Thursday, 9 November 2023

Emily

Some of you young Guys tend to think ati ukunguru ni tabia imeanza juzi with the proliferation of mobile phones, cheap internet, chochio media sites, and unprecedented male thirst. That view couldn’t be more inaccurate. One of the main reason we have seasoned kungurus today, is because certain traits have been passed down generations, and with that practices and other norms that perpetuate the behavior.


Now let me tell you about Emily.


Back when I was growing up, in the hood that I lived, in our house, we had this habit of hanging out in the upstairs bedroom during the evenings when the grownups occupied the living room, being authoritarian and acting all grown up. Typically we’d turn the lights out (the maid occasionally joined us), and do childish stuff, discuss childish things, listen to the radio and while time away till bedtime arrived.


Since the lights were almost always off, one of the benefits we enjoyed was the occasional uninterrupted views of mischief going on in the neighborhood. Nobody could see us but we could see them. The view outside the window became our “movie night” that adults couldn’t censor like they did the TV, because they weren’t present.


I remember there was this chic that lived in an SQ opposite our house, who worked for a major airline as a stewardess. Very young, beautiful, well endowed, completely irresistible and especially tempting when she had uniform and stockings on. The area outside her compound was a beehive of activity, with thirsty males buzzing in and out almost on a daily basis, aspiring to dip their fingers in that beehive soaking with wild raw honey. They were cut from all social classes, but ironically and maybe even interestingly many of the dudes who were ostentatious, more often than not returned from whence they came frustrated. 


Nakumbuka kuna time a middle-age dude showed up with a very serious Benz that looked like a pullman, impeccably dressed, class oozing in his personality, anyone could tell he was a man of means; I remember this particular visit deviated from the norm, as it happened over the weekend, in daylight, in full view of estate inhabitants.


Huyo jamaa camped outside that crib like a Matatu ya Emba yenye imeingia kwa shimo pale Accra Road. In the end him and his ilk more often than not waliambulia patupu. I think most guys here know what it means when such well-off men who typically have many options are so insistent. You connect the dots.


On the flip side, on certain nights the sly kunguru would very surreptitiously usher in dudes who came on foot; dudes that looked like they didn’t have a penny to their name. Those dudes, it seems had a throughpass into Emily’s crib…..and probably even her entrails. And the way she did it, the way she juggled the desperate seekers of the honeypot, over many days, weeks, months left no doubt she was a master seductress, a wily manipulator, a schemer, a woman who undoubtedly descended from a long line of many others like her.


She eventually moved out, I guess when her prime days began to run out, and one of the more affluent guys wifed her and believed that aliangukia “Mali” ya maana; but she unknowingly served us a life-long lesson (at the time we didn’t really know it, being quite young and all) about the nasty, cut-throat, unforgiving nature of the games played in the arena of sexual relationships. A lesson about the finickyness of this other gender, or is it sex?


Majamaa let me say this, I’m not a good writer like Tauren and smitten at the old Kenyatalk, so I didn’t quite bring the tale to life like I should have, lakini just know that you guys can never be playas like women. Always remember that. No matter what kind of relationship you’re in always keep your eyes wide open. That goes double in today’s world. Make sure your bases are covered at all times. 


Tumechoka kuona vijana wakitenda vitendo vya kiunyama in the news. In the last couple of years I can count no less than five young men, who’ve cut their lives short because of biting more than they could chew.

Friday, 21 September 2018

Ni Wakati

It was circa '98, and K-Shaka had dropped a gem of an album. Back then it was still done on CDs. Assanands on Moi Avenue was the spot for new music. Kenya was going through the pangs of an economic recession; the choke hold of a brutal and corrupt regime. Its sad that 20 years later we are still not doing much better.
Anyway, the album contains a single who's lyrics are surprisingly prescient of the economic and political conditions Kenya finds herself in today (the more things change the more.....).
The song is known as Ni Wakati (Its time), and the lyrics hit me so hard then -and now- that i tried to find them posted somewhere in the vast wilderness of the internet. But to my dismay I couldn't.
So I decided to write them down. There may be some errors here and there, but I believe the overall message isn't going to be lost.


