Proceeding on Vacation

Successfully completing my tour of service of 27 months, with the hectic work in three different districts and hospitals in Uganda, I was looking forward to travelling back home and meeting my people and sharing my exotic experiences with them. It was a great time for me.

Towards the end of May, 1972, I completed various formalities with the Ministries of Health and Personnel before proceeding on leave . To my surprise it was quite simple and easy to deal with the officers in different ministries. Files would move without affixing any wheels or greasing them. Not only that it gave me a good feeling, it also spared me of lot of time, allowing me to follow my profession sincerely with full dedication and devotion. 

This time I was to travel by sea. I boarded East African Railways train in Kampala on way to Mombasa via Nairobi. It was a very scenic journey giving a panoramic view of the East African countryside. The train  was comfortable, giving the passengers a sleeping berth with neat and clean sheets and blankets and dining facilities. Of course we had to buy the coupons for food with Uganda currency before the train crossed the border and entered Kenya. The train journey was comfortable as well as enjoyable (quite comparable with our present day Indian Railways Rajdhani trains, though minus the speed and  air conditioning, which , of course, was not required because of the salubrious climate ).

After travelling for more than 2 days, the train steamed into Mombasa and I stayed in Hotel Astoria there. I  had more than 24 hours there in Mombasa, roamed around here and there window shopping. One could discern an obvious stamp of Arab and Indian influence there in the architecture and the language Swahili incorporating a lot of Arabic words. This was all due to lot of trade going  on in eastern coast of Africa, including Kenya , Tanganyika and Zanzibar( comprising present day Tanzania ),  and Middle East and India.

Next day I boarded the ship of Shipping Corporation of India sailing between Mombasa and Bombay. For me there was a double joy since the name of the ship was the 'State of Haryana'. So virtually I was home before touching the shores of my motherland India and reaching back home, in Haryana. The ship was captained by a Goan, Nazareth and most of the other employees on the ship were also from Goa, quite appropriate for them since Goa is on the sea shore and they are attracted to sail around the world. Quite fascinating and exploring it is. 

My first two days on the ship were really troublesome because of sea sickness. The sight of food made me feel nauseating. Third day onwards I got accustomed to the movements of the ship.On the ship they kept us busy with different activities every day. There was a musical troupe of young boys from India and they were entertaining us with film music, one of the boys singing in a female voice rendering Lata Mangeshkar songs. 

One day there was a beauty contest. There were three judges on the panel for that. Despite my refusal to be on the panel, they forced me to be there. The lady who was selected as Beauty Queen happened to be the wife of the marine engineer on the ship travelling as a family. Then there were film shows, I recollect having seen 'Khamoshi' featuring Sanjeev Kumar. Then there was a fete on one of the days

During the journey,  much to everyone's amusement, crossing the Equator was made to be a big event just to arouse our curiosity. The ship arrived at Seychelles, we had to disembark to get an X Ray done on a child for he fractured his clavicle bone falling from a Table Tennis table on the ship, and for further medical treatment.

Soon we approached Indian waters. Our ship had to anchor some distance away from Bombay harbour for a day due to congestion at the port. After completing the usual immigration and custom formalities, I started train journey to Delhi and Yamuna Nagar alongwith my elder brother who had come to Bombay to receive me. There was a great amount of happiness and satisfaction after joining my family once again!

Life in Mubende!!!!

After one year stint in Kapchorwa, in May, 1971, I moved to Mubende Hospital as a Medical Superintendent and the District Medical Officer. It was a big responsibility thrust upon me, a challenge which I had to face and had to accept it. We were two doctors there, my local colleague, Dr. B. Nvule , an elderly person, sober and soft spoken who was a support to me. Later on, a young doctor, J.D. Arenia, also joined us. Three of us were doing well, managing the hospital, and I looking after the district health services as well in addition to the normal / emergency duties of the hospital. Quite often our younger colleague won't respond to the emergency calls during the night and the call would be diverted to me. Now this was an additional work on top of my own calls on my days. His explanation was that he was on  medication for epilepsy which may cause excessive sedation and , hence the problem. A few months later he went to the medical school for post graduation in Paediatrics . Sometime afterwards got the sad news that he got drowned in his own  vomitus on the pillow during an epileptic fit in his sleep. That was really very tragic and. unfortunate to lose a young Ugandan doctor like that.

