Rainy Monday evening

Walking to work on a rainy Monday morning

It never rains in January and lo and behold, we have a typical "rainy season" rainy day this morning. See some pictures of Kavita and I walking to work.

Bomb bomb

Bomb Bomb is again having a sale at Expat-Hang-Out's this Saturday, all day from 10 AM to 6 PM. Come and support underprivileged women from More than Everyone Town, Holy Saviour County and buy their hand made bombs.

Bomb Bomb was started by a CIA Agent, Innocuous American Name, in the 1980s when she was spying on the new regime following the 1980 coup d'etat. She was offered cold water by an innocent and pure village woman when she got lost in the rain forest near More than Me Town, far but no so far from More than Everyone Town. 

She ended up spending a few days in the Town, taking a break from spying. She stumbled upon her new friend's ability to do an enormous stock pile of physical labour every day: from carrying buckets of water to chopping and carrying wood, from farming to cooking and washing, and borning a new baby every day.  She was particularly fascinated by this illiterate but bright woman's adept fingers and how they fashioned a basket from bamboo. 

Innocuous American Name decided to give up her spying career and decided to instead help her new friend and all her neighbours to set up a cooperative making hand-made bombs. 

The first bombs designed by the Bomb Bomb group really were a work of art: delicate, precise, and potent. They could be concealed in a hand bag or back pack by American Freedom Bringers. They can also be used for decorative purposes.

Innocuous American Name managed to get a small order from the American Government for use in its Freedom Conquest in the Middle East. They were so effective in bringing about democracy and the free market that there was no looking back.

Bomb Bomb bagged many, many more orders for its perfect, hand-made bombs and, other Allies and Partners soon started buying these hand-made bombs by the bold, courageous women of Liberia.

Bomb Bomb empowers rural women who make safe, artistic and precise bombs. They not only grab their future by the horns but also help to bring about democracy and liberty in the Middle East.

Buy a Bomb Bomb bomb today and, help America help Africa help the Middle East.

Kiya ajeeb, sohana aur dilkash mausam hai

Getting these few rainy days in Monrovia, in what should be the height of the scorching dry season, is unsettling but also also a welcome respite. 

On Monday night, I stepped into the balcony to turn off the generator and switch us back to LEC after I noticed our LEC bulb, hanging over our kitchen door, come on. It's always such a relief to know the light is back on. Although our generator is in the back yard of the apartment building and, it is not nearly as loud as when we used to have a generator on the very same balcony at first and later on our rooftop, there is still a steady hum, white noise that always makes me uneasy. 

Well anyway, after I told "Bijli" to stop pouncing on me, hyper as she is being cooped up on that balcony,  and after switching off the generator, I paused to notice how remarkably chilly it was. 

I came back into the apartment and walked across the carpet to settle back onto the sofa and continue enjoying my nightly fix of Dallas. 

I told Haresh, "Kiya khoobsoorat hawa chal rahee hai." 

The next morning, I woke up to a really overcast day.  I felt a positively cool wind on my face while walking from the apartment to the office. 

The rest of the day was quite cool and my office felt a little too chilly with the AC on. Later on, I looked up from my desk to see it drizzling outside.

The next few days were remarkably cool so much so that we did not have to use the AC in our living room. Everyone had donned a jacket or sweater because for most people in Liberia it is really cold.

Even non-Liberians who have lived in Liberia for many years swore they've never felt so cold before, even in the rainy season.

Getting these few days of cool weather feels like a borrowed season. The town feels different. Everyone seems to have donned a jacket or sweater for this is cold weather indeed. The colour of the sky is grey. The air is crisp and cool. But it is not completely grey, like winter in the northern hemisphere where the trees lose their leaves. Here, we still have greenery all around.

Harmattan is but a brief and welcome break in the dry season. 

An ode to Haresh's sneeze

My sweet, gentle Haresh has the disposition of a meek kitten. When one first meets him, one is taken away by his gracious, charming and elegant manner. He usually takes women's hands and kisses them, shyly flirting with them. With men, he gives them a jolly panda-bear hug. Children, he wins them over with fantabulous magic tricks. Bare choton se, saab se pyar! 

