The two Nigerias

There are two Nigerias in my mind.

One Nigeria has a big image problem. It is the land of repressive regimes and corruption. I didn’t even want to go to Nigeria and had tried my best to get out this visit.

The list of negative things about Nigeria seems unending. Long time ago I had heard stories about corruption in Nigeria. Then I had heard about the problems between Christians and Muslims and the decisions of Shariat Islamic courts that had mobilized the public opinion in the West. In Italy, there has also been a lot of publicity about Nigerian sex workers, and every time there is some story in Italian newspapers about sex workers on the streets, they invariably talk of Nigerians. Then over past few years, all kinds of email scams are attributed to Nigerians.

Yet, there is another Nigeria in my mind. I admire Nigerian writers like Ken Saro Wiwa and Chimamanda Ngozi Adochie. Thinking of the way Yoruba cultures have survived and grown in south and central Americas, I feel that Nigerian cultures must be among the richest cultures that developed in ancient world, though I do not know much about them. I think that in present day Africa, together with South Africa and Ghana, Nigeria has the most vibrant thinkers and philosophers (though I agree that probably there is an anglophone bias there in such thoughts).

***

The first look of the green mountains and hills surrounding Abuja as the airplane was preparing to land, was very nice. The airport was small for the capital of one of the most powerful African nations, but it was nice and clean. However, I was surprised by the insistent immigration officer, wanting all details of why I had come to their country.

Getting visa for Nigeria was no easy thing. I had to fill an online form, send all kinds of proofs and letters to justify my visit to the embassy and I was told, if they wish, I will have to go to Rome to their embassy for an interview. For all this process, it needed at least one month to get the visa. All this for going there for a five days conference organised by their Government!

After such a tough process for getting a visa, I was not expecting all the questioning at the airport. After the immigration, even custom officers wanted to know why I had come to Nigeria and how long I was going to stay. It was as if Nigeria does not want any kind of tourists or curious persons to come here, and all visitors are given this message.

Getting out of the airport, there was another surprise, more pleasant one this time. There were no anxious taxi drivers trying to rip me off, running after me. The person who was supposed to pick me from the airport was no where to be seen and I had walked to the taxi stand but there were no taxis waiting there for passengers. It was another sign that tourists and visitors without connections in Nigeria are not so many.

Anyway, soon a man came to ask if I was looking for a taxi and I could come to the hotel. The city of Abuja looked very nice with greenery, wide roads and many new shining buildings. The people were very nice, courteous. Going around seemed to be completely safe. In our international meeting, there were many Nigerians and it was a pleasure to make new friends, to talk to new persons, to discover their ideas and know about their work in different parts of Nigeria. Even the lady from the north, with her head covered, who had refused to shake hands with me, was not shy to argue about her ideas.

***

First three days were busy in the meetings, though I did try to click a few pictures from the taxi, while going from one place to another. Finally on the third day, I found some time to walk near the conference centre, which was not far from the cathedral of Abuja and from where, you can have a nice view of the beautiful golden domed mosque of Abuja.

I had just clicked a couple of pictures, when a man appeared, very angry, shouting at me. "Do you have permission to take pictures? Is it possible in your country to go around and take pictures like this?"

I was surprised. I couldn’t believe that taking pictures in Nigeria could be illegal and you need a permission to take pictures! The man apparently was convinced that all countries in the world have this rule and didn’t believe me when I told that I had always taken pictures in whichever country I went. My answers made him angrier, and soon things turned serious. He will call some special police called SSP or something like that, he told me, threatening that I will be put in jail and that my ignorance of the country’s laws was no justification for the crime I had committed.

Suddenly I was a little afraid. Their special police sounded like the Nazi SS. I quickly explained to him that I was there for an important meeting, I was invited by United Nations and Government of Nigeria, that later in the day I was going to speak in front of the first lady of Nigeria. That finally stopped him. How many pictures have you taken, he asked me. Just one picture of the cathedral, I told him meekly, trying to sound sorry for this serious crime.

"OK, go back straight to your meeting, I don’t want to see you around here", he glowered. And I walked back to the meeting with my tail firmly tucked between my legs.

