THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY TRAVEL NOTES--LOOKING AT
INDIA THROUGH AFRICAN EYES: NOTES FROM MY FIRST GROUP
TOUR TO ASIA

By RUNOKO RASHIDI*

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On April 13, 1999 I returned from a successful tour of
India entitled "Looking at India through African
Eyes." It was a sixteen day educational tour designed
to explore the historical, cultural, social and
anthropological components of ancient and modern India
from our own perspective--an African perspective. The
tour was coordinated by Allen Travel Service--an
African-American travel service based in Washington,
D.C. that handled all of our travel needs. It was my
first tour and my third trip to India overall. The
tour was of historic significance--being the first
such trip planned and actually carried out. On the
tour, accompanied by numerous local people and sixteen
African-American brothers and sisters (all experienced
travelers), we visited many of the significant
temples, tombs, castles, palaces, museums and assorted
great monuments in India, including the Taj Majal
(reputedly built out of grief for an Ethiopian woman)
and described as "poetry in marble," Amber Fort and
the Palace of the Winds, the National Museum in New
Delhi, the massive Konarak temple in Orissa, the
Buddhist temple caves at Ajanta and the magnificent
colossal rock cut temples at Ellora. In Patna, in
Bihar, we stood on the banks of the Ganges River. We
visited the major cities of Delhi, Agra, Jaipur,
Patna, Calcutta, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Trivandrum,
Mumbai, Aurangabad and the abandoned city of Fatehpur
Sikri.

Overall the people of India were kind and considerate
towards us. The Black people of India themselves (the
original inhabitants of the land) were wonderful to us
and embraced us as family. Among the Black folk we
interacted with were the Dom, Santals, Mundas,
Dravidians, Dalits and Adivasis (Tribals). We visited
them in their homes, offices and villages, rural
communities and urban slums, university and academic
settings. During our travels we encountered a mosaic
of Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis,
Sikhs and Animists. Some of them engaged in the
religious practices of our ancient African fore
parents. Sometimes the sense of oneness and community
seemed almost mystical and magical. Most of the time
the spiritual connections between us were also
tangible. Everywhere we went we reestablished bonds
of brotherhood, sisterhood and family hood. The
individuals in our group were treated like visiting
dignitaries, as ambassadors, and I was treated like a
prince. At times it was overwhelming.

We were guests of honor at numerous receptions,
cultural programs and educational forums, many of whom
were sponsored or initiated by the publication Dalit
Voice: The Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities
Denied Human Rights, founded and edited by V.T.
Rajshekar. Everywhere the Ancestors and Great Ones
were with us. At a major reception in New Delhi the
keynote speaker, Union Health Minister Dalit
Ezhilmalai, focused on the life of Malcolm X. At a
program in Bhubaneswar the moderator, Dr. Radhakant
Nayak, who reminded us of John Henrik Clarke, closed
the afternoon with a stirring recital of Claude
McKay's glorious poem of resistance "If We Must Die!"
In Trivandrum I was presented with three ceremonial
Ankhs made of coconut shell and adorned with red,
black and green beads. At an airport reception we
were greeted with shouts of "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!"

We were hosted by Black youth groups who told of their
life stories and village origins, their hopes, their
dreams and aspirations. We were entertained by scores
of singers and drummers and dancers. We met with
Black women's groups who performed skits portraying
family life and a vibrant new spirit of resistance to
domestic violence and centuries-old oppression. We
visited some of the most downtrodden communities on
earth, witnessed the miseries of the Black
Untouchables of India and were guests on university
campuses. In a program in Chennai we were hosted by
Bishop Ezra Sargunam of the Evangelical Church of
India where I was the guest speaker with Dr. K.
Ponmudy, a major Dravidian scholar, in a program
designed to address the Black and Dravidian movements.


In Orissa I saw and photographed the blackest human
beings I've ever seen. In fact, it was my impression
that the blackest people were here the most highly
esteemed and considered better than the others who
were not so dark! In one city, at an elaborate and
heartfelt public ceremony, we presented school
supplies to the entire student body of an aspiring
educational institution followed by cash contributions
for the continuation of the work. We saw ourselves not
merely as tourists but at visiting family members come
to try to make things better.

"Looking at India through African Eyes" was a
resounding success and an incredible high. I came away
from India convinced that African people around the
world are on the rise and that there is a revolution
going on in the hearts, souls and minds of Black
people everywhere. It was a great triumph and for me
personally clearly only the the first in a series of
tours to India and other sojourns with African people
around the world.

Africans Unite!

*RUNOKO RASHIDI has now coordinated group tours in
search of the African presence to numerous parts of
the world. Join him on his 2007/2008 group tours to
Africa and Brazil. Contact Runoko at (210) 337-4405
or Runoko@yahoo.com