both of my parents were born and raised in uganda… this photo is from kampala, right? the most beautiful country…and thanks to lovely ‘dada’ aka idi amin, and the 1972 coup…that the chick pea was born and raised in the states… otherwise, would’ve been the swahili speaking, mogo eating gal of the 7 hills :)…
did you take the pic yourself?
My Mom was born in Kampala as well. I have always wanted to visit there. She taught me a few Swahili phrases I have been dying to try out. 🙂
Ennis, was this statue just put up? Wow!
abhi: jambo, mazuri sana 😉
have you been? it’s an amazing country.. spent 6 weeks on safari in east africa… uganda is amazing.. will send you some pics if you want… the continent of africa… wow…. sometimes i wonder.. if it would have not been better to be brought up there (sans corruption, govt problems, etc..)
The photo is from Jinja, at the headwaters of the Nile. The statue is not actually at the Nile, but at one of the local mandirs. Before Amin, many desis lived in Jinja, now only a handful do. I don’t know when the statue was actually put up – good question. It looks newer than 1948, but beyond that, I don’t know.
Oh yes, as far as I know, Gandhi was never in Uganda until his ashes were brought there. I think his ashes were scattered at a number of sites around the world, this being just one of them.
jinja.. you know, i think i saw this statue when i went back in 99 when i went with my folks to visit their birthplace….
I find the South Asia – East Africa connection fascinating: maybe ‘cos my mother was born there as well (Mtwara, Tanzania). I’ve no other connection to the place except that my grandparents in Kerala used to speak to each other in Swahili when they didn’t want us kids to understand what they were saying.
A tangential question: is it true that some south asian food has become a staple in that part of the world (chapati’s for eg.) ?
Yup – Chapatti are routinely served in Kenyan restaurants. I have a photo of them being made by the side of the road in Kenya.
Yup – Chapatti are routinely served in Kenyan restaurants. I have a photo of them being made by the side of the road in Kenya.
Cool. My roommate used to room with a ugandan who used to make them from scratch so was wondering.
well the african food has also crossed over… who eats matoki and mogo :), raise your hands? thanks to the east africans…
well the african food has also crossed over… who eats matoki and mogo :), raise your hands? thanks to the east africans…
You do? Really? Do you desify it? I can see matoke, but mogo?
i love mogo, it’s awesome…yeah, we’ve desi=fied it… totally..you go to any indian restaurant (esp in england, leicester, where a bunch of east african indians are…) and you’ll find both mogo and matoki on the menu.. all my diwali parties have mogo in it.. it’s the bestest!
A tangential question: is it true that some south asian food has become a staple in that part of the world (chapati’s for eg.) ?
in malaysia and singapore also.
Mogo can be found in the states as ‘Jicama’. Mexicans eat it too and I have seen numerous californian supermarkets sell it. I have yet to find it in the metro dc area. Damn…I miss Kenya now. I lived there for 19 years and the charm has never worn off..
And yes, chapatis are a staple with east africans. Some even eat an african version of Samosas.
you should be able to find it in dc….go to the latino markets.. my aunt could find it.. near hm..college park and all… good luck.. mogo is damn tasty… boiled or fried..better than a french fry!
yeah, the mexicans eat it to..as well as the peruvians.. when my family and i were in the amazon earlier this year, that is what they fed us everyday due to us being vegetarian..fresh mogo… 🙂
Some even eat an african version of Samosas
mandaazi’s?
mogo=yuka…and you can get it at most supermarkets, we desify it with lemon and chilliepowder (when it is roasted, fried, or made into crisps (aka chips)and make shaak (sabzi) out of it too…ohhh when we discovered yukka was the same thing it MADE our month 😀
the Samos Kenyan’s eat are generally lamb or beef. Maandazi is sweet and doesn’t have a filling, although in the coast it’s eated with baazi which is a yummy coconut and lima bean dish….mmmmmmm
Kenyans call chapati “chapo”
Doesn’t mogo=cassava?
Chick pea, Abhi, Aswin, do you find that your parents have substituted Indianified Kiswahili words into whatever indian language they speak?
