By Manish Chand
Harare, Oct 27 (IANS) There is a corner of foreign land that is forever India. Bollywood, onion pakoras, samosas and saas-bahu TV soaps make sure that Indians don’t feel terribly homesick when they are in the Zimbabwean capital that now sports purple jacaranda blooms and new green shoots of hope after a prolonged economic stupor.

Avril, a 20-something tourism professional at the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), instantly recognises an Indian when she sees one. “They love spicy food. I love their films, lot of dance, song and family values,” she says excitedly when asked about India. “We get along well. Our values are similar,” says she.

Around 10,000 people of Indian origin (PIOs) have been living in Zimbabwe for many decades, many of them born and raised in their adopted country. Mostly businessmen from Gujarat and Rajasthan, they like being in Harare, easily the second most developed city in southern Africa after Johannesburg.

Except for a brief period when some zealots targeted them here seven years ago, the going has been good for PIOs, some of whom are big names in business circles here.

“Harare is a beautiful city. We feel at home here. Indians have been doing extremely well here,” Samir Popatlal, a young Gujarati businessman whose company is the sole distributor for Microsoft in Zimbabwe, told a visiting IANS correspondent.

It’s getting dark and he suddenly remembers his mother must be busy watching saas-bahu serials at their Harare home. “We get most of the Indian TV channels in our home,” says Popatlal, reminding one of the city’s once thriving night life.

For a visiting Indian, there is little time to feel adrift. Take a drive to Jaipur, located above the Sunrise Sports Club, and you will feel momentarily transported to Rajasthan’s Pink City. A touristy article in a brochure warns against confusing Pink City with their citizens’ sexuality and explains matter-of-factly that it is named so after the coral-hued pink stucco used in the buildings.

Dressed in colourful Rajasthani attire, they serve some of the most delicious deep-fried onion pakoras at Jaipur you can find on this side of the Indian Ocean.

The menu is eclectic: chicken samosas, Kashmiri chicken, mughlai chicken and allo wada (deep-fried mashed potato balls). A few months ago when hyper-inflation was skyrocketing, a meal here would have cost a few million Zimbabwe dollars! But with the US dollar introduced as the national currency a few months ago, a good dinner for two can be had at $20-30.

One can also try Delhi Palace at Greystone Park and Sitar at Newlands, managed by Gujarati Patels, to quench that undying craving for Indian food in foreign shores.

Small wonder the ZTA is avidly eyeing cash-rich Indian tourists afresh as the sanctions-hit Zimabwean economy bounces back.

“Yes, we want to get more Indian tourists. We have many attractions like Victoria Falls and game reserves to offer besides giving them a sense of being at home,” Tourism Minister Eng W. Mzembi told IANS..

David Chawota, CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, agrees that connectivity is a problem as getting from India to Zimbabwe could take up to 10 hours of flying time besides a transit halt en route.

“We are looking at the possibility of direct flights from Mumbai to Harare and exploring more convenient routes for Indian tourists.”

(Manish Chand can be contacted at manish.c@ians.in)