Dear Paramu,

I did get your mail. But I was mostly out of the house the past two days, and I just couldn't send a two-liner, could I? I needed time to write.

As per orders, I am putting this letter out on varmas@varma.net, so if anyone doesn't like it, it is all Paramu's fault.

I am in Dar es Salaam now. It is the main business capital of Tanzania. The Parliament sits in a drugged, sleepy town called Dodoma, where the hotels don't have water (ask me, I stayed there!).

But Dar is a port. There is a natural harbour, a kind of indent in the map, with deep water so large ships can come in. Dar caters to most of Tanzania and also to other landlocked countries. There are lots of small ones.

I don't know what you think of Africa, but I was unpleasantly surprised to find it just like India, because the entire industry is run by Indians. The houses make it look like Ahmedabad. Dar is full of enterprising Gujaratis. In fact, if you go to shops there, you'll find most of them run by Indians, and after one look at you, they start talking to you in Gujarati. I can say "Kemcho?" with the best of them now.

But for elaborate greetings, you can't beat the Tanzanians. They say Jambo when they meet. That just means hello. Then one says Habari, meaning how are you? The other answers Nzuri, which means I am fine, and then they start off on a million other Habaris, how's the job, how's the family, etc etc, till it is time to depart. Lovely way to spend the time. Worst part is, in shops belonging to Tanzanians, they don't serve you till you also go through the jambo, habari routine.

Tanzania is full of lovely wildlife resorts. Ngorongoro is a crater, with a lake in the middle, just teeming with wildlife. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain peak in Africa, and the only place in Africa where you can see snow (It is not in Kenya, by the way!). Other wildlife resorts lie on the wildebeeste trail, where every year, the wildebeeste take off from one end of the country to the other, in a stampede (remember Lion King?), crushing everything in their path, including their own old and weak specimens. Rather drastic method of survival of the fittest.

Nearer Dar is Spice Island Zanzibar, where the attractions range from the historical buildings and monuments of the Arabs to modern swimming and scuba-diving facilities. (See The Spice Islands)

And of course there are millions of beaches and smaller resorts. The villages around Dar es Salaam look exactly like Kerala. The vegetation is exactly the same but for the occasional sisal farms. The houses are either tiled or thatched. Only the people are Black, of course.

I guess that should give you an idea of Tanzania. I'll write more after I get a reply from you. And this time write more about what you have been up to, okay?

Bye for now,