I think I was 12 and visiting India for the first time when it was revealed to me by a rather irate “auntie” that I did not really speak Gujrati. she kept asking me for a cakuh/chapu, and I had no idea she wanted a knife because we call it kisu.
we also say:
bakudi for bowl
sufurya for metal cooking pot
fagia for sweep
fangusa for wipe
pasi for iron
The events of the early 70’s in Uganda brought my first awareness of an Indian diaspora in Africa. Seeing the effects not only on the ethnic Indians involved but also on Uganda itself was an early, sobering and politicizing lesson.
do any of you eat green mung beans? (i think they’re green when unhulled..not sure)
do any of you eat green mung beans? (i think they’re green when unhulled..not sure)
I have been known to partake of the green mung dal – it takes a monkey’s lifetime to cook that bean tho.
it takes a monkey’s lifetime to cook that bean tho.
Rajesh, OMG I love you!!!!! That site is HI-larrious, nilicheka mpaka nilianguka! Ngai!
I haven’t heard words like tune (to hit on) in ages…I heng with a few Kenyans here, but no one speaks sheng too much.
do any of you eat green mung beans? (i think they’re green when unhulled..not sure)
i think we eat them…i thought i saw that label in the pantry at home.
we grow all this crap…i think when you’re referring to mogo, cassava et al you’re talking about champeh, cheneh, catchil and everything else i can’t spell. i loathe it all. potato or nothing.
kenyandesi:
i swear i was going to comment on that.. but you beat me to it.. went to my patel friends house one day growing up, asking for a ‘kisu’..she looked at me like i was crazy.. thought that that was the guju word…
what about oga for bath and tumbo for stomach?
gotta love the tri-cultrue we live in: african, american, indian…whoah… yeah baby!
anna:
it’s not a potato, more starchy, and stringy, but the fresh stuff from the ground is fabulous…trust me… they cooked it well in peru..
green mung beans? my mom let’s it sit out and sprout, puts it into salads, or i eat it plain..tons of protein…gotta get the proteins for the vegetarians out there.. hehe.. add a little lemon juice, salt, chile pepper, and you’re golden..
Abhi: Your Mom was born in Kampala, but her parents lived in Jinja. She went to elementary school in Jinja, and her parents came back to Ahmedabad – for good when she was nine or ten years old. She always bragged about how beautiful Uganda and Nairobi (Kenya) were. I never made it to check out her claims. Me, a typical Guju born and raised in good old Ahmedabad, coudn’t care less for “Sani”, “Bakudi”, “Fagia”. She still craves for and make “Mogo” and “Matoki”, once in a while. May be one of these days we can go “Safari” (Chick Pea is welcome too) and check out the validity of all the claims….Yo Dad
p.s. She always said “Mimi Taka ……” I still don’t know what it means?
anna:
it’s not a potato, more starchy, and stringy
oh, i KNOW it’s no potato…hence why i loathe it. the stringy aspect is exactly what i dislike. there are dishes that my mom uses it in, which she knows i won’t eat due to my negativity towards her choice of “starch”, so she subs potato to make me happy. 😉
Kenyandesi..I lived in Nairobi and was there in august. Mimi taka means, I want. The funniest times are when you have indian women trying to speak swahili..it’s hilarious.
By the way, i hear that there are places in DC where you can get ugali and sukuma as well.
And talking about using swahili words for everything, I still say ngazi for stairs and ndizi for bananas.
Ex kenyan indians in dc should meet up, just for a trip down nostaligic lane. 🙂
msichana, I’m so jealous you were in Nai in Aug. I’ll be going next year and I can’t wait 🙂 but in the mean time let’s meet up!!!
I can find the place that sells ugali and sukuma and githeri and Tusker and nyama choma…mmmmm mmmm….although, I did always prefer my mom’s ugali with jeera and green chillies. Can Indians eat ANYTHING without adultrating/indianifying it?
Do you remember the Tava parties people (desis) would have at their houses? Well I have one die-hard Kenyan uncle who lives here, who HAND carried a steel tava (this thing is a solid steel cooking utensil that weighs probably 50lbs) and jiko
(a charcoal cooker) with him so he could have good ol Tava parties right here. And man if you’ve never had biriani that’s been slow cooked for several hours by a Bohra mom, you aint tried nothings!!!!!
man I miss it all, I miss the fact that Eid and Diwali passed with not so much as a wink and nod here, I remember we’d go over to my Ismaili neighbour’s house when they broke fast and ate all their yummy food. And they’d come to ours for fireworks and mithai on diwali. The Eid and diwali mela’s, the garbas going from Premier club to Bhram Sabha to Maje and then the best was at KICC 🙂
so seriously lets meet up? Anyone else down?
