Building Bonds, Post Exodus..........

Life in Hoima was going on normally with lot of work to do and very busy day in and day out. I happened to meet a gentleman called Anton Pillai from Sri Lanka, who was working in a Tea Estate about 10 miles away from Hoima. It was good for me to know him and visit the family occasionally for a change. Of course they were regular visitors to Hoima for their shopping spree. They were quite regular in attending the Catholic Church on Sundays. He had two lovely daughters and a son.

The British Manager of the Tea Estate asked me if I could attend to their workers, who may need medical assistance, once or twice a week. I welcomed the suggestion and started attending patients twice a week. While going there the emergencies in the hospital were always on mind and had to keep pace with all that though it was a little tight and kept me on my toes. I was enjoying the work and meeting the challenges fairly well. Mr. Pillai's family left for Sri Lanka after a few months. He also followed suit after sometime. They settled in Jaffna, though he was working in Colombo. As we went on leave in October, 1977, we took British Airways flight, passed through Seychelles onward to Colombo and then India. There we happened to see the book, State of Blood, on Idi Amin and Uganda by our former Health Minister Henry Kyemba who had to go in exile to save his skin. We bought the book, read it and left it in India, because it was a banned book in Uganda. The book elucidated the atrocities and horrors committed by Amin and his unruly soldiers.  In Colombo, we met Pillai once again and caught up with each other. His elder daughter got married to a Norwegian and shifted to Oslo.

While in Hoima, I got acquainted with the Rev. Fr. Willie Audette, a Catholic Priest, who was a fatherly figure to me, very social and amiable. He was stationed in a parish 35 miles away. He used to visit Hoima very often for the basic needs and would always make sure to meet me. It was so kind of him to do that. I developed a close kinship with him which continued for many years afterwards. Pillai and I visited him in his parish and it was a treat to see how they were living in the bush with a nice pucca brick house with their own generator to provide electricity and to pump up harvested rain water in a concealed tank in the false ceiling from the underground tank. It was an eye opener for me to see all these luxuries in the jungle - much like jungle mein mangal. 

Life in Uganda was tough those days,  more so in the rural setup, but seeing all this gave an insight to the vision of the pioneers to surmount difficulties. In one of his letters Fr. Audette told of his first journey from  Canada to Uganda in 1936 to take up his priesthood took one complete month. Now a days it takes 24 to 48 hours, such a drastic change. On our trip to India in 1977, he sent a gift to one of his old friends, Dr. Barkat Singh who was once in Mbarara many years back and then returned to Jaipur to lead a retired life. Dr. Barkat also reciprocated by sending a shawl for him.

Later years when my wife joined me in Masaka in 1975 and we were relocated to Makerere University and Mulago Hospital, Fr Audette would always visit us and spend some quality time with us. She joined Dept of Biochemistry of the University  and I was attached to the Medical OPD in teaching hospital, Mulago Hospital in Kampala in 1976. 

As we decided to leave Uganda for good in 1981, Fr Audette didn't want us to go. He was trying to find a place for me in Kilembe Mines Hospital whereas he was located in Fort Portal at that time, even arranged an air ticket to enable me to go to Fort Portal for an interview. We had to decline the offer very politely since we had already decided to relocate ourselves in the greater interest of our family. 

A few years afterwards he also got retired and went back to Canada. There he went to Lennoxville in a house meant for the aged and retired priests. We were always in touch with him especially during Christmas and New Year, exchanging greetings and catching up with each other. In 1989, when he learnt that my son was interested in Africa and wildlife, he posted him a book titled 'Serengeti Must Not Die', which covered the journeys of a German father son duo - Bernhard Grzimek and Michael Grzimek, both zoologists, who extensively toured the Serengeti and Ngorogoro. We received the book over two years after he sent it, and it remains a prized possession in our household, till today!

In January, 1993, he wrote a very nice letter. Once there in Canada, he was feeling 'home sick', saying that he felt stranger among his own people after having spent more than 45 years in Uganda. Me and my family too feel very "homesick" a lot and do yearn to visit Uganda sometime!

In 1994, there was no response to our Christmas greetings from Fr. Audette. In 1995, again no response, but did get a reply from an unknown person but a friend of Fr Audette, also living there in that house informing us that Fr. Audette was no more and had left for his heavenly abode sometime back. It was so good of him to have conveyed this tragic piece of news which plunged us in grief, otherwise we would be in dark. That was the time for us to pray to God for this noble soul to find solace in heaven and to let us bear this loss with courage.

In our years abroad, we developed strong bonds with unknown people of different races and religions. That feeling of closeness was as great as a family-feeling, a very simple human bond, that perhaps is hard to build in today's materialistic world!  

