not open to agreement on Jonker walk, karaoke night

She sits across me and glares at me,

With a half eaten chapatti on one hand

Thick dhaal curry yellowing her other fingers.

She says- didn’t they teach you History in Africa?

- I say, Kenya.-

She says same difference.

-I’m tired of hearing it-

So I say, we have our own history, the migration, colonization

I can’t believe your Education system

-I can’t too, I say. Chemistry,  honestly. I could have done without that-

Slave trade;

she states,

paying her share of the bill, is an important piece of history.

-And so is modern slavery, I say- my grandmother worked coffee farms, 6years old-

What is that compared to the number that was sold ?

-She was a former chief’s daughter

goats as far as the horizon, all driven away in one  night-

She’s walking fast, back to No. 20, Jonker Walk

I’m not bothered, I walk as slowly as any long legged human can,

and pausing  by the bridge

I think:

The only history I’m interested in is:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

pic(malaysiaedition.net)

when my props came down

I am working at home again and very glad about it. If I had stuck to it, probably I would already have taken that trip  to Jamaica, bought a car, or a scooter at least.  Over ten years ago I had the big idea to work from home, but it turned out to be nonsense. Kenya was still catching up on online work. It still is, but phew, like the natural hair wave surging now, I sure hope it stays and saves me the explanations.. I remember going out and buying a new laptop- to help me work- but I lacked the courage and patience that years have taught me. 

So when I laid out my plan, it said I would launch on 1^st October. I did and it has been rather interesting. At this rate I should write a book for caregivers on how to keep an aged relative occupied. My granny, after breakfast and medicine will ask why I can’t get her a panga  so she  can dig about the compound.  I will tell her why you don’t go pull out the weeds in the back yard. She’ll come back 20 minutes later and ask exactly what I’m doing. 

Why haven’t you finished. Is it that animal (the computer)? Is it giving you trouble? 

 Yes, it’s slow.

She’ll then lay on the couch, and play with the cat- the neighbor’s cat who has taken permanent residence in our house. We have named her  Filis .

Then she’ll say. You should plant potatoes.. this land going to waste. And you should have a panga.

I go out and ask the shopkeeper to lend me a hoe. I give it to granny. 20 minutes later, I call her in to have gruel. She asks.. is this work too hard?
Yes it is, I say.

But God will give you a job one day.

This is my job.

This question and answer goes on until seven, or  five when I’m not writing about kinetics. I feel sorry for her, but what to do lah?

Her boredom has reached a boiling point. She is bored to shreds. I could suggest she counts her hair.. but I’d get a telling off. I took her to look at the train last evening. Well, trust Rift Valley Railways to be two hours late. So we never got to see it, and the screaming hawkers by the rail way line gave her  a migraine.

Today, we went out to scout for a panga. We we we. Kumbe she had an agenda. There is this rosebush I love to plant, the one that grows and twirls and finally produces tiny pink roses. I planted one two years ago. Two weeks ago, my mother and I spent an entire morning tying it to the bathroom bars to get it away from the door, directing it to the roof. It gives a good shade...and she says to me.

- This plant is male-

-Why?-

-It has never flowered, two years now-

-I think maybe it has not matured-

And few days later, a bunch of buds sprouted just above the door to prove her wrong. Today, when I was at the meetings, and mother was at the salon, granny gave it a rough chop at the base-whack- and I almost fainted when I came back and saw the withering leaves.

'How can you not know Curacao? Didn't they teach you history in school?'

"Well, I know Jamaica". 

'You can't be serious.'

And I made a note  to myself to Google before asking an honest question like, so is Curacao a city or a country and where did the population migrate from?

That's the drift of my  next blog post

dance dance

I’m going through that phase . You know when you don’t have much to process in the mind so you have the past the present and the future trying to make sense out of the other?

If I’m alive next year around this time, I’ll mos’ def say this- how time flies. That’s all I seem to be saying these days.

I’m glad for one thing though, getting older. The wisdom that comes with it? I can’t wait to be 63 because I’m sure then wisdom will have set in..I was aiming for wisdom at my current age but I’m yet to experience it.

Never mind I’m an auntie this year..which is pretty exciting. I already have visions of taking the lil boy bouncing castles and swings. Or not, depends.

2012 started with a big disappointment though. Getting stuck in the last place I wanted to be. Even after discarding my warm clothes in favour of cottons, linens and sandals.

But great good came out of it. I can now make conversation..and even joke in Sign Language.

And I met great… No.. spectacular people this year..like the sarakasi deaf acrobats.

Cheered them hoarse- my uncle says nobody needs to be taught how to dance..it’s in our system..I think It applies here…you don’t need music to dance.

 the dome

deaf acrobats
And when I saw these hanging up by ropes..I thought-what an idea. When I had a house with high roof(I can’t spell cealing, so we just go with roof for now)..I’ll have these for my guests to recline on. :D

  A moment back stage

back stage

Garlic and Pili pili guilt sauce

Garlic and Pili pili guilt sauce

I made a brave decision earlier this week. I picked up- A thousand Splendid Suns, The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks and another book by Doris Lessing- and put them down. I gave myself a thumbs up as I walked away from the vendor.

