Lonely In Madagascar

Madagascar has been a revelation for me since we landed at Saturday noon. Maybe it’s because of my geographical or political ignorance that I was not aware of the ‘character’ of Madagascar.
It is a far cry from any African country in the continent. But if you ask me which I other African country I have visited, the answer will be in the negative. But being in mainstream media for some years, and that too having handled ‘Africa Pages’ for a newspaper for some time, I have a fair idea of the political and geographical features of many of the African countries.
But Madagascar is a surprise package. It starts with the climate. Now it is summer, and the temps yesterday were in early 20s, and in the night it was quite nippy. In winter, the day could be as low as 15 degrees and nights could be down to six or five!
I nearly froze in the bathroom yesterday. After a long day of walking--I walked six kilometres!--and crisscrossing the city and going up the highest spot in the city—it was a sight to behold—I came back to the room by 6pm tired. We agreed to meet at the restaurant at 7pm for dinner and a review of the day, and to plan today. All I remembered was sitting in the bed. I woke when my phone was ringing nonstop. It was quarter past eight. I ran into the shower and let the water fall on me.
I didn’t know what hit me. The water was ice cold and I thought even my heart was frozen. I had to limp out of the shower area after my quickest bath—I cannot call it bath; I just crawled out the reach of the needling water.
The hotel we are staying—Les 3 Metis—is a quiet, homely French structure with wooden flooring and wicker chairs and table in the expansive balcony. What I like the most about the hotel is the expansive bathroom. With distinct dry and wet areas, it is nearly as big as the bedroom itself. Sitting in the closet, I can see sun rising over the red roof tiles, clouds with crimson tint floating around. In the night, I sit there watching the stars.
The place turns one romantic, and being one, I keep missing my love. I wish if she was with me: to walk around these streets, around the lake and under the trees in the city centre, to perch on a stone bench by the narrow cobbled road that winds its way up to Top Ville—the highest point in the city—and to stand just behind her as we watch the stunning bird’s eye view of Anantananarivo, the capital city, which in Madagasi means “the city of thousand homes”.
For lunch and dinner, we go to Indian Palace down the street, run by Abdul, an enterprising guy from Hyderabad. Abdul was a Hindu when he came to Madagascar 10 years ago as a cook. According to our friend here, he became a Muslim to run a Hyderabadi/Indian restaurant. He married a Madagascar girl, who is a Christian, and they have a child, who is being brought up as a Hindu!
I had to shake my head to get the story right. Anyway, Abdul is a smart fellow. Always talking—in Hindi, Telugu, English, Madagasi and French—he is a one-stop helpline for all Indians here.
Last night, we decided to have dinner from Les 3 Metis itself. I had some rice and deep-fried slices of duck with some red wine. It was cool. After dinner we sat around the tables in the porch and watched the starry sky. I was hoping to get a call as I was beginning to get frustrated being ‘lonely’ in the middle of chats and business plans. One call, Lord, but it never came, and by midnight I walked up the wooden stairs, and hit the sack and slept off immediately.
Today we are planning to meet government officials and a couple of ministers. And, tomorrow will leave for Tamatau, about 350kms away from the city to visit a couple of properties, for two days.
I wish the telephone calls were cheaper! Or let the calls and messages come in…lest I will turn lonely and frustrated.