Ni Wakati by Kalamashaka

There's been a revolution; a black revolution going on in Africa
In Kenya, the Mau Mau were revolutionary
They were the ones who made the word Uhuru
They were the ones who brought it to the fore
The Mau Mau; they were revolutionary

Verse 1

Waa waa ni wakati
Na kama we hujui ni wakati ni Kamaa ndani ya zangu pati pati
Kuona ndugu zangu wakijidharau ndio sitaki
Haki, nyuma tusibaki
Kimbia shule, ujue kuhusu akina Samori toure
Hawakufanya nayo kazi ya bure, ni mashujaa
Wacheni kuzubaa, twende sambamba na wanaojifanya kuku weupe
Tutoke kwenye mataa chini kaa another
Superpowers rather, haziwezi kubali tuishi kama a shamba of beautiful flowers
Discover maua tofauti zikiwa pamoja ndio sawa
Lakini wamehaikikisha kati ya races hakuna moja
Hebu ngoja
Nani player kwenye hii game? nani tutablame?
Naweza ata die nikimname
18/4 juu ameingia na ni ya fake ya kututame
Ni a shame!

CHORUS

NI WAKATI,
KWA AFRIKA YOTE KUSIMAMA,
NI WAKATI,
KWETU SISI HAPA MA VIJANA,
NI WAKATI,
TUSIISHI KAMA JANA,
NI WAKATI,
SIKU ZA USONI KUTAZAMA

Verse 2

Anajifanya ako next kwa M-U-N-G-U
Jina M-Z-U-N-G-U
Wee ukicheki kwenye kamusi, yuumaanisha kitu deadly; kitu safi; mwenye ujuzi
PROBABLY ABOVE KILA KITU, ESPECIALLY WATU WEUSI, aah
Mwafrika unajitusi
Ukijifanya sophisticated na njaro za ungoso
Yule ana jidai eti yee ndiye the most educated
Vitu haziko so complicated, ni simple
Anapretend anatuletea peace na raha
Ah aaa
The intent ni tumalizane, ndio maana yee anatudiss
Anatusupply na silaha, aha
Ni juu yako wewe kutumia brain, unataka kufight all in vain
Ama wee uone light, wee ugain
Tight ni chain zile ametufunga nazo kwa akili
Mental slavery; kujifree twastahili
Pili; Mwafrika usijitusi
Hebu angalia huyo jamaa, ako kwenye hio kioo
Unaona nyeupe ama ni nyeusi?
Ni Wakati, au sio?

CHORUS

NI WAKATI,
KWA AFRIKA YOTE KUSIMAMA,
NI WAKATI,
KWETU SISI HAPA MA VIJANA,
NI WAKATI,
TUSIISHI KAMA JANA,
NI WAKATI,
SIKU ZA USONI KUTAZAMA

Verse 3

Nilambiwa nikigonga nitfunguliwa
Nikiomba nitapewa ujumbe kufikisha
ilinibidi kubisha hodi hodi akilini, fungua macho kilichokula ki nguoni mwako
Shauri yako, mmmm mjinga yusahau atokako
Ona Margaret Thatcher mbona hakuwacha Reagan
Itabaki umejijibu mbona Afrika tumewachwa
Naongea kuhusu theory ya Uhuru, ya 1963
Siku tulienjoiwa tuko free
Na philosophy yao kwa hii society
Man eat Man, man can't plan, white man society
IMF sasa inademand
Na kama beggars bado si tunaendelea tu kustretch hand
Unaweza kubali ama ukatae na uwe mjinga
The G7 countries zimeshikilia trigger
Jipe tiki Mwafrika eti Muamerika ni rafiki, umekosea
Madeni kuzipokea eti wamejitolea kumaliza umasikini
Kujaribu kutolea matajua

CHORUS

NI WAKATI,
KWA AFRIKA YOTE KUSIMAMA,
NI WAKATI,
KWETU SISI HAPA MA VIJANA,
NI WAKATI,
TUSIISHI KAMA JANA,
NI WAKATI,
SIKU ZA USONI KUTAZAMA


Credits to the original author

Tuesday, 2 May 2017

The curious case of the black hole

I came across an interesting observation in the course of my duties this past week. A black hole. No, not one of the rapacious, no-matter-can-escape type of black hole theorized in the scientific community -A routing black hole.

I had this IPSec VPN tunnel to our DR site that has been operational for more than I would like to recall. However, within the last week we had to shut down our core router for the installation of an EHWIC Card. That was a success. Upon boot-up, i received a notification that our beloved GRE over IPSec tunnel would not come up. We rely on this tunnel for data replication, exchange DAG, and so on. To say that i was disconcerted would be an understatement! 

And while technically this solution is not supported by Cisco, it had been working for 2+ years, so the thought of migrating it because it was not working any more was unwelcome.

No matter what I tried to bring up the tunnel, nothing helped.

I cleared the IPSec tunnel ad infinitum, modified routing tables, cleared the bridge configuration, no go...

Scrutinized crypto maps, ACLs, the works

Even though i knew no configurations had changed recently on any of the core devices, my feeling of desperation almost led me to do the unthinkable -reloading a production firewall.

