Change of Guest House

Event Date: April 1 - April 8, 2006
Location: Apapa-Park View.

On Saturday, I was shifted to another GH in Park View residential area (in Ikoyi), which is closer to the office. Park View (PV… from now on) is a nice, clean residential area in Ikoyi, which has residential accommodation for many foreign nationals. The area is well guarded by security, and all of the Residences have high walls (fenced with barbed wire in few cases). Few of the pictures of PV are posted here.

In the New GH, I had 2 other Indians to give me Company (a Hyderbadi and a Tamil) in my flat, working with the same client. When I arrived at the GH, no one was there as both of them had gone to office (they go to office on Sunday as well, since they didn’t find many places to visit in Lagos, so felt it’s better to do some work in office, rather than getting bored at home). I was feeling hungry, and couldn’t locate the housekeeper anywhere, so I asked the driver to take me to a local shopping market ("Goodies"), got some junk food and came back home.

I spent the whole day watching TV and getting bored, as there was no good movie on TV. Met my flat mates in the evening, had dinner and went to sleep.

Sunday was uneventful, as I spent the day watching TV and trying to figure out how to switch on the Gas (Which, as I was later told, had finished and cooking was done on Electric burners only).

Monday-Friday was again Routine office life. 8:00am-Office, 7:00pm-Back to GH. 9:00pm dinner. 11:00pm-zzzZZZZ.

I chose to spend the Saturday in office in order to finish some pending work.

Lost in the Dark

Event Date: March 31, 2006
Location: Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria.

Friday. Worked in Office: (Details of work deliberately omitted by mistake to prevent CID, FBI, my Client or my Company to get any information regarding my time spent in “working” or any other information related to my work)

Michael was assigned as my driver while I was in Lagos, but that day, a new driver came, as Michael was not available. Walid accompanied me as he was also going to the same Guest House, and had missed his usual car that day.

Walid, as mentioned earlier, is from Yemen. He plans to get married to his fiancée in next few months. He is only a few weeks older than me in Lagos, and is very careful while going out in Nigeria. He never trusts anyone outside his friend circle (a very common thing found with foreigners in Nigeria).

Finding a new driver Walid checked with him if he knew the route to the Apapa Guest house (about 1 hr drive from office), and he hesitantly replied in affirmative. Being cautious as ever, Walid checked with the manager in-charge of arranging the cars, informing him that the driver is probably not aware of the route, so he requested the manager to provide us with another driver. The manager checked with the driver if he’d been to the Guesthouse (I’m finding it cumbersome to write this every time... will write GH from now onwards) earlier, and the driver told him that he’s been there earlier. So, the manager told us not to worry as the driver had been to the place earlier. (Later I got to know that the driver had only been to the GH once and that too during daytime, and we all know how different a route looks during night and day times).

Well, we started that day’s journey to GH, and the first think the driver did was to divert from normal route to fill the tank for petrol. It took some 45 mins to get petrol filled (there was no queue, and we got the tank filled in 5-10 mins only)! I am still unable to understand what took him so long to get fuel filled and move out of the petrol pump.

When we reached the petrol pump, the driver got out, and disappeared for next 10 mins... Then he came out and we got tank filled in 5 mins. After this, the driver again disappeared in the Petrol pump office for another 10-15 mins. Then, as we were moving out of the Pump, he remembered something and went back again to the office to come out in another 15 mins. By this time my friend Walid was of course angry and called the manager to report the incident. The manager could do nothing more than being sorry and scolding the driver for not informing about the lack of fuel earlier.

It was already dark when we moved out of the pump (around 7:45pm), and we were still about 45 mins far from our destination. After about 15 mins of travel Walid noticed that we were now moving on an unfamiliar highway and mentioned the same to the driver. The driver in return replied that he was confident of the route and did not agree to return back so that Walid could guide him.

Electricity is not a very common thing to find on Lagos city streets, as many city lights on highway do not work, and one is more dependent on the light of their vehicles (if they have any) to find the route.

It was not until we took a turn onto a completely dark and isolated road, that the driver realized his mistake and we started asking few people for directions. (Not a very advisable thing to do at night on a highway, as you may easily get robbed). We took a U-turn on the 1-way road, and now we were moving against the traffic, trying hard not to hit any car coming from opposite direction on a busy highway, guided only by the bright lights of the vehicles coming from opposite direction.

Finally, managing to reach a familiar looking route, we decided to join the mainstream and take a turn onto a busy flyover. In the process, our driver, who was already nervous, managed to hit another car trying to overtake us on the busy flyover. That car stopped few feet ahead of us and 2 guys wearing suits and ties came out of the car. Our driver got out to pacify them, and upon Walid’s guidance, we closed all the windows and locked ourselves inside the car. (It’s always advisable to let the local guys handle the issues in a foreign land).

While our driver was pacifying those 2 Nigerian gentlemen, another guy, who had been keenly watching us while sitting on the sides of the flyover (at 8:15pm!), came to our vehicle and started knocking on the car window asking us to open the door. Walid refused to do so and advised me for the same (One of the few sensible advises I’ve managed to keep). In the meantime, our driver came back and the new guy (lets just call him a local goon) started asking money from him. The driver did not seem to protest much and quickly handed him some cash. It was only after this that the goon left our car and went back to his “place” on the highway, that I unlocked the driver’s door, and we resumed our eventful journey.

