in the ocean. Needless to say- Mind numbing experience in a good way.   

Bondi-Bronte Coastal Road Walk
Bottom (R): Waverley cemetery: What a view!!

In my previous blogs” Pursuit of happiness”-Blog link: https://tushary88.blogspot.com/2019/07/pursuit-of-happiness-stress.html . I mentioned that nanoseconds of unadulterated happiness that we encounter in our materialistic lives and my time in Australia will add to this counter. On a last note let me leave you with this unique experience that I never imagined in any realm of possibility. In a world of male dominated men’s hair dressing salon, I had the privilege to cut my hair from a badass Asian woman whose ninja style of chopping hair was one of the highlights of my trip Down Under.

With this Asian influence to finish off, I shall talk about my experiences of Asia and Europe in the next part.......Keep safe and happy Reading!!