Memories

We often hold on to things that remind us our past, things which are belongs to our good and bad memories. Photos, gifts, mails, etc are such things that can bring us back to that joyful time at which we were happy and enjoyed our time with those who cared about us. But why we keep things that remind us our unpleasant past, why we don’t through those few belongings that does not only makes us sad but also makes us harder to come out of bad feelings again.

Life is a sum of good and bad memories. Each occasion is generally associated with some personal possessions. These personal items remind us how happy we were at the moment and some moments are priceless. Recent advancements in technologies makes our life easy to store those memories in terms of photos, emails, videos, etc which we can look back to those items anytime and refresh our memories.

But is it worth it to keep those belongings that although may reminds us the best time of our life but also makes us sad? Why do we keep those things? Do we keep those things to remind us what has happened and what could have happened? Or, do we just keep because that’s the only thing we have which connects us to our past? Or, may be, we keep those things thinking that this time, time will not be cruel and what didn’t happen will happen in the future.

Cameroon Visit (Final part)

It has been more than a week since I have been here. Due to long daylight hours, it feels that I have been here for ages. It is amazing that how we adopt new routine, new culture, new food and the new way of life so quickly. Apart from food choice, I didn’t have any major problem here. Because my colleagues are with me here, I have overcome of language problem with they are helping in French/English translation.

Work pattern is very similar here to the one I have seen in India, normally its 6-days a week for employed person. I met few professional people and worked with them in project work, and found that they work very long hours daily and everyday they finish their work between 8-9pm. It is because work progress is relatively slow when you compare it to the work done in the UK and hence it takes long time to finish any technical project. As our project was within government agency, it was even worst for us because they tend to work in different (African) pattern and that is very unlikely than European pattern.

As one of my colleagues was a local born, I had few chances to meet native Cameroonians and see their way of life. One thing I noticed here was that these people have adopted a few elements of French traditions into their lives. You will see African culture and its mentality in people’s mind, but few things they are still doing as French do. Unfortunately, because of this mixture of traditions, I see that society as a whole is confused for the future prospects and direction. There are many projects in progress for infrastructure developments which taking place all around Douala city; people are driving new Mercedes Benz and Lexus everywhere; internet and mobile phones are common among the people who can afford these, etc but still, you feel that there are so many things need to done here. It looks like that government has adopted few things from developed countries without understanding local etiquette and need of people, and hence, I think that’s why there is a tension in the atmosphere between different communities of people because of this western adaptation. There is no point of authorities to help mobile companies to provide iPhone to minority of rich people community while majority of people don’t have access to daily water and electricity supply.

The situation is very worst here than in rural India as gap between poor and rich is very wide here. Recent progress and prosperity in India has happened because of rise of middle-class families and their demands. Practically, no middle-class exists here in Cameroon, not even in the cities; someone is either poor or rich. Apart from two major cities, everything else is undeveloped and even basic facilities do not exists for people living outside Douala and Yaoundé. This is not because that lands are not fertile or they do not have enough natural resources, it is because minority of people handles the way country is going and they have interests in their own money and not much in country’s growth. I hope that those who are well educated and those who can understand their country better than any foreigners, will try to overcome basic problems in order to guide Cameroon to the better prosperity.

Respect

Most often we forget the inherited characteristic with which we born and that is respect to other human fellow. Before we are anything, we are human. That means that no matter what other person is, we are connected to him or her with one bond and that is human bond. But as we grow our knowledge, get rich and get more power either in professional life or in society, we generally forget the basic value of human race.

The line between ego and power is very thin. It is necessary for us to develop our skills, earn money to sustain daily life and get necessary artificial luxuries. It is also necessary to go to the top of hierarchical social or professional systems. But when we do so or try to do so, we always tend to forget basic value of our lives. And that value is respect; respect to other human being. No matter how much richer or poorer one is, no matter how sophisticated or primitive one is, no matter either someone is the owner of a company or an employee or no matter how old or young one is; we should always see other person as one of us. As each of us is unique, there always will be differences in opinion, difference in culture or tradition, difference in attitude, etc but no matter who we are, we always connected to each other with invisible bond with which we come to the earth.

Society and religions always try to teach us this value to everyone. But, we often forget this basic value as we grow from a child to an adult person. And that’s why it has been said that children are pure form of god as for god each us is same, children are above all the differences we have created in our societies. Children see another person as just another person, not as rich or poor, not as clever or dull. Only few of us are able to preserve this true characteristic throughout our life. If we can understand that because of these differences in each of us we are able to exist and live the life we like to live, we will be able to see that each of us is important in the society. We can earn more respect of others if we can respect others and if we can value their work and life.

Cameroon visit (Part 1)

This is my first trip to Cameroon and to African continent. Let me give you brief information about Cameroon. It is former French and British colony and its independent came in 1960-61. It is one of the prosperous countries in Western Africa and Yaoundé and Douala are major cities. My visit is in Douala with some chance of visiting Yaoundé in the second week of my stay. I am staying in Akwa area, near the seashore of Atlantic Ocean.

Main difficulty I had so far is a language. Being a former French part, main language is French and only 30% of city populous speaks English. My hotel is located just near seashore. As Douala being a major port in Cameroon, it wasn’t surprising to sea large ships and containers from my room’s window. Weather so far is mild and I guess its typical equatorial weather with good amount of humidity in the atmosphere. Traditional French food is available and as long as you don’t mess up with waiters, there are good chances of getting delicious food within an hour once you place an order. Vegetarian dishes are also available although choices are very few for that.

One thing you will notice in Douala is number of 4x4 cars around. I think there are more SUVs in Douala than in London city. There are two reasons for this, first is that roads in the city and outskirts are not in good conditions and second reason is that people who got money they would like to show their richness by driving big cars.