I am totally down…
By the way, I learnt how to do my own ‘koroga’ at home when I went to kenya this summer. It’s an awesome feeling to make your own chapos and jeera chicken.
How funny…my folks live next to Lohana Mahajan. I literally grew up in Gymkhana across the street!
Talking about diwali…I miss the fun we’d have when Simba Union etc out up melas. Yeah, we have 4th of July fireworks etc here but seeing the stuff in Ruaraka etc still gives me goosebumps!
Tusker in DC? Maaan…you got me reeling now.
baada ya kaazi burudika in wakati wa….
Tusker 🙂
I grew up in the gymkhana pool with the infamous “we don’t swim in your toilet, please do not pee in our pool” sign 🙂 Then we’d come out and have grilled cheese and tomato sanwiches and chips with lots of peptang tomato sauce and chillie sause and lemon on the fries…mmmmmmmm or we’d go to exotica for their stuffed chappos….damn, i’m so hungry now….
ok so lets do it next weekend?
Kenyandesi…you read my mind. Of course, exotica is still going big guns. Their masala chips are divine!
And yes…that gymkhana sign was crrrazy! It has changed a lot though. A lot of expansions thanks to the cricket world cups etc.
By the way, if you tell me that you know someone who went to vogss or oshwal high, I am going to crack up! Almost every indian went through the shah system, it seems like.
Well then you’ll really get a kick outta this one–I was in conso for primary (I loved that school, man I even remember some of the hyms and stuff :), then went to VOGSS aka the ninth dimension of hell, for TWO terms. That’s all I lasted, couldn’t take the damn place after that…could tell you stories to make your toes curl…but yeah I knew kids who went to VOGSS, and OH, and some who had been in the Oshwal system since pre-K… my two best friends went to Nairobi acad, aka bombay academy…one did his A’s at OH, but I still accredit his sawa-ness to not having been raised in the oshwal system 🙂
I eventually ended up at rosslyn for 10-12 grade, those are other hellish (of a different kind though) storo’s I could tell you… what schools did you go to?
i’m game for a safari…
meet up, where? i’m in atl..
ah, msichana, next to the lohana mahajan? i’m lohana… :).. cool beans.. my mom grew up on martini road, across from the old hindu mandir.. my dads folks had a record shop downtown…
oh gosh.. i’ve been to kampala once..buti’m hooked.. my dad gets all these thigns off ebay realting to uganda and stuff.. he has an amazing historical collection of stuff… no joke…
All this nostalgia – my mouth is watering. I’ll need to make some mandaazi this weekend. I bake mine rather than fry them. Yum yum! That subtle hint of coconut, dip it is some cream and take a bite, followed by a good cup of chai (recipe here if you want to give it a try).
I am glad that statue has finally gone up in Uganda after that dark period in desi diaspora history. The sad thing is, many of the desis from East Africa who moved out really missed Africa and the loss to the East African economy was huge. Every one lost in that deal. My Dad is still reminisces about the gymkhana (swimming club) in and yacht club in Tanga.
Yo Dad, (or should that be Abhi’s dad),
If you ever want to go on safari let me know, I’ll let you know where to really go, places like Lake Bagoria and 14 Falls that the tourists never get to see….Kenya is stunning, as is Uganda, parts of the country really do look like the scenes from Missisippi Masala…but add to that gorgeous beaches, and uber-friendly people, mountains, the rift valley, there’s soooo much to see…
Most Gujrati’s from India don’t care for our Swahili-fied guju, but it just goes to show that we really are Kenyan/Ugandan/Tanzanian more than Indian, but that’s a discussion for a whole ‘nother day…
abhi/kenyandesi/and the other folks from east africa or parental roots there…
i really feel that we are more african than indian… or that the indians from africa are distincly different than indians from india..whether it be thought, word, deed…
don’tcha agree? wanted to continue your thought kenyandesi
Hahahaha! Okay…I did forms 1-6 at VOGSS and turned out semi sawa. I have friends who came from conso and went to VOGSS with me as well. I did primary in Arya Vedic in good ol Ngara. That’s another place that muindis have killed….they call it ‘nagara’.
