South Africa for many of those who have not visited this so-called rainbow nation conjures up an image of wild animals, a country with high incidence of AIDS and crime, and a people who have not yet reached the high levels of civilization. Misnomers like these travel faster than the aircraft that flies you to the bottom of the globe. But once you land in this beautiful country, these misnomers fly in the thin air. The cities you visit are the most modern and the most developed. The cuisine and the fashion in these cities will put London and Paris to shame. South Africa is one of those few countries for which you fall for at the first sight. It was love at first sight for me too when I first visited Cape Town last June. But I realized that Cape Town was just the tip of an iceberg when I had the opportunity to explore the length and breadth of South Africa last month. My first stop was Johannesburg, which is the financial hub of South Africa. A typical South African fickle weather greeted us as we drove out of the O.R. Tambo International Airport. It was chilly for a February summer weather in South Africa. But as we drove into the city, mist gathered on the horizon and rains came out of nowhere. Soon golden arrows of the sun shattered the cloudy aberrations. A neat laid-out city with wide road network lay before us awash in the sun. The skyscrapers of the central business district gave the city a look of mini Manhattan. Its ritzy neighborhoods like Sandton and Houghton, where Nelson Mandela lives, manifest the opulence of the people and their high living standard. Nelson Mandela Square, located in the Sandton Central, is the hub of activities. A six-meter bronze statue of Nelson Mandela towers over the sidewalk cafes and classy restaurants, which offer a wide variety of cuisine. It has the most modern shopping malls and super-luxury hotels. Drive about 25 km southwest of Johannesburg and you reach a township which has a place in history for many a reason. Soweto from a distance appears to be a well laid-out township with small yet artistic houses. But as you approach nearer the reality downs that Soweto is a township of millions segregated by upper class, middle class and shanty neighborhoods. “Please wave and smile back at people who greet you,” said our driver Patrick who hailed from Soweto. His advice came in handy, because wherever we stopped people waved and greeted us. “There are paupers as well as millionaires living in Soweto,” told our driver. What he said was obvious from the façade of the houses. The people who have struck gold don't want to leave Soweto, because of their roots and memories associated with the township, which came into being after an outbreak of bubonic plague in the slums of Johannesburg in 1904 and then under the apartheid regime it became the dumping ground of the black people so that the city of Jo'burg could look “clean.” Today Soweto is the subject of films and music. A typical hip-hop style owes its origin to Soweto. Vilakazi Street in Soweto's Orlando West is home to two Nobel laureates – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “He was sitting right here when I shook his hands, and after that I didn't wash my hands for several days,” said an excited Patrick, about Desmond Tutu, pointing to a place outside the Nobel Peace Prize winner's house. It was all quiet except for a few black children, who were playing there when we visited the place. In contrast, Nelson Mandela's house – where he spent his early marriage days with Winnie – was teeming with tourists. As we drove out of the township, our driver pointed to the unending boundary of the 3,000-bed Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, which is said to be the largest hospital in the world. __
