NEW DELHI, India – Airports are built for departures, but some goodbyes—like leaving your hometown—carry more than luggage. They carry a life’s worth of meaning.
At Aden Adde International, I watched the familiar coastline of Mogadishu fade into a distant shimmer. It was my first time holding a passport stamped for another country. My first time seeing my home from above — a city I’ve written about so many times, now just rooftops and roads slowly swallowed by clouds.
I was leaving as one of dozens of journalists invited by India’s Ministry of External Affairs. From Algeria to Mauritania, Egypt to Ethiopia — we’ve all come here for the same reason: to see India for ourselves, not just hear about it from a distance.
As a Somali journalist, I’m grateful to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, especially its embassies in Kenya for this chance. It lets me connect with visiting media and friends in India.
Being from Mogadishu and arriving in New Delhi felt like stepping into a different world — louder, faster and more densely alive. Yet beneath the surface, both cities share a restless energy shaped by history and driven by ambition. In Delhi’s noise, color, and motion, I saw a city constantly reinventing itself.
What hit me first in New Delhi wasn’t just the heat but speed of the city — it was how full it felt. Every corner seemed to carry a story. A colonial-era post office across from a glass office block. A flower-covered shrine tucked between food stalls and tech startups. Delhi doesn’t demand your admiration — it draws you in on its own terms. It just is. Loud, layered, a little chaotic — and completely unfiltered.
I knew this journey was about more than just travel as soon as I took my first steps out of the airport. It was a chance to discover new perspectives, deepen ties between India and Somalia, and tell stories that matter.
By the time I checked into the hotel on Tuesday, exhaustion had crept in, but so had something else — a growing realization that this trip is about more than briefings or scheduled visits. It’s about listening. Watching. Noticing the small details — the way strangers greet each other, the scent of cardamom in tea, the murmur of Hindi and English floating through the air.
Tomorrow begins the official program. Solar energy, defence briefings, cultural visits — a window into how India sees itself, and how it wants to be seen. But for now, I sit by the window, notebook open and let the hum of Delhi at night remind me. The story has already begun.
Reported by Abdirisak Mohamud Turyare from New Delhi, India.