My work was going well. I succeeded in establishing a new dispensary in a small village, Naluggi. Here, a lot of help came forth from the catholic church to accomplish it, for which I was so grateful to them apart from the Ministry of Health.

Here in Mubende, I met one Balinder Kumar a motor mechanic, owner of a garage, originally from Ludhiana. He used to look after my small car, Ford Escort, which I had to use for the inspection and supervision of the district medical / health services. During our first encounter with usual pleasantries, I learnt that his wife Kamla was from Yamuna Nagar, and her parents were staying  near the Ballarpur Paper Mill. It appeared then that world is so small, and we do bump into each other. I developed a very close kinship with the family. Later this family migrated to Leicester, UK, after the exodus of Asians from Uganda, and I lost touch with them.

This was the period when things were getting very hot here in India with the influx of ten million refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan. Indian emissaries were going around the world meeting the world leaders apprising them of the developments on the Indian subcontinent. My Sony radio, a very faithful companion, was always there to keep me updated on the current affairs. All India Radio, BBC and Voice Of America were keeping me abreast of the developments here at home. AIR was broadcasting commentary almost daily on India / Pakistan conflict and I was keenly following it. It was written by one N.S.Bedi who happened to be the friend, colleague and neighbour of my would be in laws. Apart from that I was  regularly getting my Overseas Hindustan Times, once a week, by post, to keep me informed of events here at home. Eventually, Bangladesh came into being after Pakistan army surrendered with 92,000 prisoners of war in Indian hands to give a leverage in negotiation  with Pakistan.

Beating Loneliness!

Life in Kapchorwa Hospital, Uganda, was simple and busy as it was a one man show, I being the only doctor there in the sixty-bedded hospital. Being new in the country and not yet fully accustomed to the way of life there, I used to feel lonely and depressed occasionally. Since there was no electricity there, my Sony radio was run on batteries and that was my great companion in my leisure time. Radio helped keep me in touch with the outside world including India, with news, views, current affairs and music.

Still, I would miss my own people. I cannot forget the time when a doctor couple from Kampala visited me, on their way to Sipi Falls just about 10 miles away from Kapchorwa. Dr. Brahm Dutt Sharma and his wife who were attached to the Physiology Department, Medical School and Mulago Hospital, respectively. We had a nice interaction, it was mood elevating for me when I was feeling so low at that particular time.

Sometime later, Pritam Singh came with another Sardarji, one of his workers who was sick with high fever. Pritam Singh, who was in his late-seventies then, owned a textile mill in Mbale, related stories of 1920s. In those early days, with no roads worth mentioning, he built a house for a local Chief in the hills of this region (Kapchorwa). The transportation of building materials was an extremely difficult one, and there was a lot of sacrifice involved when the blackwater fever was so rampant in Uganda of those days. For his work, he would be stay here in this region for 7-8 months without visiting his home in Mbale. On his return to Mbale, people would wonder if he had returned from a trip to India. Such was the state of affairs  when the means of transport and communications were non-existent or were very primitive. These stories of our pioneers were really encouraging and would make me feel a lot better. A few years later while on our way to Nairobi by our car, we had a night halt at a Gurudwara in Kisumu, Kenya, and again had a pleasant, surprise meeting him and his wife, where he was recuperating after a cataract operation

Another welcome visit came from Pakhar Singh along with his wife. He was in the process of putting up a saw mill, Bubwa Saw Mill, a few miles further on Kapchorwa-Kitale road. He hailed from a small village, Chitti in Jallandhar district, why I am adding this is because this is how connected ourselves with our homeland. These visits were morale boosting for me in those circumstances and gave me an impetus to work more diligently and contribute to the welfare of the community which was deprived of the basic services they very much needed.

Such visits would give me a rare opportunity of talking to them in my own language, Punjabi or Hindi. One can appreciate such feelings only when one is denied such a facility, a basic amenity. I derived an immense pleasure by conversing with these simple and hard working people who had contributed  a lot towards the present day development of the country. I would take pride in India and Indians in general who were doing a great work for the uplifting of the country of their residence. It was not a mean achievement by any standard!

