'OASIS' T-Shirt Shop at Dodoma

Ok, Finally I sit down to write my experience about 'OASIS' shop that we came across while we were walking in market of Dodoma - apparently somewhere near One way street.

So, the main purpose of my walk was to find a shop where I could buy a T Shirt with local names or symbols on it. While exploring small shops we came across a shop which said something like '**** printo ***'. For curiosity sake, I asked the shop keeper if you can print, and if yes, can you print something on a T Shirt. Apparently he understood what I said. He took me to a nearby shop. We took a plane T Shirt. I felt confident. I explained him my requirement with mixed swahili and english. He was nodding his head in agreement. So I told him to print my black color T Shirt with a picture of Simba and text Dodoma below it. He understood. I was happy, I got what I was looking for. I got a deal .. and that too for just 2000 TSH. He told me to come after three hours and collect the T Shirt. I was so happy, I ran down and told my friends about my latest discovery. Well, it was worth mentioning. Afterall I found a shop to get custom made T Shirts and that too in Dodoma. And all that for just TSH 2000.

I waited at hotel for next 2 hours, and went back to the shop at 5 pm. Liz accompanied me as she wanted to buy some 'Congas'. I had some milestones in mind. And what a surprise. The scene was completely different when I returned the market at 5 in evening. The flags were gone. My first milestone disappeared. But I managed to remember some static building. First right from One Way Street and I reach the corner.

The scene is completely different now. The Conga shop where we we bought congas was closed. No congas on display. And I look at the corner where I had found my T Shirt shop. And it was gone. Disappeared. There was nothing. I walk around next two corners. Reassured myself that I am at the same place. The shop simply disappeared. I was completely disappointed. I asked some onlookers who were kind of curious to see me walking around a corner suspiciously. I asked one person about the shop. He didn't understand a word and gave me a weird look instead. I felt like I am in a completely different world now. I am an idiot now. How can something change so drastically in 3 hours.

So, my friend Mr. Dan named the shop 'OASIS'. But I was determined to find the shop. Next day I visited the site again. This time morning 9. But to my disappointment, I saw a guy laying wooden planks at the 'OASIS' place. Well, the inquiry was useless.
But what happened to my shop. So, if next CSC members happen to read my blog. I would be happy if someone finds that shop and get my T Shirt. :-)

photos uploaded

I have uploaded selected photos from my Tanzania trip on picasaweb. Now you can view them at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sandeep.hell/DodomaTanzania#

Gogo Tribe and Corner Stone

Today was a special day for all of us. We visited Innocent's village and his house. Innocent is coordinating our visit at UDOM.
When we got out of the car, we were greeted by a group of Gogo dancers. Tanzania has many tribes (more than 100) and Gogo is the prime tribe around dodoma region. A group of women dressed in traditional dresses were playing drums with their hands, blowing whistle, dancing to the tunes of bells tied to their feet and singing folk songs. The whole town turned out to welcome us. It was quite a scene. We stand still near our cars, surrounded by children who were curious at everything we had. Cameras were their favorites.
So, the dances went on for some time. This ceremony was followed by a short lecture (in English and Swahili or Gogoii ?) by the pastor of local church. Then he called each one of us and asked us to introduce. And we go again.. our trademark introduction like I am Sandip and I am from India. Every sentence we said was translated by pastor in swahili and local group cheered to show their recognition. Beth, Dan and Sean were greeted with short songs like mama .. , kaka .. and baba... In swahili mama means mother, kaka mean brother and baba is father.
Then Innocent came in and said that his village would like to do something to make our visit memorable. He had planned tree plantation from each one of us. So, we planted 10 trees (1 per person) around his proposed house. It was quite a fun and honor. But best is not over yet. He took us to another corner where we were supposed to lay corner stone of his new house. Huh .. it had never happened to me before. We saw a memorial plate with our names and country names. It was unbelievable to see our names on a golden plate.

The dances continued for some time. We talked to some people. There were so many children and they were so eager to get pictured. We kept clicking. A few games of hi 5. Some cheers. A lot of swahili practice. We were all over. A great experience in all. Million thanks to Innocent for arranging this.

Trek to Bihawana Village

This is our last weekend in Tanzania. We were going over many plans. From chartered flight to Arusha and Zanzibar to trekking the unknown territories nearby Dodoma. Finally we decided to go to a place called Bihawana near Dodoma. We got two vehicles for 8 people. Our master negotiator made a great deal this time. From 70 USD per person to 80000 TSH for 8 of us. It was like he brought down costs by 1/8th of total costs.
So, our adventure begins with printing maps through google, explaining our plan to Chip (he was our driver cum guide).
Half way through the trip, one of our vehicles stopped. We noticed that smoke was coming out of bonnet and the driving wheel area. The vehicle stopped in the middle of nowhere. We decided to take two trips carrying four people each, but the driver managed to get the other car started. And we did not need to do that.
We trekked through a few villages. The traditional Tanzania houses, as described by Chip are made of mud and roof made of fodder like material covered with mud again. They are barely 6 feet tall. We could see some chicken, goats, and dogs around those huts. The best part of trek was our conversation with villagers. They seemed happy to help us find our way to the foothills. We passed through maze fields, grape fields and then saw some groundnut and barley crops. Finally we found the way out of fields.

