The Bollywood fans
This story is one my experience during my United Nations
peace keeping tenure in Africa in Nov 2007.
We were tasked to go and fetch current
situation report from Galgok area of Sudan where there were recent event of
ethnic killings. It was border area of controversial line 1156. We were airborne towards the baron marshy
lands of Africa.
The noise of
chopper grew louder as we were trying to touch the ground. I peeped from window
and saw some thatched roof huts and people running sighting our chopper.
The veteran French
pilot didn’t take long landed right between the clusters of huts, which left me
astonished, all safety and landing protocols were just left aside.
I looked from the round window of Mi-8(Russian helicopter)
and saw few thatched roofs blown away and slowly being surrounded by some black
men with RPG (rocket launcher) and AK-47 and moving from all sides. I looked at
my team, could see them getting ready for action.
I could feel the tension and more so as I was the patrol
leader responsible for the lives and safety of the UNMOS (United nation mission
observers) 3 of them from Malaysia, Peru and Rwanda.
‘Stand- by’, I gave the order and slowly opened the door of
the chopper. I landed and I ordered
everyone to stay behind in chopper. I said,”
we are from UN and have come for Peace, no fight, no fire” and raised my empty
hands. Which I thought was the right thing to do than getting shot in foreign
land.
After few rounds of negotiations with petrifying SPLA (Sudanese
people’s liberation army) rebels, I could manage a meeting with their leader to
take the reports on current situations of the on going war.
The men in gorilla outfit told me that only 4 people can go
to their leaders, hence me along with 2 Observers decided to go there. We were
blind folded and taken in one rusty jeep through bumpy muddy track.
We reached the place which was already in shambles and there
was some discomfort around which made it difficult to break the ice. The most
interesting part of whole story starts here after.
After saying our hellos and exchanging unpleasant pleasantries,
listening to few allegations, noting down some vital reports amidst the whole
crowd of gunman, the focus shifted to me.
“Where are you from
captain?” asked the 7 feet tall intimidating gigantic fellow who was supposedly
the leader or Colonel of that rebel force. ‘India’! I uttered with lot of pride
and looked towards all trying to ease out the tension on all faces. “NO! You don’t look like, you must be from Malaysia”
said the chief as if I have cheated them. I had nothing to say.
To confirm the statement he said, ‘do you know Shahrukh khan?
Yes! I exhaled in excitement.
Amitabh Bachan? Yes very much, my voice grew even more
confident, looked at everyone’s face.
The UN observers had no clue whatever I was speaking, but they
felt as if I had leaked the information of Bin laden’s whereabouts to the
rebels.
I saw huge smile on the faces of all the rebels in the room
with positive nod. How is Mr. Bachan? Asked the rebel leader. He is doing very fine and so are his wife
Jaya and son Abhisekh, I uttered in exuberance to ease out the situation. They
thought I actually knew them, no matter whether Bachan and shahrukh knew me or
not.
I learnt that Bollywood movies of Amitabh and Shahrukh were
big hit in the continent even before the War tormented the Sudanese land. The
whole discussion thereafter revolved around bollywood. I promised them that I would
get them some CDs next time I came for patrol. The chief said something to one of the boys and
he came with a bottle of 30ltr Pepsi out of nowhere in that rebel camp. He
offered me Pepsi and didn’t even bother to ask my fellow patrol team members. The
ignorant souls were unfortunate to see me sipping well earned ‘Pepsi’, whereas
they had settle by drinking their saliva. I knew for sure that I was safe in
safe hands for knowing Bollywood.
Bollywood took precedence before the of UN reports and war
situation reports. I couldn’t imagine the life in the dreaded Darfur region
could be beyond killings and murder. That very place was far behind modernization
and development. People may not have heard of TV or other white goods, yet such
is the charm of Indian cinemas it has left mark in such remotest places in
world. It has created fans amidst the hard hearted rebellions, who don’t blink
eyelids before killing anyone.
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| After the meeting |
‘Allah Hafiz’, “kullu tamam” I said to all and they dropped
us back to chopper and we took off for our base. This event raised the bar of Bollywood in my
eyes thereafter.
(Later I realized during my visit to Khartoum city (capital
of Sudan) I saw some cinema theatres running old Bollywood movies with Arabic subtitles).
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| On the Job |
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| patrol team before take-off to base |
