Cherished Memories of Africa — Page 251
233 ability, led the taraveeh prayers and started ta’lim-ul-Quran classes for children. I started communicating with the members and thus gained some fluency in speech. Amir Sahib had directed me to celebrate Eid at Georgetown after which I was allowed to go to Banjul. Banjul was the capital town. Moreover, a large number of central functionaries, doctors, and teachers with their families lived there and there was a lot of hustle and bustle there. Away from the family, severely hot weather, ignorance of language, difficulty in communicating with friends and new style of food! I longed for someone who spoke the same language. The only desire I had was to get over the Eid and go to Banjul to meet the Pakistani colleagues. Anyway, I went through Ramadan quite well, led Eid prayer and set out for Banjul. Because of Eid I could not get any transport. Therefore, I picked up my bag, walked to the ferry terminal that was a few kilometres from the town. I ferried across the river and walked a few kilometres more to reach the roadside. It was the longest and the only road in the country. There were no buses in the Gambia those days. However, occasional wagon-like vehicle did make trips. Anyway I reached the main road and started waiting for transport. From morning till noon, there was no sign of any vehicle. Occasionally a truck passed by throwing up dust. It was Eid day, had nothing to eat since morning, standing by the roadside, nobody to help, time passed till it was Asr time, hunger, tiredness, despair, nowhere to go, unable to stay! Only one who has had such experience can visualise the vexing condition that I was in.