Haresh is a man that one reads about in 19th century novels. He is salt of the earth. He does not take sides in politics. He does not display intellectual or literary prowess. 

He is the epitome of harmony and cooperation while playing strategic board games. What's that game, Settlers of Catan? If you want to trade a resource, he will freely give you one. Missing an active knight when the barbarian ship attacks? Don't fear, Haresh is here. He will - raat din eik kar ke - make sure there are enough knights so you do not lose your city. Haresh the knight at your service! 

Need to borrow some money? Haresh will empty both pockets to give you a loan and, then forget about it. Yaaron ka yaar! 

Jitnee tareef ki jaye kam hai! 

Speaking of tareef, he hates mirrors. Other men, waste time admiring themselves, flexing their muscles and posing. Not Haresh, he is humble and meek. 

But what I really wanted to admire most about him is his sneeze. Despite his soft facade, his sneeze is something to behold, preferably at a distance, let's say the one between the North Pole and the Equator. When Haresh sneezes, you would jump like you would if, let's say, your car suddenly internally combusted! Haresh's sneeze sounds like the magnetic crash and sonic hiss of melting glaciers, crashing into the ocean. You really cannot be prepared for such a sound in your life. It is something to behold for your bleeding ears. It is truly a spectacle. It feels like the infinite time loop of the celestial bodies in motion. God knows if there is a beginning or an end. And, if for some reason, you manage to reach the end of the screeching sneeze, the sound will echo in your bleeding ears for hours to come. You will wonder, what was that? What was that infernal sound? Demons escaping the 7th circle of hell? Was that the clearing of a throat of an elephant from Jupiter? Was that the whoosh of a tsunami wave? 

For this is my ode to Haresh's sneeze. 

This. 

The sonic boom that is Haresh's sneeze. 

Haresh's sneeze.

Broke the sound barrier.

Reversed the speed of thought. 

Deafened my ear drums. 

The sound that launched melting of polar ice caps.

Made the polar bears homeless.

Caused global warming. 

Lifted from their depths the majestic heights of ocean levels.

Drowned coastal cities. 

Mayhem.

And then all was quiet.

The sneeze is over.

Silence.

Calm.

Sunday at Silver Beach

We spent a glorious Sunday afternoon at Silver Beach with friends. We were meeting my ex--Mercy-Corps colleague, Mathew Ndote, and his family, for lunch at Silver Beach.

I had been to Silver Beach with my UNJLC colleagues back in 2003 when I first arrived in Liberia and unbelievably had never been back. I had a vague sense of what it looked like but never been back. Driving on the RIA highway many times I did remember seeing a sign board. 

We kept driving along the highway and with all the traffic, didn't arrive until an hour later after our agreed time. You know how it is, when you're looking for a place, it feels like it is taking ever so long. When one is late, it feels like hours are passing instead of minutes.

We arrived and enjoyed a good lunch with Mathew's family. They had to leave after wards but Haresh, Kavita and I stayed on to enjoy the beautiful beach: pristine, almost deserted with the mighty waves of the Atlantic Ocean crashing on the shore.

I took many photographs of the golden shore and later used them for NATC Memes.

I also really enjoyed photographing the trees. It is not common to see pine trees on Liberia's beaches, or at least, it is the first time I noticed these trees.

Good evening

The Benson Street Hill, also known as Snapper Hill, the space between the Masonic Lodge and the new American Embassy, is my favourite space in Monrovia. It's a vantage point with an eagle-eye view of the city.

The latest exercise regime is for the three of us to drive up to the Hill and run up and down several times. These days, I can muster 2 long laps and 3 short ones. We also do stretches, a few jumping jacks and sit ups.

We have also started taking Bijli up to the Hill. She runs - half heartedly - with Haresh.

Kavita, of course, loves this time and, tries to keep up.

Our favourite part of the whole time is to eat oranges sitting on the side walk.

A few times, we have met little kids exercising on the hill. It's probably the most cutest thing ever, said in true American fashion, with a heavy emphasis on ever.