One shepherd helped us find our way. We were greeted by a bunch of monkeys, baboons may be. Our journey was becoming more interesting.
We started climbing the hill. We were 7 of us. Interestingly, 7 people from 7 different countries. And chip kept us calling us by our country names like Ms. Canada, Mr. Germany, How are you Mr. India, Where is Australia, Come on Mr. Japan. And Mr. Obama (Mr. US). Chip was Mr. Tanzania. He led the way through woods. It was a tough trek. He was fast and kept his pace through bushes and slippery trail. We witnessed different types of weeds, couple of pits where they make charcoal. Interestingly, the village people cut trees on mountain, dump them in a ditch and then burn them in absence of oxygen. This results in Charcoal which they sell for TSH 5000 a bag.
We were greeted by a drizzle of rain, a small panic moment but it didn’t last long. After pushing through the thick bushes on top of the hill, we finally found the giant rock we were eyeing for some long. Mission accomplished. We sat there for some time. View was great, and the sense of fulfillment was even better.
On our way back we witnessed some ditches with filthy looking water. Our Tanzanian friend said some village people use it for drinking water. That was hard to believe. But clean drinking water is a major problem in this country.

So, we were back to our vehicles. Chip invited us to his house for Nyoma Choma, but we had some other plans for night. We were invited to one of our Indian – Tanzanian – Canadian host for dinner. Yes all 10 of us.

Amitabh Bhachhaaan and Hindi Cinemas

Its been a month and I haven't seen a movie. So, I am looking around to see if I can find a movie theater, or a CD shop at least. My quest lead to this wonderful conversation with Chali.

Sandip: You said you like Hindi songs, have you seen any hindi movie ?
(He smiles, sparkle in eyes. I realized he's got something interesting to tell)
Chali: Yeah .. I watched few movies sometime ago ..
Sandip: Wow .. so you watch Hindi movies. Thats great. What do you know about Bollywood.
Chali: Yeah .. I know amitabh bhachhaan, Mithun Chakrawaati, Dharmendra. And Govinda is my favourite.
He gave me a Govinda Smile.
Sandip: Wow... Thats cool. What movies did you watch ?
Chali: Yeah .. I saw 'Mard', 'Disco Dancer', 'Hum'.
Uhh .. I am prepared to go back .. ages.
Sandip: Thats good. And what about Govinda.
Chali: Hatyaa ..
Sandip: Which one ?
I am trying hard to remember
Chali: Hatyaa ..
Sandip: Yeah .. Govinda movie. ;)
I cant remember
Chali: And I know Amrish Kapoor.
Sandip: Amrish .... was that Amrish Poori or Rishi Kapoor?
Chali: Yeah .. Amrish Amrish ... He is like 'Katili'.
Sandip: Katili, what is that supposed to be?
Chali: Katili is like .. ummm ..
Sandip: Hero .. Villain .. negative role, positive role ..
Chali: Yeah .. negative role. Bad guys who commit crime.
Sandip: Ohh ... Then it must be Amrish Poori . Who fight Hero .. Amitabh .. Govinda
Chali: Yeah .. right. I like Hindi movies. They are very good. I used to see them long ago.
Sandip: Do you know any latest .. young heroes .. like shahrukh .. hritik ?
Chali: I know shahrukh .. Sunny Deol, salman, shetty ..
Sandip: And what about actresses ?
Chali: What ..
Sandip: Heroin .. female actor .. aishwaryaa rai ??
Chali: Yeah .. I know Hemamalini.
Sandip: Good !!! So, what was the last movie you watched ?
Chali: I saw .. 'Tum Paas AAye .. Tum ne na jaane kya sapne dikhaye' ..
I am struggling now .. it just takes time .
Chali: Its 'Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai'.
Sandip: Wow .. you beat me now. So, where do you see movies.
Chali: We go and get video cassettes. We have cinema theater in Dar ..
Sandip: I want to see one movie now.
Chali: Here in Dodoma, we do not have theater. We can buy CDs or Cassettes from One way street.
Sandip: Thats great news. I will go and check out.

I found my place. One Way Street.

Between IPL and UEFA Champions League

Its been a sporting week. I am fortunate to get a room where I get sports channel. Not every room in hotel gets the Super Sports channel here. But it was a bit of disappointment earlier when I found that IPL was not featured here. But as game progressed, we started getting IPL matches in bits and pieces.
There were moments of desperation when the channel operator used to discontinue IPL and start Champions League matches. But the way Man U Vs Arsenal and Barcelona Vs Chelsea game went on .. it was a treat for sports followers.
Yesterday we watched Barcelona Vs. Chelsea at the hotel lobby. It was fun watching matches with the die hard fans cheering around. It was a scene to watch when Barcelona scored the last goal and one of the fans (Dodomite) went running around the lobby. We call cricket is like a religion in India, but here soccer is more than that. Its like every bar has a TV or screen and everyone has one local plus one european team to live with. Can you imagine seeing more people in front of TV screens at a night club than that at the dance floor. It is possible here.
So, for us watching soccer and discussing it at university has become a routine.

Now, lets move to IPL. After Chicken Tikka Masala and Chapatis, IPL is the favorite topic for our team. One day we watched a IPL game at Butterfly Bar in our hotel and Sean and I taught cricket to our friends from Germany, Canada and US. Dan was lucky to catch Mumbai's match and see Sachin blazing sixes after sixes. He is a great fan of Mumbai Indians and Sachin Tendulkar now.

To top it all, I could catch this Chennai Vs Panjab match today. It was such a thrill to watch a close match with magnificent hitting. Sports Mania is ON again.

Blog to follow daily

A different perspective to our daily activities in Dodoma and University can be found at Beth's blog. She's got some interesting stories. You may follow them at ..
http://bethgoestoafrica.blogspot.com/