My South AFRICAN sojourn

It has been 15 days since I have been in South Africa. It might be a bit too early to talk about the country, but what I’m about to scribble here is my experience of the country, or more precisely of Johannesburg – the gold city!

I’m not patriotic, but somehow I had never harboured the dream of staying abroad. Even when my friend’s spoke about their dream of settling in some far-off country, I secretly wished for staying closer to my family in my own land. But destiny always has a way of getting on your nerves, and doing exactly opposite of what you have planned for in life. So voila! one fine day my husband comes up with the news that his company is sending him to Johannesburg for long-term deputation. I was reluctant and ready to let the opportunity pass. But Kunal tried hard to convince me. This was not the first time his company had offered him an onsite. And on all the previous occasions we passed as none of us were keen on re-locating. But circumstances were different this time around. For one, it had been more than 6 months that we were leading the life of ‘weekend couple’, since he was staying in Mumbai and I was in Pune. Shifting to SA would have got us out of this plight. And in his relentless bid to make me say yes to the great South African safari, Kunal showed me the photographs of the house we would be staying in Jo'burg, and it had a bathroom with a bath-tub!!! Now, since I was a kid I had always (and by always I mean forever and ever and ever) wanted to live in a house with a bath-tub. So finally I got allured ‘more’ with the prospect of turning into a full-fledged married couple and ‘less’ (read, even more) with the prospect of finally getting to live in a house with a bath-tub, to shift to Jo'burg for a couple of years.

It was difficult to leave behind my friends, family, job and so much more. It was especially difficult for me since I have a chronic problem of ‘letting go of even the scissors I used to cut packets with’. But I did, I had to. So on 7^th February 2015, I entered Chattrapati Shivaji airport, in Mumbai with a cart filled with baggage and heart filled with memories.

My flight had been a smooth sail, and it had still not sunk in that I was leaving my country and travelling to an unknown land. It was only when I woke up early morning and looked outside the window that I realized that the clouds are not the friendly faces I see every morning from the balcony. These white fluffy cotton balls are strangers from a strange land. The first rays of sun tiptoed along the clouds and weaved in a spectacle that was breath-taking...but unfamiliar.

Once I reached Johannesburg airport, all the secret desires I had of things I should experience while traveling international alone for the first time, came true. Right from being in the wrong immigration queue, to my baggage getting lost and me getting caught at Customs (yes, you heard it right!) happened with me. I was thrilled.

At the Customs checking counter the lady saw my huge load of luggage and threw me a suspicious look. On my defence I quickly stated that I am visiting SA for the first time and will be staying here for 2 years, hence the extra luggage. She smiled broadly and said, ‘You get all the things you need here’. I smiled in agreement.  On hearing that I was about to meet my husband after 2 months, and he has been waiting outside the airport for over an hour now, she threw me a warm smile and said, “You go hurry and meet your husband. Have a nice stay at SA”. With this, she signed off my form, and let me go. Thinking about it now, I guess this was the moment I fell in love with the country and its simple ways. I hurried past the security check and landed outside the airport lobby, where Kunal was anxiously waiting for me.

Once we packed all my stuff in the car and left from the airport, the first thing that greeted me was the green explosion around. My eyes basked in the pleasant greenness of the surrounding, as we drove towards home. It was a 20 minutes drive from the airport, and while Kunal was busy chatting with the friendly driver, my brain missed seeing and feeling some familiar things, like – people, traffic, concrete jungle and most importantly honking! In the next few days I came to know that Johannesburg which stretches across 1645 square km houses total population of 7,151,447 (the city of Mumbai stretches over 603 square km and has a population of 18.4 million approx). There are no high rise residential buildings in and around the city, and (people from Pune, please hold your breath), everyone follows traffic signals here. Even when the traffic lights do not function, there is a circular one-by-one method of traffic flow, which every person follows. But what acted as the cherry on the cake was the fact that no one honks on road here!!! Yes, you heard it right.

Now about the experience of staying here: We are staying at a quiet residential complex called Bryan Brooks, at Sandton. The society has a fair share of White, Asian and Native residents. Since I’m staying at home nowadays, I get a lot of time at my disposal. So once Kunal leaves for work, around 7.30 am (yes days start very early here, and by 6.00 pm people are back home from office. Three cheers to work-life balance!!!) I have the entire day to read, write, cook and laze around. The duplex we stay in is next to a small water fountain and in the afternoon the low gurgling sound of water along with the calls of different birds create a magical ambiance. The estate houses close to 50 species of birds ranging from common birds like Southern Masked-Weaver, Sparrows, Amethyst, Greater Striped Swallows, Common Peacock, etc to rare and exotic species like Cardinal Woodpecker, African Hoopoe, Spotted Eagle Owl, African Paradise Flycatcher, Red-chested Cuckoo, etc. While I go for a walk inside the campus and come across someone on the street, there’s always a friendly ‘Hi’ with a smile. I sometimes wonder, if we start this practice in India, we are sure to get a cramp in our jaw, by smiling to close to 10 people within a 100 meter radius!

Before I landed in South Africa, I had heard a lot of negative things about how the country is very unsafe. Well, I’m sure most of the stories are true, as you actually cannot think of walking down the roads of Johannesburg any time of the day. Nothing untoward has yet happened to us, but yes, we too have heard many stories. And I feel that its sheer bad luck and being at the wrong place at the wrong time that leads to these instances. But yes, as an independent individual I do feel robbed of my freedom to roam around the streets normally. I miss (among many many other things), the kirana shops, where you could just call and get onion, potato or masalas delivered at all unearthly hours of the day. I miss being able to walk in a coffee shop and sit with a book for hours, all by myself.

But then, as my Dad always said, a coin always will have two sides, and one has to live with it. So here I am, happily staying at Johannesburg as I know that nowhere will I be able to see such a clear night sky with the stars so real and near that I could just pluck them and fill them in a jar.