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This is how my story begins:
Campfire Farewell
In
July 2014, outside one of the condominium buildings in Tebase, Debre Birhan,
Ethiopia, a group of local Debre Birhan University (DBU) lecturers and their
friends gathered. People speak with beaming faces; live local dances and songs
help make the party lively and memorable. For Chanamalikarjuna, Arjun in short,
this is a second farewell. His colleagues, the staff of the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, DBU, threw a lavish party at a trendy hotel. Arjun
showed all present at the condominium party the picture from his previous farewell.
In that photo, the professors, technicians and other members of his department
surrounded him.
The
feeling among DBU staff and the town’s people who knew the tough teacher was
that he had to stay and teach some more years. Even some contacted the officers
who had to decide on his fate to facilitate a renewal. Truly, this man spent
much of his earnings in Ethiopia treating local friends and buying from local
businesses. Generosity is not the crux of the matter, though. Hard work,
passion, punctuality, sympathy … there was much into this comfortable career. In
fact, he himself was the one who bought the ram for the condominium campfire
grill. University officials were unmovable. Arjun and many many Indian lecturers
left that semester.
Arjun
told me that he would rather assume an Ethiopian citizenship and live on the
5400 Birr (less than three hundred USD then) salary compared to the 1500 to
many thousands of USD salary Indians earn in Ethiopia. In an exclusive interview
he gave me in June 2014 regarding the Ethiopian people, he said, “Whenever you call
any Ethiopian teacher or any Ethiopian, first they ask how you are – the best
thing I learnt from you guys. In India, you will not find such things. Whenever
we call our friends or anyone, we just ask where they are or what they are
doing. That is the worst thing in India. Here, the social life is very good. In
India, you will not find such a social life. Everybody is busy with his work. He
runs behind money.” These are some of the pull and push factors about his stay
in the Ethiopian highlands! He was a regular visitor of the nightclubs and he
is a man who enjoyed nightlife, a rare occurrence since the other Indians have never
been seen with locals on such occasions. He threw party many a time. He covers
the bill of everyone present and feels us with excitement. One night, he
insisted going home early when we told him to stay a bit longer, he was unmovable.
He confided in me that the community complained to the university officials about
teachers who frequent clubs. “This would endanger my renewal,” he feared.
ምንም አስተያየቶች የሉም:
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