So, chick pea, you are in atlanta eh? That’s a tad too far out for me right now…I am in DC.
Ek Aurat, you are right. The economy really suffers when indian do a massive exodus. It was first to england and the states and then to Canada. Right now, there is hardly a household in nairobi that doesn’t have atleast one person in Australia. Perth is literally full of east african muindis.
Okay…so, who is up for meeting up in DC soon and talking about kenyan indian things? I know that I and kenyan desi are..
By the way, we had a guju neigbour who totally killed me when she spoke swa. This is what I herad her telling her driver one day..’John, enda kwa agasi, toa nguo, ngoja mimi’. The poor chap didn’t get that she wanted him to take the clothes off the line and fold them. He quit in a few days…
And if anyone needs a good tour operator for a safari in Africa…I reccommend Dipesh Gelani at African Bush. The man rocks and his prices and services are superb!
Ek Aurat, thanks for the recipe!! I think brimful and I will have to get our cook on
chick pea,
do you know that every thanksgiving they have a HUGE Kenyan reunion in atl? I’m talking about thousands of Kenyans converging on “hotlanta” for a weekend of debauchery
i’m in Bmore, and I think msichana is in DC…so you’d have to come up this way for a east african asian meetup 🙁
ek aurat, thanks for the recepie, i’m def going to be trying that soon
Kenyan Desi: Thanks for the offer to help when I go for “Safari”. You are right. Although I don’t particularly care for “Swahilified-Guju” language, it sure sounds pleasant. It’s fun to listen to her “Bana” language when she talks to her two sisters who were born in Kampala too. My wife (Abhi’s mom) left for India few days ago. We will have to wait till she gets back to plan a trip to the “Cradle of Homo Sapiens”!! I am in DC (Suburban Maryland to be precise) but I will take a raincheck on get-together and a bit chow of Mogo!
So..when is the meet up here? Anyone want to exchange contact info?
i really feel that we are more african than indian… or that the indians from africa are distincly different than indians from india..whether it be thought, word, deed…
Chickpea I totally agree with you, I’ve had so many people tell me that I think I’m better or whatever, but it’s more that I feel different.
My third day at college, this random girl walks up to me and this conversation ensues:
her: Are you [kenyandesi]?
me: yes?
her: I’m an RA and we got a list of incoming frosh over the summer and I noticed you were from Kenya and your name was gujrati and I’m so glad you’re here because you speak the same Gujrati as I do!
It was an INSTANT conection, even though she was born and raised here, her parents were Nairobians and that was more than enough. without knowing much about me, but knowing I was homesick she invited me to her brother’s wedding reception and I instantly got along with her parents and the rest of her family who had flown over from the UK etc. we established at least 10 connections and we were good …hehe I still sometimes just call to chat not with her, but her parents.
it’s also this idea that we are not “indian” enough, and this one really cracks me up. Most EAA will never even claim to be Indian (or Pakistani for that matter) because that’s a national identity we don’t quite get. I won’t speak for anyone else, but most of my friends feels this way: we’re Kenyan. India is not a place that even really features in our cognitive history in the sense that our forefathers left before it was even created. My family’s been there for over 120 years. We are wananchi (citizens). We are the nth tribe. A rather nomadic one at that.
both of my parents were born and raised in uganda… this photo is from kampala, right? the most beautiful country…and thanks to lovely ‘dada’ aka idi amin, and the 1972 coup…that the chick pea was born and raised in the states… otherwise, would’ve been the swahili speaking, mogo eating gal of the 7 hills :)…
did you take the pic yourself?
My Mom was born in Kampala as well. I have always wanted to visit there. She taught me a few Swahili phrases I have been dying to try out. 🙂
Ennis, was this statue just put up? Wow!
abhi: jambo, mazuri sana 😉
have you been? it’s an amazing country.. spent 6 weeks on safari in east africa… uganda is amazing.. will send you some pics if you want… the continent of africa… wow…. sometimes i wonder.. if it would have not been better to be brought up there (sans corruption, govt problems, etc..)