Post Exodus Era At Hoima

Arriving in Hoima Hospital in Bunyoro district, in 1972, soon after the departure of Asians from Uganda was a unique experience. Psychologically, one would presume there was some sort of vacuum there, something missing and a feeling of discomfiture. I stayed in the Guest House for a few days till I moved to the house allocated to me about one and a half kilometer away from the hospital. 

Hoima is a nice small town in the western part of Uganda with a hospital of 60 beds. Besides me there was another Dr. DK Musisi who was also the Medical Superintendent. Just 3 months later he was promoted and posted in the Ministry headquarters in Entebbe. During the months we were together, we worked very closely and learnt a lot from each other. After his departure, I managed the hospital single handed for almost two years. It was a real adventure and bold experiments I had to undertake to help my patients on the road to recovery. I must mention here that once I took the plunge to do whatever I had to do for the benefit of the patient, I experienced success in 95% cases. The situation was that if you dare intervene chances of success were more than 90%, whereas if you don't then there is a strong, possibility of 90% fatality. That was a sheer delight in the wilderness there. A realization dawned on me that once you decide to do something after reading your books, your only companion to consult, with a firm determination to help your patient, God was always with you. This is what kept you going, and was a reward in itself so to say. Not a small thing, of course.

The life in Hoima was a little lonely in the beginning, atmosphere depressing. The shops left by Indians had been taken over by the Ugandans who had little experience in the businesses they were handling. Hence there was a chaos. Essential commodities like sugar, salt and edible oils were very much in short supply. Not to talk about brown flour (atta), though white flour (maida) could be obtained with some effort. Our staple diet of chapati would be made from a mixture of white flour mixed with soya flour to make it a little coarse. I must give credit to the new Ugandan businessmen who were always considerate and made these items available.to me saying that I was their guest and must have these things. Hats off to them for their great support in those times of scarcity and non- availability of essential items.

Just across the Hoima hospital, there was Hoima Club providing some sports like Table Tennis and drinks. I used to meet one young Ugandan there also interested to play Table Tennis. He was a Sugar Technologist, educated in the National Institute of Sugar Technology, Kanpur. His Ugandan girlfriend had done her graduation in Baroda with a scholarship from the renowned industrialists, the Mehta family of Lugazi. She could  speak Hindi / Gujarati fluently, and no one could discern if she was not an Indian girl when not looking at her.

By the time I landed there in Hoima, there was a Gujarati private practitioner Dr Patel who also left in a month or so. Three to four months later, one Mrs. Indu Asthana came and met me and I learnt that her husband, Mr.BB Asthana was a Chief Magistrate stationed in Masindi about 35 miles from Hoima..It was from then on that we became great friends, they were like my parents, where I would go on some weekends and find a solace far away from my own people.Our association with the Asthanas continued and is still going on, even with our children who are like their grandchildren. Later, Judge Asthana was promoted and became a High Court Judge in Kampala. Sadly, Judge Asthana is no more as he left for his heavenly abode when he had retired to London where his son is an Attorney.

Near Masindi a sugar factory was being erected by people from Walchandnagar Industries, Pune. They were mostly Maharashtrians, headed by one ND Rajpathak. There was a symbiotic relationship with them. Whenever any one will fall sick, they will seek my opinion and I would  enjoy their hospitality. It was  good for all of us there to have a nice time together and talk about home and compare the two countries, just for the sake of discussion. Some years later we were travelling to India on leave via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. and were in a hotel. There was a pleasant surprise meeting with ND Rajpathak in the restaurant.There he was now engaged with putting up a sugar factory in Ethiopia. Seeing all this we were so proud to help our brotheren there on the African continent. India's association with African countries in their socio-economic development has been a historic one, and is still going strong.bilaterally. 

Return from the Vacation

Arriving in India after 27 months was a real excitement, and meeting my own people at home was a sheer pleasure.Sharing my experiences of Uganda, the social life, climate, living conditions there, the simple folk, food  habits and the life style was of great interest to all. It was just a happy reunion with people at home. Life in India was simple as usual. Having landed in India during summer months, the sweltering heat of north was quite an experience after the pleasant cool climes of Uganda. Nothing unusual for me though.

