A Bend in the River of Life

by Budh Aditya Roy

  The net result of these positive developments was that in the middle of the summer Heather said that she would be able to pay off the mortgage of her house fully before the end of the year. She was also confident that she would repay the business loan much before its term. That said volumes of how good her business was doing and how well she and her daughter were managing their finances. That gave impetus to Heather in exercising her option in her new found pleasure in travel. She had developed so much trust in Paula and Joshua that even with a larger stake in the business by doubling the size of Paula’s store, she decided to whet her appetite in travel. Hearing exciting things about the countries in Rana’s banking territory, she expressed her desire to visit Egypt, Kenya and South Africa. Naturally, that made Rana very happy. At least, for once he found a pleasant company during one of his usually long and arduous business trips. So he made special arrangements and diversions for Heather to make her first trip outside Europe as pleasant as possible.

  The first stop of the journey was Alexandria, the second largest city of Egypt by the Mediterranean Sea at the estuary of the Nile River. The lesser known of the two ancient cities of Egypt, the summer resort of King Farouk and one of the most beautiful sea resorts on either side of the Mediterranean, Alexandria had a delicate charm of its own. Without some geographical knowledge and some historical perspective, people would find Alexandria to be a pleasant surprise on arrival. Apart from its unique natural beauty derived from its Mediterranean presence, the aura and intrigue associated with Egyptian royalty were disguised in Alexandria. The old summer palace of King Farouk became the summer abode of the modern day presidents. However, when the tourist guide would utter the words, “The old summer palace of King Farouk,” he would draw an instant attention of the foreign tourists. They would crane their necks and adjust their distant vision. That was exactly what happened to Heather. When she was told that in Egypt they would visit Alexandria first, she did not show any enthusiasm.

  On the first day of their tour of Alexandria it appeared that Heather was very impressed at what she saw. But at first she did not say anything. In the evening, about an hour before sunset, while they were taking a stroll on the beach in front of the hotel with gentle waves of the Mediterranean lapping her bare feet, Heather opened her mouth on the subject. She said, “Rana, you know how much I admire your taste and choice. I have told you many times before, but cannot help saying it one more time.”

  Rana kind of half-guessed what she was going to say, but asked like a stupid, “Heather, I do not know what you are talking about?”

  She smiled back and said, “Let me finish, then you will know what I am talking about.” She continued, “When you said we are going to Alexandria first, I was little disappointed though I did not show it to you then. I thought I wanted to see the pyramids, the sphinx, the palaces and he wants to take me to Alexandria! I remembered the name, but I had no idea where it was on the map. Now I see it is a fabulous place! Today I was surprised to see the vestiges of the Egyptian royalty also. So I am glad that you have chosen to bring me to Alexandria first. You are always my trusted friend.”

  He said, “I am happy that you see the point in including Alexandria in our travel plan. Heather, I want you to know that this trip was designed primarily for you. I do not always visit Alexandria when I come to Egypt, though it is an important profit center for us. Besides, this is one of the most sought after tourist spots in the entire Middle-East. And when this travel adventure is all over you will thank yourself having taken a bold decision to come with me to Africa.”

  Before leaving Alexandria Heather asked, “Rana, all the women who work in this hotel from the front office to the house-keeping are so beautiful. Are they Egyptians or do they come from other countries?”

  Rana replied, “As far as I can see, the overwhelming majority are Egyptians. Only a few might be a mix of Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese and Turkish.”

  Heather said, “I had no idea that Egyptian women were so beautiful.”

  Rana said, “Heather, since the ancient Egyptian Civilizations the ‘Egyptian Beauty’ has been sung and admired in the historical narratives and the literary works of many. So this is a well-accepted truth, not a well-kept secret.”

  They came down to Cairo. From the chaotic traffic and the ubiquitous smog it did not take long for Heather to realize the difference between Alexandria and Cairo. On the way to their hotel Heather was happy to see the Sphinx. By the time they reached the hotel it was dark. Rana did not tell her the background of their hotel Meena House Oberoi and its exact location, for he wanted to give her a surprise at the opportune moment. He chose a suit facing north. She did not have an inkling as to why north. However, without an iota of doubt she seemed to be impressed with the hotel immediately on arrival.

  She was looking around with lots of pleasure mixed with curiosity. For dinner Heather chose to go to the Indian restaurant in the hotel. She was fond of Indian food, having tasted Indian cuisine in London since her childhood. During the dinner Rana kept the waiters at bay as much as possible, dealing with them personally so that they would not divulge the historical perspective of the hotel to her. It was a long day for them and Heather was tired. So on that pretext Rana tricked her to go back to the room immediately upon finishing the dinner. He said that the next day also would be very hectic and at the same time interesting; so they should enjoy a good night’s sleep and wake up early next morning.

