Cherished Memories of Africa — Page 60
42 The Journey Begins Anyway, I booked my seat, and according to the programme reached the Banjul airport accompanied by some Ahmadi brothers; with their prayers, I set out for my destination. It was a small aircraft of the Gambia Airways. By chance the passenger on the seat next to me was a Gambian youth. After customary greetings, he told me that he worked in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. I started getting information from him and he kept filling me in about Cape Verde. Meeting the young man pleased me a great deal and I felt that he could be of assistance in carrying out my job. I took out my diary and wrote some 50 odd sentences in Urdu and noted down their Portuguese translation as told by the young man. Then I wrote down numbers one to hundred and starting memorising all that. The two-hour long journey was thus completed safely. The plane landed at Praia airport. The passengers reached the immigration desk. The Gambian youth was accustomed to the ways of the land and he soon disappeared and left me facing new problem. Coincidentally, a meeting of an African Organisation was being held in Praia those days; I joined their queue. The immigration desk took me as one of that group and let me in without much interrogation. Where to Go and How to Go? I got out of the small airport and tried to calm my nerves. While I was thinking what next to do and where would I go, a taxi