Later in the meeting I asked one of the security persons preparing for the visit of the first lady, if I could take her pictures. He had smiled at me, “Yes of course. You can take as many pictures as you want. And don’t stay closed inside this meeting hall, our city is beautiful, go out and see some of its beauty.” I didn’t ask him if I could take pictures of their beautiful city or if I needed to apply to someone for permission!

I think that rules prohibiting photography on the street in todays' age are stupid. If I really want, I just need to fiddle with my mobile telephone and take as many pictures as I want. People with mobile phones are everywhere, even in Nigeria and I don’t think that security men in Nigeria can check and control each of them to see if they are really talking on telephone or taking pictures. Terrorist won’t come with fancy cameras to take pictures of cathedrals and mosques from different angles.

***

The minister for Women's Affairs, Ms. Iyom Josephine Anenih came to the meeting. I was impressed with her, since she seemed to know what she was talking about and had actually listened to the persons speaking before her.

Nigeria's first lady Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan was supposed to inaugurate the meeting but she couldn't come. After a few hours, a group of wives arrived for the inauguration, including wives of head of senate, wife of head of defence services, etc. but the first lady was not there. It was a bit surprising to hear that the first lady had been ready for hours waiting for the permission "from the Council" for coming to our meeting but she didn't get the permission!

A first lady needs to get a permission from a Council (was it an euphemism for her husband, the President?) to come to a meeting to inaugurate it?

In the evening, the Minister insisted to send her car to take us to the airport. Her car was accompanied by a police car with sirens and flashing lights. It was the first time, I was travelling like that. Needless show-offs, I had thought. However, the night traffic on the road going to the airport was terrible in many places, jam packed with cars, people eating or buying things from roadside markets. Without the Minister's car, probably we wouldn't have made it to the airport in time!
***

The ancient cultures of Nigeria, the Yoruban myths and stories, have they survived in today's Nigeria? The country seems divided among evangelical churches and islam, and I have no idea if the ancient religions have any relevance in today's Nigeria. The question came to my mind many times but I had no opportunity to ask it to someone.

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This post was originally written in 2010

Looking at life from a different angle

What is the purpose of arts in our lives?

By "arts" I mean literature, poetry, paintings, music, theater, cinema, photography, etc. Perhaps the most obvious answer to my question is that arts are for entertainment, to experience joy and happiness. Some times, arts can make you see the world from a different point of view. Or make you reflect on ironies of life. Sometimes they can make you experience a state of heightened awareness, almost like being in touch with a different reality.

I had one such experience on Sunday 22 August night, when I went to "Readings on the River" organised under the Bologna summer festival.

It was going to start at 9 PM at a strange place - in the park along the river Reno. That place is strange, because most of it is without any lights and seems threatening after the evening. I have seen homeless tramps under the old bridge sometimes. I think that the place also has drug dealers and may be prostitutes.

The idea of the initiative was to discover literature, poetry and theater, in an unusual setting. That place is only 3-4 km from our house, so I decided to go there on bicycle. When I reached there, I was greeted by a couple of "angles", women wearing black dresses and a pair of cardboard wings plastered with white feathers. They were volunteers of "Teatro dei Mignoli", a local theater group that had organised that evening's programme.

There were around fifty-sixty persons for the show, some of them with their children.

We had a guide with a big torch, who took us into darkness along the river bank for the different shows. There were so many of them. Each in a different place, so we had to follow the guide through the darkness. In the darkness, small lights came up illuminating the actors reciting poems or doing pieces of theater.

The theater performances included two different interpretations about strangeness of love from Shakespear's "Midsummer night's dream", a piece about being a homeless person marginalized from the society and a tramp-joker talking about war, peace and justice based on works of a Mexican poet called Leon Felipe.

It was a beautiful and strange experience. For example, it is very different from sitting in the comfort of your home and reading about a homeless person, then being in the place where homeless persons actually live, and listen to actors do a performance about being homeless. Suddenly they were no longer shadowy figures that we look at without seeing them. They were real persons who had their stories to tell.

While coming back on my bicycle, I was lost in thoughts, thinking about what I had experienced. I think that arts also helps us to look at alternate worlds, become more human, more in touch with life that surrounds us.

Here are some images from the evening.