  Rana was trying to find an opportunity to spring the first surprise before the evening was over, leaving the second surprise for the next morning. Heather gave him the opportunity he was looking for. She was very happy about everything in that hotel and decided to give vent to her feeling while doing her hair in front of the mirror.

  She said, “Rana, you have chosen a beautiful hotel. The architecture exudes an aura of aristocracy. The rooms are spacious and comfortable like the ancient times. The bathroom is gorgeous and the cosmetics kept for guests show a sign of taste. The furniture, carpets and drapery are somewhat regal.”

  Seated on the sofa Rana was smiling at her mischievously. Sensing that she came and sat next to him and said, “You naughty boy, must be thinking something mischievous!”

  Rana said, seemingly sentimentally, “Okay Heather, in your perception I always think of something naughty and mischievous, as if I have nothing better to do. I was smiling because I was thinking of giving you a surprise which might have made you happy before you go to bed. But now that you have hurt my feelings I will refrain from doing so. I never expected this kind of derogatory comments from you.”

  Heather hugged and kissed him and said, “You know that I did not mean anything. You are always so sensible to me. I just thought that you were hiding something from me and I was trying to bring it out of you. Please tell me what surprise you intended to give me.”

  Still feigning his bruised feeling he said, “I was really enthusiastic to give you the surprise to make you happy, but you splashed cold water on my enthusiasm. What can I do? Now I see it is better for me to stay quiet. ”

  Heather said, “Rana, you know from the heart of your heart that I did not try to put a damper on you. Please trust me.”

  Rana asked, “Are you sure about it?”

  Heather said, “I am positive. Now tell me the truth.”

  Rana said, “It appears from your statement a little while ago that you have liked this hotel very much because of its aristocracy. Let me now tell you for your pleasure that you are actually sitting in one of the palaces of King Farouk. It was originally King’s hunting lodge. In the late nineteenth century they converted the palace into a hotel. After the Egyptian Revolution in the fifties when the so-called democratic government came to power, they gave the management of the hotel to the Oberoi Hotels chain of India. The Oberoi Group converted many of the Indian palaces into hotels. That exactly is the reason why there is also an Indian restaurant among others.”

  Normally reserved, Heather exploded in excitement. She
sprang up from her seat and said, “You can really give surprises! How could you keep quiet so long? The moment I stepped into the hotel I felt it was not an ordinary house. I mentioned it to you, but your attention, seemingly, was with the Reservation Desk. Now I know that you wanted to give me the surprise.”

  Rana said, “This is the first surprise, I will give you the second one tomorrow morning.”

  Heather pleaded with him, “No Rana, please give me the surprise tonight. Otherwise, I will not be able to sleep and tomorrow I will remain tired.”

  Rana said, “Heather, please don’t worry about it now. You know that I am good at putting you to sleep. Tomorrow, fresh and crispy you will be able to digest it well. Otherwise, I am afraid, you might faint under the impact of double surprises.”

  Next morning they got up well slept. Coming out of the shower like lavender Heather said, “Okay Rana, I am ready; give me the surprise.”

  Rana asked, “Heather, are you sure you are ready enough? I have a fear that you might fall off your feet.”

  Heather said, “Rana, I promise I will not fall off my feet; please don’t tease me more.”

  Rana said, “Okay Heather, please hold my hand and close your eyes.” Coming close to the windows he said, “It’s clear blue sky and the sun is shining brightly; you cannot miss it. Now open your eyes and look straight.” Saying this he pulled the curtains.

  Heather looked straight to the northern horizon through the bright sunlight, but did not realize at first. Then it suddenly struck her like a lightning. She leapt up in excitement and screamed, “Oh, the pyramids are here! The pyramids are here! Last night we were sleeping almost under their shadows and you never mentioned it to me.”

  He said, “Heather, had I mentioned it to you, the surprise elements would have vanished and you would not be this thrilled.”

  She said, “That is true. You have given me many surprises before, but I think this one will always stand out head and shoulders above others.”

  He said, “But I am glad that it really worked. I have never seen you so excited.”

  She then said, “Pyramids do not seem to be far from here.”

  He said, “I guess, they are about 400–500 yards from the hotel. When we go to the pyramids through the back road little later, you will be able to make out the distance. When we return to London, you can tell the story to Paula and Joshua and your friends and employees how we slept under the shadows of pyramids without knowing anything about it.”

  Then Heather’s mind started revolving round the thought why the pyramids were so close to the palace.

  She asked, “Rana, the pyramids are the tombs or mausoleums, but why are they so close to the palace?”

  He responded, “Heather, I have no idea. However, I understand that the palace is relatively recent compared to the pyramids, which must be at least four thousand years old. I suppose, the royalty constructed this palace as close to the pyramids as possible in order to remind themselves constantly of their glorious past and be energized. Secondly, their symmetrical formations and clustered setting against the backdrop of the desert gray and clear blue sky make a spectacular sight. Besides, since this was the hunting lodge, this must also be close to the hunting grounds. Thus the proximity to both the pyramids and the hunting grounds served the dual purpose in constructing the palace here.”

