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From Ghana in top gear

A team of Ghanaians undergoing technical automobile training in the city was optimistic about their country's chances at the World Cup. They spoke to SHILPA NAIR ANAND about football, Hindi films and their experiences here

ON TRACK Bowled over by the spice and culture of God's Own Country Photo: MAHESH HARILAL

Pulsating live African music in a garage near Aluva. Unlikely? Not at all. The music was there and so were the singers. The singers are not professionals, they are supervisors and managers in various automobile workshops and companies in Ghana. The seven Ghanaians were in Kochi, at Jimmy Joseph's Highway Garage for a three-week technical training course conducted by the Alumni Society of Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship, (AOTS) or ASA.

Kerala was as good as home for the Ghanaians, both places having tropical climate and vegetation. "So, basically we just had to get into the plane to get to a place that is not very different from home. Just like in Kerala, we have tapioca, yam, plantains... to name a few things. It's raining here, it's raining back home. Geographically at least we are not missing home, nor otherwise because we have been busy with our course," said Percival Garbaddah.

Three-week course

The three-week course the team underwent made tackling problems during the course of their jobs easy. "We can now solve problems with vehicles faster as we have gained quite a lot of exposure to new technology," added Percival. Although most of the vehicles (LCVs and HMVs) were from the TATA stables, the team said that the vehicles they work on in Ghana are very similar to the ones here. As part of the course the team visited companies such as MICO, India Tech, and Trans Techno. The visits were eye-openers. "At these plants we realised there is such a lot that we can do with the training that we have received," was their unanimous opinion. They paid $ 600 each for the stay here, half of which is sponsored by the World Network of Friendship, a consortium of the ASAs in different parts of the world. The other half is coughed up by the participants and their employers, says T.S.Gopi, a course facilitator. The training is free.

The Ghanaians were fascinated with the small cars that they saw here. "The small cars are really smart, and the best part is that these have been made here. That too gives us several ideas," said Percival, who spoke on behalf of the otherwise quiet team.

However, mention World Cup football and their faces light up. "We are hoping to do something at the World Cup. Miracles do and can happen!" says Amitabh Bachchan fan Emmanuel Okai. He couldn't have anticipated his home team's defeat at the hands of Italy. Hindi films were the other favourite topic with them. For Emmanuel there is only one `Big' star (Amitabh Bachchan), for George Insaidoo it is Dharmendra. "I liked the `Burning Train' very much. It is a great film," he said. Some of the popular movies, for the group are, `Sholay', `Seetha aur Geetha', `Amar Akbar Anthony' and `Burning Train'. Interestingly, there were no favourite actresses. Seth Cobby Ocloo had a problem with "Hindi songs as they tend to get a bit too long." Emmanuel, however, says "they are fine. Just fine." Their biggest grouse is that Hindi film CDs and VCDs that are available in India do not have English sub-titles. In Ghana, because of the considerable Indian population, video cassettes and CDs of Hindi films are available, "we rent these and watch the films. We have not been able to catch up on the latest films," moaned Emmanuel.

Enjoyable

The students fell in love with God's Own Country . During the weekends, ASA organised trips to places such as Munnar, Athirapally and Kumarakom. "The winding roads to Munnar were breathtaking. Kumarakom and Athirapally too were a lot of fun. The Chinese fishing nets are really something else altogether," said Percival. For them the whole trip was educative and interesting. The Ghanaians are back home after training and memories of a fruitful trip. With an ambition to implement all that they have learnt and make a qualitative difference in what they do, back in Kochi, K. Ramachnadran, one of the course facilitators, said about them, "They put in a lot of work. In fact, not only have they learnt from us but we too have learnt from them, hopefully!"

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