Time was flying. Then got a breaking news and shocking indeed. In August, 1972, President Amin declared that all Asians (Indians) especially with British passports had to leave the country within 90 days. Nobody could believe it. The Indians were taken to Uganda Protectorate by the British in late 19th century, as labour was to lay the railway lines from the coast to the interior for the haulage of the produce from the country to Britain and the finished products from there to Uganda. It was to open up the interior, when the roads and communication were almost non existent. Those early Indians in Uganda and elsewhere did pioneering work. They constructed rail lines, maintained the services and run the rail traffic in an efficient manner. Later they diversified into small businesses, starting dukas in the remote areas in the countryside. As the time went on their progeny went into various professions, like medicine, teaching, nursing, engineering and accounting etc. Still later they started cotton and sugar cane production. Then gradually went into industrial processing of cotton, sugar, beer and glass etc. This is all well documented in the early history of East Africa. With the stroke of a pen, all this was to come to an end. Most of the Indians had to be out of Uganda in a period of three months. There was a lot of turmoil in Uganda.

As my time for return to Uganda was approaching, my apprehension was growing. I got in touch with Uganda High Commission in Delhi. I wanted to make sure whether the Ministry of Health in Uganda still required my services. So there was a correspondence in this regard and I was assured that my services were very much needed by the Ministry. I was of the opinion that I should not embark on my journey before the deadline set for the exodus of the Indians lest I land in the already troubled waters. Once the deadline had passed, I started my journey for Uganda by taking the Air India Boeing 707 flight from Bombay-Nairobi-Entebbe on 30 November. The plane was almost full and to my great surprise all disembarked in Nairobi. On the next leg of journey to Entebbe for one hour, I was the lone passenger in the flight. This gave a little uneasy feeling. The crew were also showing a surprise that I was heading for Uganda from where the Indians were fleeing from the torture of Idi Amin. It was on  that day that I had a queer feeling of a lone Maharaja travelling by the Air India flight. 

The plane touched Entebbe at about 4 in the afternoon. As expected, the airport was being manned by the young Ugandan soldiers, who wouldn't allow any Indian entering Uganda. There was an official from the Ministry of Health, Entebbe to receive me at the airport with a letter from the Ministry.  The soldiers were in no mood to listen to any argument to allow me in. The officer called the Ministry of Health from the airport and Dr. SLD Muyanga, Chief Medical Officer, rushed to the airport to solve this tangle. No amount of explanations or arguments could cut the ice with the soldiers. I was not one of those Indians affected by the expulsion orders of Amin, not being one of the old settlers, a businessman nor with a British passport but  an expatriate on contractual terms with the Government of Uganda. 

The plane was to head back at 5 PM. I was told by the purser on the plane that once I arrive in Bombay, they will have to keep my passport till I paid for the travel from Entebbe to Bombay for which I had no ticket. That done, the flight took off with a few Indians who were on their way to India. I was in a mental turmoil while on journey of one hour to Nairobi. As the plane touched the tarmac in Nairobi and we were proceeding to the transit lounge, somebody was asking for Dr. Gupta. I wondered I had no acquaintance in Nairobi and yet somebody is looking for me there. He was one Mr Kapoor, Airport Manager, Air India. He told me that he had received a telex message from Uganda to contact me and to issue me a ticket Entebbe-Nairobi-Entebbe if I am willing to go back to Uganda. I was in a bad state of mind and very furious and on the spur of the moment refused to go back. Mr.Kapoor was very cool, and offered me coffee and requested me to calm down and reconsider the proposal of the ministry of Health. The plane was to leave for Bombay after one hour. He asked me think about it  with a cool mind, and he would return in half an hour. Thinking with a cool mind about all the aspects, I decided to go back to Uganda and Mr Kapoor  gave me a ticket for a flight back to Uganda by an East African Airways flight to London via Entebbe at midnight. Again everyone on the plane was surprised to see me entering troubled waters.

The same official from the Ministry was there to see me through. This time there was no checking at all and the soldiers waved me on. I was lodged in Lake Victoria Hotel,  and in the evening Dr Muyanga came to see me and explained the whole affair how the problem got solved. After failing to solve the issue at the airport and as my plane started for Nairobi, he went back and contacted the Minister of Health, Dr Gesa who was in a cabinet meeting, among them one the Minister of Interior, who allowed my reentry and saw to it that the same soldiers remained on duty so as not to repeat the problem, and also got in touch with Air India officials there in Nairobi to authorize the issuance of the relevant ticket. It was a great relief for me with all that was going on in the country at that time. Brisk consultations and quick action on the part of various officials could solve this tangle to a satisfactory level. My own state of mind was in turbulence those days when I was resting in the Lake Victoria Hotel and waiting for my unaccompanied baggage to arrive. It took about a week, good for me to have a relaxed period and meet people of various hues and exchange views on very hot topics of those days. In the hotel, I met Dr I. N. Bhatia family who were leaving Uganda for good.. He left Hoima Hospital, where I replaced him.

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!