  In order to make the best use of their short visit, he then suggested, “Heather, we will stay here next two days. The curtains will remain open. You might see the pyramids and in their somber shadows five thousand years of history any time you feel like. In the mean time, you will also see other objects of historical significance. Let’s go down, have our breakfast and then go out.”

  Heather said, “Please come closer to me. You have shown something to me that many people can’t see and I never thought I would see them from the coziness of a palace room. Let me give you a sweet kiss.”

  Rana said, “Okay, that will be greatly appreciated, but the only way I can get closer to you is by getting into your skin.”

  Heather was so delighted to see the pyramids from a palace room that she pelted him with lots of kisses with amorous noise. Rana had never seen her so excited before.

  Heather had seen the awesome Nile for the first time in Alexandria at its estuary with the Mediterranean Sea. Now seeing the Nile along the Cairo stretch she was rather disappointed. She asked, “Rana, why the Nile is so narrow in Cairo? Here it is not even as wide as our Thames.”

  Rana said somewhat unauthoritatively, “Heather, you know that the Nile is the longest river on earth. It is over 4,100 miles from its source Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea. When the River is that long and flows mostly through the desert plains, it is impossible to maintain the same width all along its route unlike shorter rivers like the Thames which may not be longer than 300 miles. It depends on the volume of water the river carries at various seasons and to a great extent the volume of water depends on the rainfall along the way. If you see the map of Africa, the Nile flows mostly through sub-Saharan desert and the rainfall almost throughout its route is few and far between, whereas, all along the route of the Thames the rainfall is year-round. ”

  Rana did not know if Heather was convinced. But he did not hear anything about it till they began cruising actually on Lake Victoria. On their flight from Cairo to Nairobi the Nile was visible from the air at various places and everywhere it looked slender. Obviously, Heather was not happy to see the longest river on earth at its slenderest best.

  Heather was eagerly looking forward to the African Safari in Kenya. So by the time they reached Nairobi and were on their way to the safari not far from Lake Victoria, she forgot all about the Nile. Shortly, they were in the thick of the safari. It is in the nature of the safaris that they make the visitors excited by taking them closer to the animals’ dens. However, sometimes the exposure could be too close for comfort. Like all other tourists in the bus Heather was terribly excited to see the bus brushing past the wild animals. Nevertheless, there are always some who invite trouble for themselves and for others by doing something foolish, trying to show how brave and smart they are. That exactly happened to an Italian tourist in their bus. The driver/ conductor of the tourist bus slowed down the vehicle near a cluster of lions to enable the tourists snap photos. But that Italian tourist got down from the bus without the knowledge of the driver. Precisely at that moment, the driver saw the lions moving toward the bus and increased speed to avoid danger, leaving behind the Italian without the slightest idea that he stepped out of the bus. The nervous passengers began screaming to bring the incident to the attention of the driver and to ask him to go back and pick up the errant Italian tourist.

  For the driver it became a dilemma whether to save the one who did not abide by the rule or many who did. The female tourists including Heather became extremely nervous with the prospect of seeing a human being killed and shredded into pieces by a bunch of wild animals. Fortunately, the driver had tremendous presence of mind under perilous circumstances. He had a large boom box on his side of the bus. He turned it on at the loudest volume and switched on the headlights. He drove back and stopped the bus for a second, keeping it on the parking mode to allow the Italian tourist to get back into the bus, but at the same time, kept pushing the accelerator to make the loudest possible noise to frighten the lions. As soon as the erring passenger boarded back into the bus, the driver drove the bus at high speed toward the lions keeping the headlights on and the boom box at its loudest volume. Looking nervously at the headlights and hearing the loud noise the lions perceived that they were under attack and beat a quick retreat. For the rest of the safari Heather remained little nervous in the proximity of the dangerous animals, holding Rana’s arm every now and then.

  Nevertheless, it was another story at Lake Victoria, which is surrounded by three countries i.e. Uganda in the north, Tanzania in the south and Kenya in the east. Kenya has a rather narrow opening to the lake between the eastern boundaries of Uganda and T
anzania. But most importantly, Lake Victoria becomes the source of the River Nile through a narrow outlet at the northwestern part of the lake at a place called Jinja in Uganda. So the best way to see the source of Nile is to go from Kenya to Uganda by a ferry over Lake Victoria and then take an automobile.

  While they were cruising on the lake, Heather had many questions. Fortunately, during his first trip to Kenya, Rana gathered some information about the lake. So that knowledge was pretty handy for him to field her questions. During the previous year Heather had the opportunity to observe the lakes in Switzerland. Looking at the vastness of Lake Victoria on the map and knowing it to be the source of the River Nile, the longest river on earth, Heather asked, “Rana, is this the largest lake in the world?”