"Shukisha hapo Seldom!"
Wapi?
Seldom!
The tout hits at the door with his steely hands and shouts, "Dondoa Soddom!"
"Wewe! Sio Soddom, Seldom!" At this, everyone, well, almost everyone, bursts out laughing. The old man wasn't impressed that someone would turn a decent Seldom to Soddom.
"Wee Mzee, shuka. Si umefika?"
"Lakini ujue hapa si Soddom!!" He said as he alighted. "Wee unajua Soddom na Gomorrah kweli?"
I understand his fury. If you've read the Bible, you know that Soddom and Gomorrah were THE Sin cities. All the bad things you can think of happened there. So to tell this old man that he's going to a place with such a name, was sort of an insult. I tried not to look at the woman next to me, but I could feel her sides vibrate. Someone was amused.
Away from the side shows though, we, Kenyans, are officially a paranoid, scared and tired lot. We have resigned to fate, a Que Sera Sera attitude of sorts.This is especially with respect to the recent terror attacks on public institutions. First it was the attack on the Westgate Mall where a little over 60 people lost their lives, and most recently, a similar attack on a university in Garrissa where we lost 147 of the most promising lot of young people. These events shook us as a country and even though the security agents are always giving speeches saying, "No stone will be left unturned" and "We shall not be cowed by the cowards", we still can't shake of the feeling of constant danger. This was evidenced recently in a matatu I had boarded home.
The driver had just pulled out of the bus stop and was navigating through the oh so so terrible traffic on our way out of the Central Business District. We had stopped for about a minute when we heard a blast! Suddenly, the hooting stopped and was replaced by screams and chaotic scampering. Before we could figure out what was going on, a woman seated on the opposite seat to mine said, "Wee tufungulie tushuke. Tutakufia hapa", all this while trying to push her not so slim frame to the front. Someone asked her where she was going and told her to calm down, and two or three others chimed in, "Saa huko nje unaenda kufanya nini? madam tulia..." She went back to her seat, seemingly confused and terrified, like the rest of us. Then it happened.
A cough here, another one there and then, "Open the windows!" "No close them" Hii teargas itatumaliza. It was teargas. The county council officers were trying to disperse the notorious hawkers from the CBD, and their brilliant idea was to fire teargas canisters and 8pm, a time when the Nairobi streets are teeming with both human and motor traffic. Needless to say, we couldn't have been more relieved when the roads opened up and the driver quickly whisked us to some fresh air (NOTE TO SELF: Always carry a wet handkerchief :D) You can imagine how much tension was still hanging in the air until someone at the back shouted,
"Shukisha hapo Seldom!"
 |
| Hawkers in running battles with city council askaris Photo: Internet |
No comments:
Post a Comment