Settling in

Arriving in Uganda and spending a few days in Entebbe and Kampala for familiarisation, I was posted to Tororo Hospital. Stayed in Rock Hotel for more than a week, and then I was allotted a house. What I realized that things were moving at a normal pace without pushing or putting any pressure. That gave a very good feeling and great satisfaction and settling in a new country seemed smooth affair. Dr. N.D. Gosavi, Medical Superintendent and District Medical Officer was so considerate and went out of the way to make me comfortable. I remember him and the family very fondly. I happened to meet him again in Pune, India in 1998, after 27 years!

It so happened that just after 3 months I was transferred to Kapchorwa Hospital, located at a height of over 5,000 feet above sea level. The place was fairly cool, with some negative points. There was no electricity. Vegetables were to be procured from Mbale about 35 miles away downhill. Land-Rover trips to Mbale were made twice or thrice a month when the patients were taken for X-Ray examination or for referral to a specialist. (Little did I realise at that stage stage, that the Land-Rover would get bought by an Indian company, Tatas!) There was no bank. The post office was functioning, mail being transported by a Toyota vehicle to and from Mbale.  Once the vehicle broke down and there was no mail for a number of days. I was anxious to receive my snail mail in time, for that was the only means of communication those days. I offered to collect and deliver the mail from and to Mbale and informed the District Commissioner about it and also requested for the co-operation of other Departments. That eased our postal problems in 1970 to some extent.

I received a summons to attend a court in Tororo on 26 January, 1971. As I was getting ready to leave on 25 January, I was advised not to proceed for that as there was some trouble in Kampala and a journey may not be all that safe. Accordingly I informed the local police to radio the message to Tororo which they did. Later on situation crystalized more as coup had been staged and military had captured power under Idi Amin. President Obote was in Singapore attending a Commonwealth Conference and he was toppled. Amin, now the President of Uganda embarked on visiting districts explaining his reasons for staging the coup. He visited Kapchorwa too, and people were apparently 'happy' as there was an euphoria at that juncture. All heads of various Departments were there to welcome Amin and listen to his talk whatever he had to say in that connection. At that very time in that particular mood he did not seem to be a ferocious person as he turned out to be at a later stage. Simple folk, usually poor peasants  and middle aged and old ladies were there and offering him gifts in the form of eggs, chicken, goats, cows and bulls etc.in their taditional manner. I remember very vividly it gave a real emotional touch to his visit.It did not take long for people to notice what he was up to. 

That was my introduction to Africa!

Flight to the Pearl of Africa!!!!

Way back in 1970, I started a journey to Uganda to take up a posting as a young doctor. My first air flight in life with strange feelings of going away from my own people and own country for an initial period of 2 years to an unknown country. At Bombay, I boarded the plane, the East African Airways, Super VC-10, and just before the take off, my name was announced in the plane and asked me to come down and identify my luggage before it could be taken to the hold, as a part of the security check.

It was at this stage one of the co-passengers interacted with me asking me where I was heading to. On  informing her of my going to Uganda to take up the new assignment, she got interested more since she herself was a nurse in Mulago Hospital, the premier teaching hospital attached to the medical school. She asked if I knew anybody there or if somebody was going to receive me at Entebbe. I had already contacted Ministry of Health about it and they had promised to receive me at the airport, but she was not very hopeful of somebody coming over there. That made me a little anxious, but she offered to help in such an exigency. 

The flight was a smooth one for a first time flier like me. A brief halt of one hour there in Nairobi was a pleasant surprise of cool weather there as the tarmac was wet after the rain, quite contrary to the belief in India about Africa and its climate.

On arrival at Entebbe airport past midnight, there was one Mr. D'mello from Ministry of Health to receive me and he lodged me in Lake Victoria Hotel. In the morning as I looked out of the window, it gave me a glimpse of the beauty of Uganda, lush green vegetation all around and a cool weather soaked in a rain drenched ground. That really gave the feeling of landing in 'Pearl of Africa', as Sir Winston Churchill had called the country, and that is how my journey of a chequered  life started. No regrets after all that.