***

Water, silk and a ghost

There was a time, when the network of canals crisscrossing Bologna (Italy) were vital to the life of the city. Most of those canals are now forgotten by majority of the people living in the city, even to the persons who live close to them. This article is about canals of Bologna in Italy, focusing mainly on one such canal called Ghisiliera (in Italian Ghisigliera) in the northern part of the city, in an area called Lame-Bertalia.

A more extended version of this article is also available on Kalpana.it - click here to read it.

Canals of Bologna: They are two main rivers close to Bologna - Reno (Rhine) on the south and Savena on the east. Compared to the big rivers like Ganga (Ganges) and Yamuna in India, these two rivers are very small, but during the rainy season and during spring, when the snow in the mountains melts, both the rivers had the potential to create major damages in the city. In addition, Bologna also has torrents that have water only during rainy season and spring, and are dry at other times, such as Aposa, Ravone, etc. Compared to the two rivers that pass the outer edges of the city, the torrents pass through the city, like Aposa that runs in the city centre.

Attempts to rein in the rivers' and torrents' waters must have started with Etruscans who had first settled in Felsina. The legend says that Felsina was an Etruscan princess who had drowned in Aposa torrent. With the arrival of Romans, Etruscans disappeared and Felsina became Bononia and then Bologna. The first canal called Reno brought the water from Reno river to the city centre, came up around 1250 AD. After that for the next six hundred years, more canals were built, bring water from Savena river and then connecting the different canals to each other and to the torrents. The map below shows the main canals of Bologna.

Most canals of Bologna were covered and then roads, parking places and buildings were made over them between 1950 to 1960, when areas damaged during second world war were rebuilt. There are still a few short stretches inside the medieval city walls where you can see the canals but you need to know where to look for them. Most of the canals inside the city are hidden underground and can be accessed only through specific guided tours. Many names of the streets such as "Via Riva del Reno" (Banks of Reno road) can give you an idea of the routes of the canals.

Uses of canals: The canals are useful to regulate the flow of water, and when the volume of water increases, they spread it in different directions and thus avoid floods. For example, Bertalia, the area where we live, literally means "area that gets flooded". Being close to the river, it was a marshy uninhabited place for a long time.

During medieval period, canals brought water energy to the city, to power different kind of mills and factors. There is an altitude difference of about 40 meters between south and north of Bologna, and a difference of 15 meters between northern edge of Bologna and the suburban town of Castel Maggiore. This meant that water taken from Reno river at the south of the city had enough gradient to travel to north and to provide moderate force to move wheels to run flour mills and silk yarn wrapping machines, etc.

The humidity of the canals helped in growing silk worm. This helped in industrial growth of the city and Bologna became the foremost Italian centre for production of silk.

The canals also provided a way of transport from the city to Reno river, and to Castel Maggiore, Galliera in the north and from there to the Po river, and to Ferrara and Venice. As road transport was more difficult, the canals became the preferred way for both people and goods.

The Ghisliliera canal: This canal was built in 1568 AD, starting from the larger and older Reno canal near Porta San Felice, where it entered under the medieval walls. Passing from Via della Ghisigliera, where the Ghisiglieri villa was placed, it took its name. The noble family of Ghisiglieri fought with the power Bologna family of Bentivoglio and were forced to leave Bologna and shift to Ferrara around 1450 AD. In 1566, a descendent of this family, Antonio Ghisiglieri became the Pope and took the name of Pope Pio V (in English, Pope Pious V). He had played an important role in inquisition and under his guidance as the chief inquisitor, a large number of protestant christians called Valdesi were tortured and killed. At that time, Bologna was ruled by the Vatican and perhaps that was the reason why the canal took the name of the Pope's family.

Around the Canal: Parts of Ghisliera canal are lined with old oak trees that are very unusual in a city context.

After about 2 km from Bertalia, the area of Noce forms the city limits of Bologna. A short way after Noce, along the road that goes towards Trebbo and next to Ghisliera canal is an important historical building - Malvasia Villa, also known as Villa Clara.

Built around 1550s, around the time when Ghisliera canal was built, Villa Malvasia was the country home of count Carlo Cesare Malvasia. With frescoes of Caracci, a famous painter of Bologna, its salons were famous for their beauty.

