Tripoli Anyone ?
You are going to Tripoli….I
was told by my boss. This was way back in 2003 when Libya was in the grip of
the Colonel and a place not many people would have wanted to go to. I too was
one of them….who in their right mind would want to go to Libya ? First lets
figure out exactly where it is…definitely not in the tourist circuit !!
Ironically geography was not one of my strong points right through school.
Perhaps that’s why I was destined to travel…!
I was told by an
optimist friend that Libya was right next to the country of one of the seven
wonders….Egypt. That got me a little interested. I could always drop into Egypt
to see the pyramids on my way in or out of Tripoli. Well it would be even
better if I could drop into Tripoli on my way in and out of Egypt. Ah ! it was
beginning to get better. So started packing…now what would be the right clothes
for Egypt ?
Our mission was
easy….(at least that’s what I thought at the time). We had to just meet the
concerned Government Authority in Tripoli which had decided to stop importing
Indian tea and convince them to start importing it again. ..Easy I tell
you…after all it’s the best tea in the world.
So bags packed, me and
Deputy Chairman, Tea Board boarded the flight to Dubai… no..no..no..no..you got
it wrong ..I was not fitting in another tourist destination into my trip….you
have to go to Dubai to go to Tripoli as there was no direct flight from
Delhi to Tripoli (perhaps nobody wanted
to go there from India). The next day was our flight to Tripoli. We reached the
airport and were checking in when we were told that only one ticket was
confirmed to Tripoli and that was mine. Deputy Chairman’s ticket had been
cancelled by the travel agent (hmmm…. wonder how ?) and they would see if there
is a seat available to accommodate him. Now I was getting really nervous.
Travel alone to a god forsaken destination? Luckily a seat was found and we
both were on our way.
Landed at Tripoli
airport…a very rustic, basic airport…the uniformed military guards an
intimidating presence. Thankfully, the Indian Embassy officials were there to
pick us up. The airport was some distance from the city and we drove through
the sandy plains lined with olive trees (First time I saw olive trees). Nearing
the city, our informative driver pointed
out the fortress kind of a place which we were told was the den of the leader- Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi. Quite an imposing place it was, ringed with heavy security.
The city looked very
bleak, enveloped in shades of grey and white, broken with splashes of green on
the large signboards featuring Colonel Muammar Gaddafi with raised clenched fists
and his ‘Green book’ – the Bible for Libyans. He liked to see himself as the leader
of a comity of African nations, leading the workers of the world. The streets
had very few cars and fewer people on the roads. Maybe they all felt safer inside
their homes. There were straight blocks of buildings with no glossy shops or
cafes in sight. The place reminded me of the India that was in the 1970s when
everything looked very ‘sarkari’ and basic.
Our hotel was right on
the Mediterranean sea. Finally some respite from the concrete. The turquoise waters
of the vast Mediterranean were reassuring. The interiors of the hotel and the
room were very ‘basic’ (isn’t the word getting very repetitive ?), the menu
limited with the delicacy being ‘fish’. I am not much of a fish eater but
Deputy Chairman Tea Board, being a Bengali, was. But I have a feeling, he too
was quite shocked to see the fish when it was served- the complete fish with
not a fin or a gill removed, eyes et al, just fried as it is, put on the plate
and presented to the unsuspecting. Now what would I eat? Just to reassure you,
I did not starve but survived on pizza for all the time I was in Libya (gained
a few kilos is another matter).
Then started our
travails with NASCO- The National Agency for procurement of commodities which
had to be convinced to buy Indian tea. We went to meet the senior officers,
with a delegation of Indian tea suppliers. The Tripoli International Fair was
going on in the city, where tea board had set up a stand in the India pavilion.
The tea suppliers were participating in the Fair, exhibiting their products at
the Tea Board stand. Well back to our visit to NASCO. We were made to wait in a grand room with a
large painting of ..yes…you got it….Gaddafi (he was quite omnipresent I thought) and served tea. The tea in Libya,
as in many of the countries in the Middle East,
is made without milk, with lots of sugar and mint leaves. We drank our
tea and waited…just to be told that the Chief of NASCO was busy and would not
be able to meet us that day. We would be informed of our appointment very soon,
we were assured.