I continued to comb the mountain of evidence left behind by debug logs. Nothing. Everything appeared to be working as it should. But mysteriously the tunnel wouldn't come up. 

I theorized as to the cause on my way home; while alone in bed; in the shower; plowed through my catalog of old Cisco certification books that have now gathered a fine layer of dust in my book shelf.

Nothing doing.

Its one of those situations that make you question your understanding,

Even as I broke for the weekend, this inexplicable occurrence remained at the back of my mind like the proverbial shadow in the dark. Movies distracted me for a while, but no sooner was i done than the problem returned to the foreground.

Today I decided to give it another shot.

While poring through the vast library of the internet, I came across someone who had a somewhat similar problem. I had googled before, but different keywords do really send someone in different directions. The keywords i had used previously had obviously failed to unlock the deadbolt on the door. Today was different.

This particular guy intimated that the clear conn command had brought up his previously dead GRE tunnels. 

Without any hesitation, and goaded by desperation, I ran the command on both ASAs. 

The GRE tunnels came up!

Some times the biggest of problems have the simplest solutions. But this also appears to be a bug, as referenced in the Cisco bug ID CSCse36327.

While technically this wasn't a black hole, I named it so because traffic was getting lost without a trace.




Sunday, 1 January 2017

We have seven months

New year's day 2017. The arrow of time surely surges only forward, and quickly. And for our beloved country, this year marks yet another moment of uncertainty with a General election slated for August. For those that may recall, historically at times August hasn't been a particularly pleasant month for Kenya. Add to that, as Ndii put it, in previous elections where there has been an incumbent gunning for a second term there has been at least some violence; 1992, 1997, 2007.  Transitions have been smooth for the most part.

But all is not lost.

Recent changes to the electoral laws have increased bile in some quarters. But this is no surprise since these same quarters would only quit their vituperation if they were declared the victors in the election. But their case is unsound. Put simply, the amendments to the law allow for a manual system of counting, tallying and submission of electoral results should the electronic system fail. We have a strong need for this because, for one, a lot of areas are not covered by the cellular communications network, infrastructure is unrelaible, and lastly systems do fail.

Anything short of a fall back system is a wild stab in the dark. What would then happen should the system fail? I understand the opposition's angst regarding possible ballot stuffing etc. But such irregularities can be overcome only if the arbiter is credible and non partisan. But having only one system does not automatically make the election credible. What we need is an electoral umpire that's beyond reproach, something we haven't had in Kenya in a long time.

And that should be the opposition's (and our) main concern.

Calls for mass action are really ways to beat drums of war, and psychological priming of the masses to an eventual demonstration when the election is called. 

We need to find a common ground before the fat lady sings. We have had an eterniny, since 2008, to mend fences. But we have continued, in various ways, to tear them down.

The fact that we are still in such an uneasy state this close to the election is enough to give one flatulence.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Is it DeJa vu all over again for Kenya?


Tomorrow is June 1st, Madaraka day, a day that Kenya attained internal self rule from the British Government, in 1963. But fifty three years or so after independence, Kenya finds itself at a cross road that may not bode well for the country's future. Indeed, there have been numerous positive strides towards achieving the middle-income economy envisioned in the vision 2030 blueprint. But politically it has been a case of two steps forward and one backward. It shouldn't be so, but it is. And grimly so. Let me elaborate.

The genesis of the political conundrum we find ourselves sinking in cannot be said to be the 2007/8 post election violence (PEV). Ethnic division and polarization, corruption, nepotism and the curse of negative ethnicity, as called by Koigi Wa Wamwere, seem to have been midwifed alongside our new republic. Soon after independence, ideological battles that pitted former allies began, which would culminate in political assassinations in broad daylight, coup attempts, Kangaroo-style trials, tribal clashes, unlawful detention and the ultimate near police-state. It wasn't until 1992 when, because of agitation by those termed as dissidents, the baby of multipartyism was born albeit to a "teenage" mother who couldn't nurse it into adulthood. 


The numerous political patries birthed by the repeal of section 2(a) of the now-defunct constitution of Kenya, devoid of any ideological philosophy, couldn't steer the country down a safer path of democracy and the rule of law. This meant that Kenya continued to strut, quickly down the avenue of balkanization and tribalism. The machinations of the government of the day against the opposition did not help either. But, eventually, the opposition got their opportunity at the trough through the 2nd liberation. They had fought, resisted and broke through the fog of baton wielding policemen, tear gas, unlawful detention, torture and murder. Indeed they lived to tell.

