Sailing to Tanzania and Madagaskar

As we readied to sail to Dar es Salam the capital of Tanzania from Mombasa, my biggest take was the significantly large and powerful presence of the Gujrati community there. Since those were Navratri days we were invited to attend a ‘Dandia dance’ function in the evening where I was delightfully surprised to see that a large crowd of mainly young people were gathered on a large sandy ground dancing to the beat of the western drums.

The atmosphere was electrifying and we were in a stunned state of admiration. I was tempted to photograph a few beautiful faces but restrained myself for fear of intruding,  the days of mobile cameras were a few decades away! This aspect of the vibrant culture was to arrive on the Indian shores later with the likes of Falguni Pathak.

We reached Dar es Salam in a day and attended a party hosted by the Indian Ambassador where we met a lot of other diplomats. There was also a cultural evening held by the Indian community in which some of us participated. But the most interesting programme was our tour of the famous Mikumi National park  which I looked forward as I had missed the Safari tour in Kenya. A large number of our ship’s officers including our Commanding Officer and the executive officer were also there. I was flouting my newly acquired Kodak camera and took close quarter pictures  of the animals.

What surprised me was that there was hardly any forest with tall trees as we have in India in all our wild life sanctuaries. I had gone a number of times since my childhood to the famous Corbett National Park and that was the picture in my mind—that animals dwell in deep forest . Here the picture was so different. It was Large open tracks of yellow grass land with few leafless trees and water ponds scattered called savanna. We were in various safari jeeps and within few hours had sighted most of the African wild life- Lion, Rhino, Hippo, Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Bison and few other. We then rested for a while in a forest restaurant and were served some cool beer and lunch and returned happily. 

The next day I shopped for some souvenirs for home and friends and purchased some leather purses which were made locally and were priced reasonably and were much appreciated when I gifted to  friends on return. Some African craft work on wood, wooden masks, spears were also purchased.  

The next day we sailed for the port of Diego Suarez   in Madagascar and reached in about three days. Madagascar was famous for pirates and at one time many pirate families existed there as it was a perfect hideout and location to pounce on the ships traversing to Indian coast and gulf. With the expansion of the British Naval sea power they were gradually brought under control. 

As our ship approached the harbour on a bright sunny day the colour of the water attracted my attention. It was dark turquoise blue, rich and deep with seemingly many mysteries hidden in its depths.  We attended the evening cocktails on upper decks of our two ships tied together alongside with a small brow (passage) in between and  looked forward to meet some locals and enquire about the place. As in Kenya here too Gujrati businessmen lived and to our surprise two pretty girls of our age dressed in Banarasi silk sari were the centre of attraction.

The elder one was more beautiful and a number of officers and Mids including me were wooing her. I quickly asked the ship’s photographer to take our photo together and have it with me still. The younger, Rekha was her name was also very happy in our company and found  my course mate Chatterjee very attractive and her looks conveyed that she was smitten; perhaps his dashing Omar Sharif looks dazzled her. As soon as the cocktails were over we  talked to them of meeting the next day and soon most of us rushed to the Disco where many of my friends found partners.

The music was captivating and I danced as if there was no tomorrow. The Indian Ambassador was also present at the Disco and in the morning he was invited for breakfast by the Captain along with a few Midshipmen and he remarked of me dancing like ‘Travolta.’ The memory of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ was still fresh and I made the best of it! 

The next day I and Chatterjee set out to shop and to find those lovely Gujrati ladies, we had some idea that their family ran a departmental store in the main street and as luck would have it we found the elder sister in the store. She was wearing pants and looked smart and soon the younger one also joined and we moved around the market and chatted a while, the sisters were discussing something and what I fathomed was that they were contemplating to take us to the beach , but somehow it did not work out and we set out for our shopping.  I lamented my lack of enterprise and initiative to move  forward with the elder sister.    

By now my black oxford pattern shoes had given way and I had to buy some footwear immediately and there was a Bata shop in  sight and I quickly bought a smart brown Belgian Made shoe which lasted long. My younger brother had asked for the original Levi’s  jacket but I could not find that and bought a Belgian made Jeans Jacket  which we brothers wore in turns and was as smart as any Levi’s brand. 

A day before we were to leave for India, Rekha visited us on board with an autograph book and requested some of us to write and we readily complied. By now she was in deep love with Chatterjee and muttering his name frequently and he was loving all the attention and smiling shyly. Many Mids were making news and one smart local girl who had come to visit the ship fell for Adarsh Seth and would not leave him she was ready to take him home, and was expressing her emotions in French!   

I had some dollars left with me and with that I purchased some local honey and cloves which was brought by the person onboard. The cloves were of exceptionally good quality and mother was pleased and gifted to many of her colleagues.  

As we were casting off the next day a larger number of dignitaries and locals were present on the jetty to see us off. We Midshipmen  were on the upper deck on various duties. Rekha was there crying uncontrollably and our dear Chatterjee was morose and teary eyed too. Their love story was the topic of discussion on our return journey and I got a plot for an intercontinental Love story!

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