We had no choice but to
wait as NASCO were substantial buyers of tea and we could not leave the
situation as it was. We spent time at the Tea Board stand at the Fair. One day
a Burqa clad Arab woman came to the stand. I thought she had come attracted by
the range of Indian teas on display. But she was more interested in finding out
what film Madhuri Dixit was doing next (yes our very own bollywood diva). She
was a walking encyclopedia of Indian films. She knew the names of Hema Malini’s
daughters, had travelled to Mumbai after Amitabh Bachan’s accident and stood
vigil outside the hospital till he got better. She had walked into the stand,
attracted by an Indian film magazine which somebody had left behind. Hesitatingly she asked if she could take it. I
handed it to her without a second thought, nobody deserved it more.
The days kept passing,
with no news from NASCO. Forget about Egypt…I was desperate to get back to our
very own Delhi. However, that was not an option and we decided to explore the
place. The corniche along the Mediterranean had become our daily walk and the
narrow alleys of the old town –the Medina, a treasure to discover. The souqs
displayed the traditional wares, clothes and ornate jewellery, and I was left
wondering how I could carry all this home. The walled old town still retained
its serene old world ambience, unspoilt due to the lack of tourists. The Assaria
al-Hamra - the Red castle museum lay next to the Medina. It had some
Phoenician and Roman artifacts and lots of Gaddafi from all possible angles. The
heart of the city was the ‘Green Square’ which was not really green in colour. Interestingly,
remnants of some of the best Italian colonial architecture could still be seen in Tripoli, but so could the poverty.
Wonder where their ‘Leader’ was leading
them all to and where was the oil money going
? The city was a fusion of the Ottoman era and the Italian with the Arab
culture trying to dominate it all.
But the most awe
inspiring was the ancient city of Leptis Magna, founded by the Phoenicians in
the 10th century BC and conquered by the Roman empire during the 2nd
century BC. It is said the Romans wanted to create another Rome in the African continent
and I think they more than succeeded. What I didn’t know was that one of the
Roman emperors- Settimio Severo, was a Libyan born in Leptis Magna. Today, one
of the best preserved Roman ruins can be seen in this city which is also a
UNESCO World Heritage site. Leptis Magna is a two hour drive, about 120 kms,
east of Tripoli.in Al Khums.
The magnificence of the
place cannot be described….I seem to have misplaced the photographs I took then…I
will find them soon and upload …However, some memories leave an impact and
always stay. This was one of them. I remember sitting on the steps of the ruins
of the massive Roman amphitheatre,
looking down at the arena/stage with the tall columns framed in the background
of the blue Mediterranean, and trying to
visualize the magical evenings this place must have witnessed centuries ago. And
not to forget the Roman toilets…I am sure you cannot see these anywhere else. A
slab of marble running across the room, along the walls, with hollows to serve
as toilet seats, in a community toilet which could accommodate at least a dozen
people at a time!!
Most of the ruins still lay buried under the
sands of time…waiting to be discovered. Once again the tourists were noticeably
absent…maybe the secret behind the ruins being so well preserved……
Finally we got the call
we were waiting for. The Chief of NASCO decided to meet us. After a long grueling
meeting, we could resolve most of the issues and the trip could be termed
successful in ways more than one.
Watching the recent
revolution in Libya on TV news channels, I would try to visualize the places in
Tripoli, where the fighting was taking place… after all I had walked those
roads.I wonder what Tripoli looks like now after the Revolution and exit of
Colonel Gaddafi. The large portraits must have surely disappeared but has the
city lost its desolateness? Is there more light and gaiety and the people
happier? … and finally have the tourists started to find their way there…
By the way, I could not
go to Egypt in that trip. I was to visit Egypt later and not once but many,
many times….but that story some other time.
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