A mammoth, euphoric crowd gathered at Uhuru park in the early hours of December 29, 2002 to witness the rebirth of the republic. Stones were cast, expletives yelled, choruses sang as the crowds surged forward to witness a change of guard. A change many born decades before had thought impossible. At the dais, promises were made; no longer would the curse of corruption bedevil our public sector; memoranda were signed. Kenya was headed towards a new dawn of prosperity, development and peace. But old habits die hard. Soon after that nostalgic day, cracks began to appear and widen within the ruling coalition. The rest is history.

Kenya today finds itself etched firmly in the jaws of a constitutional crisis. And the new constitution, touted by pundits as progressive, only seems to nudge us father down the slippery slope of self destruction. We seem not to have learned from the Waki report, the Kreigler commssion, the Ndung'u land report and dozens of other so-called commissions and enquiries that were meant to act as W-beams on the road towards reconciliation. Political assassinations happen with surprising ease and surgical precision; corruption scandals are promptly whitewashed; narratives and counter narratives are quickly spun; we have become very efficient at sacrificing our society at the altar of greed and personal enrichment.

What should we do about the crisis at the Supreme court? The IEBC? pervasive Graft? Tribalism? Didn't the new constitution have any prescriptions on this? If it did, are we merely implementing the letter of the law and not its spirit? What can we expect in 2017?

Only time will tell.

Tuesday, 3 November 2015

Love

Love

Love is a choice. There is a moment, or rather a series of moments, where you choose to love. You can choose to spend an extra night with her this week. You can choose to share your vulnerabilities and listen to her do the same. You choose to cancel other dates. You choose to trust. You make these choices enough times and gradually love builds. Love didn't just happen. You chose it.

You may be able to get sex every night of the week from a different girl but you can't find love every night of the week. Love is not like sex, it is far rarer, it takes far more time. It is scarce. Sure, there may be a girl with a nice ass in every bar in your city but finding one worthy of your time and emotions? Not quite so easy. Impossible, the jaded might say.

So love is living in scarcity. The girl who falls in mutual love with you is not easily replaceable. It would take time to build that with another girl.

That, the relationship experts will tell you, is bad. The one who has the most power is the one who needs the other one least. This is true. But the goal of making all relationships replaceable denies the human experience. You'll have all the power over relationships that don't matter at all. An autistic feels no love, is he then the most powerful man there is?

Alright, so girls don't love the way you were told they love. They're more opportunistic than Hollywood taught you. Their love for you is conditional. There are a ton of bad apples to sift through. The sum total of cautionary tales of men who have been burned by ill-fated trust can make you write the whole thing off as a sucker's game.

But it is only a man who has seen the sausage being made and witnessed the horror stories that dispel any notion of idealistic death-do-you-parts who can have any true appreciation for love. It is only after a man realizes love is actually highly conditional and opportunistic for both parties that he can free it from its unrealistic expectations. Only after you know it as something fleeting and elusive can you see the conditions that click it into place as a beautiful anomaly amidst a harsh unforgiving world.

So your brain is just tricking you because evo-biologically speaking love is two people of similar sexual market value chemically pair-bonding to ensure sufficient parental investment.

So?

Knowing that hunger is just a way for your body to get sufficient nutrients and energy does not make filet mignon any less succulent.

And yet it is the hedonist who often spurns love to instead embrace the free pursuit of new conquest. But any hedonist who willingly deprives himself of the deep, passionate pleasure of love is no hedonist at all. Sex on weed can make you feel tingly, but sex on love is something to which no drug, natural or synthesized, can compare.

Love is not marriage nor is marriage love. Love is not an endgame, it is not a contract, it is a beautiful thing to be experienced and enjoyed while it lasts, much like a sunset. It is not yours to capture and keep in a cage and the harder you try to do so the faster it fades.

So maybe today you leave your computer and make a human connection.

Maybe you meet a girl and take a leap.

Maybe love doesn't last forever.

But maybe that doesn't matter.


-Credits to the original author

Friday, 28 November 2014

Bookpoint Finally Ends Its Long Chapter In Book Trade

Bookpoint, a prominent book store in town, has closed its chapter, ending a story that has been running for more than 70 years. A family dispute is reportedly the cause of the closure. The store shall be missed by book lovers, which perhaps is just about the only positive point about their closure. 

I have very fond memories of this place; from the smell of old books, the weirdly intoxicating scent that haunts libraries and second-hand book stores; the helpful employees who astoundingly could tell you whether or not a book was in stock without even looking around the shelves or referring to the catalogue; the brief chats with the Asian proprietors; yeah even the one-off encounters with a gorgeous, perhaps astray, woman along the aisles. I will surely miss the Saturday afternoons spent at the store.

Source:
First paragraph lifted from today's Standard.