Travelogue to Timbuctoo

Pretty interesting for several reasons. We need to be reading more from South Asians who are visiting/working/living in Africa today...

Ref #3

I forgot to thank the Chowkidars for giving me the opportunity to post that joke. I mean, after all where do you have the chance to read something about Timbuctoo?

So here it is, Chowk Editors: Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Oops..sorry about the duplication. Being new I thought it didn`t work the first time.

Having read some moving travelogues in the past from Dost-Mittar and Banjara, this one is more like an official report of a government officer. It lacks spirit and fluency and the extra ordinary length hardly justifies the narrative.I wish there was more about the people and places than the Governors and Ambassadors who got the lion`s share.

Having read a few travelogues on Chowk by Dost-Mittar and Banjara, this piece feels and sounds like an official report submitted by a government officer after making an official trip to a new station. There is hardly any spirit or fluency in the narrative. The extra ordinary length is a waste of the reader`s time. I wish there was some information about the country, people, and it`s peculiarities rather than description of ambassadors and governors. The description of the country in the seventies is another jarring note in the 21st century.

I dub thee Sir Harimau of the non-retardknights of the chowk table.

So, there was this poetry contest and the two finalists were an English major from Duke University and some cowboy from Texas A&M. The participants had to write a short poen within 5 minutes after being given a word. The word was `Timbuctoo`.

The Duke student got up after about 4 minutes and said:

Slowly the dusty caravan rides
Into the dusk two by two
Destination Timbuctoo

and sat down. There was huge applause from the partisan audience who just couldn`t see how this could be topped by the redneck from Texas.

The A&M guy got up almost immediately and said:

Tim and I a-huntin` went
Met three whores in a pop-up tent
They were three, we were two
So I buck one, Tim buck two.

A good change.

Sardar Jee, I read the article waiting for some colourful account of the `Night Life` of the places you visited. And mingling with the ordinary locals. I hope you do it in your future travelouges.

thanks for sharing your thoughts.