Again, on the way, Walid advised the driver to take a right turn, which he conveniently ignored, claiming that he knew the way. In less than 5 mins we were driving in some crowded market unfamiliar to all of us! Now, we were so far from our destination that the people guiding us were also surprised to hear the name “Apapa”. Meanwhile, Walid was constantly contacting the Manager, and one of his colleagues, updating them on the situation and cursing the driver for not listening to us. In another 10 mins we managed to lose our way more than twice, thanks to our stubborn driver who was now being so confident (or rather nervous) in choosing the wrong route that he even ignored my direction when I showed him a Huge Signboard signaling a Left turn for going to Apapa, and took a right turn instead, only to inform us (in less than 10 seconds of taking the turn), that he had taken a wrong route again!

Moving on, after uncountable number of unfamiliar routes, bumping onto a divider, managing to miss hitting few more cars by a hair’s distance, we finally reached our destination at around 9:00pm.

The driver was so nervous that he requested us not to report the incident (which was of course not possible now as his manager himself was aware of it). We told him that it was wrong on his part to agree on driving to an unfamiliar route and secondly ignoring our directions. I personally felt that he was plain stupid who had tried to show his over smartness.

At the GH, the housekeeper had not prepared anything, as she was not told to do so earlier, so I had few noodles (Read – “Indomie”, similar to maggi noodles) for dinner and went to take rest for the day.

Departing dear Mumbai - Forced halt at Addis Ababa - Finally Landing in Lagos

Event Date: March 30, 2006
Location: Mumbai-Addis Ababa-Lagos

Departed Mumbai @ 4:00am and Reached Safely at the Bole Airport, Addis Ababa on time (5.5 Hrs) at 6:45am Local Time. At the boarding gate we were generously provided coupons for breakfast at the airport, thereby implying the next flight to Lagos (expect to fly at 0850hrs) was going to be delayed. Since I had ample time, I strolled around the airport and luckily found a shop where I could get GSM handsets. I selected the cheapest handset ($70), but my SIM didn’t work there. Anyway, I hoped it’d work in Lagos, and bought the handset.

The Bole Airport in Ethiopia is a Large, newly renovated airport. The airport is surprisingly clean and spacious. The Airfield looks like a huge empty Football ground. Since it’s at reasonable height, it provides a very clear view of the sky.

Three hrs later, we were called for security check. The Security check at Addis Ababa even asks you to step out of your shoes! And I thought that part was reserved for holy places only. The waiting area after the security check gives a clear view of the Airfield and we could see our Airline waiting for us at the end of the boarding path to the flight. For some reasons unexplained to the passengers, we were not allowed to board for the next 2 hours and after that when the boarding process started, it was total chaos!

Another long 5.5 hrs later, with 2 episodes of FRIENDS for entertainment, I finally arrived at Lagos Airport at 03:30pm Local time. This airport is the opposite of Addis Ababa. Lagos being a major city of Nigeria, I’d expected a large airport, but this one was a small airport with no seating arrangement.

After I’d managed to get my luggage after a full 1 hr delay the client’s driver (Michael) escorted me into a bulletproof (I think that was it, hope I’m not exaggerating) Toyota SUV. For a moment I was surprised to find two armed policemen and another Car waiting for me at the Airport! (I felt like some high profile VIP), On way to my client’s office from airport (about 30Kms distance), a gun carrying policeman seated in my car, while a second car (with another armed policeman) escorted us.

The Road from Airport to Victoria Island is a highway, but the traffic moves very slowly during office hours. It’s very common to find people trying to sell Recharge coupons for mobile phones, or selling food items in the midst of the road. I've heard that the highway is not a secure place to be on after dark as robberies are commonplace. In fact it’s also not uncommon to find local dadas stopping vehicles (or even hanging on to slow moving trucks as I saw), and collect money from vehicle owners/drivers.

English is the common Language of communication in the city. However, while Michael and the Policeman were talking in English, I found it very difficult to understand it in the beginning due to difference of accent. Mostly the spoken English is Nigerian Pidgin English, and it takes sometime to get used to the accent.

I reached the office in about an hour, met with client, started some work and after next 2-3 hours, was on my way to Guest House in Apapa for a good night sleep. However as luck would have it, the housekeeper left early with the keys to my flat that night, so I had no place to stay. Luckily, I got accommodation with a Yemenese guy (Walid (wa-lee-id) working with my client. Had dinner with a Hyderabadi family and next day’s breakfast with a Punjabi. I guess being an Indian in videsh has certainly got its advantages :).

Start of the Trip

Event Date: March 29, 2006
Location: Hyderabad

So,
Finally it’s decided. I’m going to Nigeria for the project. Bibhu has been trying to scare me off since day 1, and as usual his words end with “I’m not trying to scare you, don’t worry”. Anyway, I got the tickets in the afternoon, for the night flight to Mumbai. Guess it was a good idea to pack my bags a night before, since I was able to leave the office by 6:30pm only. Since my biggest concern was how I’d be able to make contact with the client in Lagos, when I get out of the airport (I was told that the airport was more like ISBT bus stand Delhi, turned out that it was true!), I was given a pre-paid card with international roaming, and was left to get a handset on my own.

While rushing back home to get my bags I called my friend Amit in Mumbai to try and buy a handset as he also had a night flight to catch and we’d be meeting at the airport. However, as I had doubted, Amit was unable to find a handset for me.

Even as I hurriedly rushed to the Airport, the flight got delayed by an hour and I was left wondering what all things I’d left behind in hurry. Well I finally reached Mumbai, met Amit and boarded my next flight to Addis Ababa.