However, Villa Malvasia is famous for something else - a ghost. The story goes that in early 1900s, a family of father, mother and a girl child called Clara lived here. Clara thought that she could foretell events and disasters that were going to occur. Her father was not happy with Clara's predictions and felt that it would bring blames of witch-craft on their family. However, Clara refused to listen to her father. One day in a fit of rage, the father buried Clara alive in one the walls. Since then at seems that some times passers by can hear a child crying around that house, that is also known as Villa Clara.

Conclusions: Bertalia and Lame areas are ordinary residential areas of northern part of Bologna. If you pass from here in a bus, you would never guess about the rich history of this place. The narrow Ghisiliera canal looks very unassuming and very easy to miss. The signs of old port of Pescarola are lost. Yet, if you have the patience to scratch below the surface, you can find a world full of history.

In spring and autumn, migratory birds stop to take rest in Ghisiliera canal. Some times in the evenings, going for a walk with my dog, we startle groups of wild geese who fly away cackling with surprise.

Slowly the old farm houses near our home have been abandoned and converted into houses and schools and family restaurants. The old fruit trees and vineyards are left unattended with smell of ripe fruit filling the air in summer. A huge number of wild plants and flowers grow along its banks, and going for a walk along the canal is a big pleasure. There is a proposal to make a cycle track on one of the raised bumps of land along the canal. When that happens, it will be wonderful.

Here are a few images from Ghisiliera canal and its surroundings:

Note: A more extended version of this article is also available on Kalpana.it - click here to read it.

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This post was originally written in 2011

Discovering our living planet

The email from our local library asked, "Are you interested in learning about plants and trees and how these are inter-connected with life on our planet? Join us for an exploration of green areas surrounding us in the city and yet hidden from us ...".

The city where we live, Bologna (pronounced Bolonia), offers a regular and frequent choice of talks, discussions, art visits and films. Normally I sign up for initiatives related to museums and arts and it had been some time since I had gone on a walking tour. Still my curiosity was stimulated by the email so I signed up for this city walk to discover the hidden green areas of our neighbourhood. It also helped that no fee was asked for the initiative!

The walk was going to take place on a sunday morning.

Our guide was quirky guy called Marco Colombari. Dressed simply, tall and bald with an open smiling face, he seemed obsessive about respecting nature and recognising the inter-connectedness of all forms of life. He himself respects these principles by living in the foothills of Appenine mountains not far from the city, where he has an organic farm. He likes to observe plants, trees, birds, animals, insects in all the different forms and teach people about setting up of organic gardens. His fundamental motto seemed to be that nature knows what is best, so do not interfere in nature's process unneccessarily.

The first stop of our walk was an ordinary tree on the footpath outside the library. "This is a lime tree", he explained, "it has lost it leaves due to the winter and yet it provides food to birds in this season when birds have difficulty in finding food to survive." It seems that underneath the bark of lime tree, runs a sweet lymph  that the birds can get by hitting on the stem by their beaks. Though I had passed that tree hundreds of times before, suddenly I saw it with new eyes.

He pointed to common hedges along the road and to small berries of different colours hidden under the leaves to indicate other sources of food for the non-migratory birds during winter.

"People like geometrical shapes and uniformity, so they make single plant hedges. Then they prune those hedges all the time and they spray insecticides on it. This means reducing the biodiversity of life, not allowing bees to take necter from the flowers and not allowing the birds to access the food in the plants. Best hedges are made by mixing of two or more different plants", he explained.

"Have you seen the scars of a tree when they cut its branches? Can you see how this tree suffered when it was cut and how it has tried to grow the scar around it to cover its surface. It is like amputating the arm or the leg of a person", he pointed out to the trees to make us look at the tree-scars. It was a little strange to hear him talking of trees as if they were persons.

Behind a group of houses he took us into a hidden garden that I had never seen before. It is called the St Anna grove. It is supposed to be quite ancient, going back to times before the city had come up. It was a kind of sacred grove where plants, insects and animals were allowed to develop according to the nature. This garden is managed by a group of young volunteers, mostly girls, who come here to study plant, insect and animal life.

