An Oasis In Sahara
The year was 1985. US had just carried out air strikes in Tripoli, the capital of Libya. Gaddafi had survived but there were rumours that one of his infant child had been killed. Gaddafi moved from one tent house to another in the desert in the dead of the night. It was the time we had to go to Libya. My father was a surgeon in one of the provices there. The southern province, the capital of which is Sebha, is deep in the Libyan desert. Sebha is an Oasis. The first view of Sebha from the aeroplane is something that has remained etched in my memory till date. An oasis of green in the midst of miles and miles of desert. I remember getting the impression that if the desert so decided, it could engulf the small city in one massive gust of sandy swirl. The city was encircled by rings of date palms which kept out the desert. But more surprises were in store for us when we landed. Nothing had prepared me for the sheer modern-ness of the city. Clean wide expressways, with scores of new cars of...