They were so cheap. Just KSh 100 each.

But I listened to a savings tips recording by a bank trainer the other day. He said the one enemy to saving money is spending more than you earn.

 I know that…in theory.

He asked- do you find yourself buying things when they are on sale?

-          no, never- I answered mentally.

-           

There was a sale by House of Leather last month, I didn’t go…even though I need a good walking shoe.

Nakumatt is always having offers and I could do with a small oven

Enka Rasha is having a 60% off  this season…they have smart African wear that could eep me clothed for the next five years.

Haha, but I forgot… I don’t shop there. I shop at Mutindwa—and Muthurwa. And the there is an offer. Every day!

It’s very hard to just walk past a crazed tops vendor shouting bei fefte!

Or another one calling out mbao! 20bob! Mbao!

So yesterday… I decided to just..have a look. So good for my bravely.

And I went home feeling very guilty..like you will of course feel when you buy something  useful which.. you don’t really need. Like a dress to wear to a party- though most parties I attend in jeans.

 But you never know..I might get invited to a cocktail party in March.

The entire evening I was thinking.. I should be punished for this…

So I decided to make a very elaborate meal that took most of the afternoon.

I’ve been meaning to make garlic sauce. My pepper plant had 8 ripe ones. That, with garlic and ginger, tomatoes and lemon juice, boiled for fifteen minutes then blended makes an awesome sauce for potatoes.

 step 1

 step 2

Result

No roots

No ground

Just find your place

Find your space

And stay

And learn the war

Train to live

You are not loyalty

No noble birth

No stock.

Maybe, you’ll be passed by

Ignored

Shoved aside

Regarded stupid

Don’t fight

Don’t prove

Really, you needn’t

You’ll be scrutinized

Analysed

Mis-interpreted

Get on with it

They are getting on with it

Get on with yours

Time and age changes

 When you finally find

 The ground you’re standing on

 Doesn’t need fit

 Everybody’s definition

     .You are an offshoot.

because women have their lives in their arms, and men have it in their heads.

I finished -the grapes of wrath, Steinbeck-this afternoon. It was raining outside, it was flooding in the little camp where the family in the book were living. I have to say, I haven’t read such a moving  book in a while. It took me a month to finish. The only other book I took so long to finish was – Gone With the Wind-

It’s about a family, families that get displaced from their homes by the land owners, and as they try to find their way to California to get work in the farms, the troubles they face will make you shiver. The reader complements the writer. He can take up different voices with so much ease, it’s like listening to a play  with closed eyes.

I got some favourite lines like this dog that got embarrassed at barking for no reason and-it looked around for something that could honorably distract him-

I have to say, the mother in the book was the character I admired most, she’s described at one point- it was up to her to build laughter from inadequate materials-

And the description of the son in law that escaped when problems increased- he thought, when it was required of him, sat quietly in a gathering and still managed to be there and be recognized.

When the narrator goes on about the situation in general, it’s amazing, he’ll tell about the clouds, the air, the turtle wandering off going somewhere. Guess it made more sense coz I could relate in two ways. I understand what he means by- the smell of burned dust was in the air- reminds me of going home from nursery school at midday.

The theme of family stuck out most. I was never much a family person. From the start I just wanted to get out the first escape route I got, start my own clan somewhere I thought.

Tried it. Then realized that I actually loved those guys. Tried to go back but it was past due date, guess in my generation there is an expiry date to be in family. If you are in the village, you’re expected to get a job in town. If you’re in town you are expected to move to a different estate, then that will mean you are progressing. Maybe down inside I am  South American, or Indian.

There’s a young deaf girl I discuss the Bible with, her brother joins in, he knows  most signs which is really cool. So one day we were coloring a picture of Noah and his family building the Ark. When done, I was amused that the boy had colored all the men black. Well, if you live in Dandora, that’s what you see, and then TV isn’t that real to you.

But as I was reading the book, in my mind, the Joad family were all black, apart from Cornie, the son in law, despite the mention of niggers, not in context.

I played some of the last chapters on an updated version of VLC and it showed the cover of the book. It was a white family. But I’ve never seen a white family have to eat ugali(maize meal mash they called it) with coffee because that’s all they got you see.

 Books, unlike shows leave your mind to imagine the people any way that make sense to you.

Fiction affects you, subconsciously. In the book, they accompanied their meals with coffee.  Found out that I started drinking coffee like a normal drink. So as I work in the evenings, I find I am drinking at least 3 cups of coffee in a week. Weak coffee, and unlike tea, I prefer it cold, it doesn’t make me jumpy and I like the taste.

The Grapes of Wrath, disc 17…. I’ll miss that : )