Surrounded by the houses, St Anna garden seemed to be quite big. Inside, he showed us different kinds of plants and trees and told stories about them.

For example he told the story of common yew tree (Taxus Baccata). Apparently the yew tree wood is very good for making long bows, as it is very strong and yet flexible. Thus in fifteenth century, British started cutting all their yew trees for making long bows and many of the ancient yew trees that were even 2000 years old were cut. Finally there were no more yew trees left in Britain. Then the British started importing yew trees from countries of northern Europe. For this reason, most of the ancient yew trees of northern Europe have disappeared and can't be replaced easily as this tree is very slow growing and can live for even 5000 years.

Another story that I liked was about a plant called "Beggers' shrub". Apparently if you rub this plant on wounds, it makes the wound-scars grow big, red and scary, so that beggers used it to provoke pity among people.

"That is Taxsodium", he pointed to the huge trees with copper red colour leaves, "it comes from America and grows near water. Its roots come out of water and are breathing roots. Woodpeckers love it as it makes for nice hole where they can nest." I had seen Taxsodium trees before and admired their coppery colour, yet I had never noticed their breathing roots or the holes made by woodpeckers.

Behind the taxsodium trees was a small artificial pond that was made when Bologna was an important centre for growing cane. Cane had to be macerated in water and then used for making ropes and baskets. The pond was used for macerating the cane in 17th and 18th century.

As we came closer to the pond, a group of ducks came out eagerly, running around us. One of the volunteers went to a persimmon tree and gave some fruit to the ducks, that was devoured quickly. Apparently the ducks knew that the volunteers can feed them with persimmon so as soon as they see the volunteers they come out running.

It was a wonderful and very instructive visit. There are so many simple things around us that as urban persons we have ignored. This kind of knowledge is also getting lost as people living closer to nature and doing humble manual work are seen as ignorant and backward, and no body listens to them or tries to document their knowledge.

Here are a few pictures from this nature walk.

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Gifts of the oriental kings

Have you ever wondered about how did the tradition of making gifts for Christmas started?

The story of the birth of Jesus says that when he was born, a comet appeared on the sky and three wise kings from the orient followed the comet to look for Jesus and they brought gifts for the new born baby. This event of gifts of oriental kings is remembered in the celebration of Epiphany on 6th January. Thus people used to make gifts for the children on 6 January.

In Italy, the festival of epiphany has been linked to an older Roman tradition, when it was believed that a witch riding on a broom brings gifts for the children. The image of the old witch called Befana was linked to the festival of Epiphany on 6th January. Similarly, northern European countries had the old tradition of an old man riding on a reindeer sledge, over time that was also linked to Christmas.

Old Italians tell that when they were young, they used to receive gifts brought by "Befana" only for epiphany on 6 January, but slowly over the last fifty years, the figure of Christmas father "Santa Claus" has become more popular and everyone has adopted the northern custom of gifts brought by Santa Claus on the Christmas day.

In Italy, 8th December is considered the start of Christmas celebration and families set up the Christmas tree and make the crib or the nativity scene in their homes and in the city squares. Epiphany marks the end of Christmas celebrations and on this day families will remove the Christmas trees, lights and the crib.

I like to go around to see the crib or the nativity scene representations. They remind me of the Janamashtami celebrations in India, when people make the representations of the story of birth of Krishna. Today I also want to present some of my best pictures of the nativity scenes.

The nativity scenes have 3 main characters - Joseph (the father) usually shown with a stick in his hand, Mary (the mother) and Jesu (the new born baby).

There are four other important characters of the nativity scene - an angle and the three kings who came from orient.

Frequently, to these, people add in their nativity scenes, some farm animals such as cows, sheep, donkeys, etc. Finally, some persons also try to show scenes of normal life around the nativity scenes, as you can see in the next pictures.

People also like to show their individuality by choosing different styles of clothes and statues. For example, in the next picture you can see that one of the oriental "kings" wearing a brown gown is a woman.

Here are some examples of some naitivity scenes that I liked from 2011:

So did you like my selection of best nativity scenes from 2011 from Italy? Which one do you like most? My personal favourite is crib in the last picture, it is simple with the angle holding the main characters of the story in her arm.

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This post was originally written in 2011