Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
COLOMBIA: LAND OF THOUSAND RHYTHMS
Ablast of cold air made everyone dive deeper into their jackets. The door had opened and the man in trench coat was propelled inside by the wailing wind. The rain hammered relentlessly against the window panes. Outside, the aircraft glistened in the frequent lightning. A vehicle was parked near its belly in which suitcases were being unloaded by men whose faces were shaded by plastic hats, their raincoats plastered like second skin. This was not a scene on screen but my first indelible memory of Columbia. The person receiving us handed our passports, all duly stamped and ushered us to the vehicles, informing that luggage had been directly collected from the aircraft.
In a daze we huddled into the plush vehicles. The drive to the city was equally unreal. The wipers were ineffective against the buckets of water splashing on the wind screen. Undeterred, the driver drove as if the hounds of hell were after us. His sing-song tone that it was a ‘normal’ storm failed to relax us.
Unlike other announcements of foreign official trips, the tour to Colombia was greeted by my family with hushed silence and anxiety. My children were vehement that I cannot go to the ‘drug capital of the world’ where people murdered or get kidnapped. Lot of persuasion with help of Vaishno Devi Maa of a pilgrimage trip on return could convince everyone to let me go.
The next two days passed by in a flurry of delegation meetings, discussions and working meals.
On late Friday afternoon, like a group of giggling teenagers, we set out for a round of the city with Luciana, an English speaking assistant, at the Embassy.
Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we reached the Plaza Bolivar, the main square of Bogota. The square was dominated by the statue of Simon Bolivar with hordes of pigeons strutting and side stepping the puddles. Luciana briefed us that indigenous people had inhabited Colombia since BC era. In 1,500, the first Spanish explorer came. Though many rebel movements were led for independence from Spanish rule, success came under leadership of Simon Bolivar in 1810.
Located in this historic center is Primada Cathedral, a neoclassical building built in 1823 on the same site where three old cathedrals had been erected and demolished successively. The Chapel of Holy Sacrament on the East was simple yet elegant, no stained glass or elaborate ceiling, unlike Europe; the Renaissance Lievano Palace or Town Hall on the west destroyed by fire in 1,900 and now housing the Mayor; the courthouse to the north and the national capital to the south. The latter housed both the Houses of the Congress of Colombia whose construction took 50 years.
Eager to see the sunset we took the aerial tramway to mountain Monserrate which rises to 10,341 feet above sea level. The gleaming white church with its pointed tower and red terraced roofs of the surrounding buildings contrasted sharply with the still azure blue sky. The church built in the 17th century had a shrine devoted to “The Fallen Lord”. The hill had been a pilgrim destination since pre-Colombian times when it was inhabited by the indigenous Musca. The view of downtown Bogota was mesmerizing. As the sun sank swiftly, the rapidly changing colours lit up the hovering clouds for a kaleidoscopic finish.
Back in Bogota Lucia took us to a local restaurant. The vegetarians in our group were doubtful even though she had informed us that Colombia cultivated over 150 different fruits and an equally impressive number of vegetables. She ordered the classic cuisine- Bandeja Paisa the national dish of rice, beans, avocado and Ajiaco, a traditional soup of potato and corn served with avocado and rice, sated we headed for our hotel. (To be continued) The writer is a senior bureaucrat