The photo is from Jinja, at the headwaters of the Nile. The statue is not actually at the Nile, but at one of the local mandirs. Before Amin, many desis lived in Jinja, now only a handful do. I don’t know when the statue was actually put up – good question. It looks newer than 1948, but beyond that, I don’t know.
Oh yes, as far as I know, Gandhi was never in Uganda until his ashes were brought there. I think his ashes were scattered at a number of sites around the world, this being just one of them.
jinja.. you know, i think i saw this statue when i went back in 99 when i went with my folks to visit their birthplace….
I find the South Asia – East Africa connection fascinating: maybe ‘cos my mother was born there as well (Mtwara, Tanzania). I’ve no other connection to the place except that my grandparents in Kerala used to speak to each other in Swahili when they didn’t want us kids to understand what they were saying.
A tangential question: is it true that some south asian food has become a staple in that part of the world (chapati’s for eg.) ?
Yup – Chapatti are routinely served in Kenyan restaurants. I have a photo of them being made by the side of the road in Kenya.
Cool. My roommate used to room with a ugandan who used to make them from scratch so was wondering.
well the african food has also crossed over… who eats matoki and mogo :), raise your hands? thanks to the east africans…
You do? Really? Do you desify it? I can see matoke, but mogo?
i love mogo, it’s awesome…yeah, we’ve desi=fied it… totally..you go to any indian restaurant (esp in england, leicester, where a bunch of east african indians are…) and you’ll find both mogo and matoki on the menu.. all my diwali parties have mogo in it.. it’s the bestest!
in malaysia and singapore also.
Mogo can be found in the states as ‘Jicama’. Mexicans eat it too and I have seen numerous californian supermarkets sell it. I have yet to find it in the metro dc area. Damn…I miss Kenya now. I lived there for 19 years and the charm has never worn off..
And yes, chapatis are a staple with east africans. Some even eat an african version of Samosas.
you should be able to find it in dc….go to the latino markets.. my aunt could find it.. near hm..college park and all… good luck.. mogo is damn tasty… boiled or fried..better than a french fry!
yeah, the mexicans eat it to..as well as the peruvians.. when my family and i were in the amazon earlier this year, that is what they fed us everyday due to us being vegetarian..fresh mogo… 🙂
mandaazi’s?
mogo=yuka…and you can get it at most supermarkets, we desify it with lemon and chilliepowder (when it is roasted, fried, or made into crisps (aka chips)and make shaak (sabzi) out of it too…ohhh when we discovered yukka was the same thing it MADE our month 😀
the Samos Kenyan’s eat are generally lamb or beef. Maandazi is sweet and doesn’t have a filling, although in the coast it’s eated with baazi which is a yummy coconut and lima bean dish….mmmmmmm
Kenyans call chapati “chapo”
Doesn’t mogo=cassava?
Chick pea, Abhi, Aswin, do you find that your parents have substituted Indianified Kiswahili words into whatever indian language they speak?
I think I was 12 and visiting India for the first time when it was revealed to me by a rather irate “auntie” that I did not really speak Gujrati. she kept asking me for a cakuh/chapu, and I had no idea she wanted a knife because we call it kisu.
we also say: bakudi for bowl sufurya for metal cooking pot fagia for sweep fangusa for wipe pasi for iron
Msichana, where’d you live in Kenya?
yukka = cassava = mogo
The events of the early 70’s in Uganda brought my first awareness of an Indian diaspora in Africa. Seeing the effects not only on the ethnic Indians involved but also on Uganda itself was an early, sobering and politicizing lesson.
do any of you eat green mung beans? (i think they’re green when unhulled..not sure)
I have been known to partake of the green mung dal – it takes a monkey’s lifetime to cook that bean tho.
not with a pressure cooker 🙂
Haya basi, for more Kenya nostalgia, check out http://backinthedaynbi.blogspot.com/2005/04/z-of-only-in-nairobi-e.html
Rajesh, OMG I love you!!!!! That site is HI-larrious, nilicheka mpaka nilianguka! Ngai! I haven’t heard words like tune (to hit on) in ages…I heng with a few Kenyans here, but no one speaks sheng too much.
i think we eat them…i thought i saw that label in the pantry at home.
we grow all this crap…i think when you’re referring to mogo, cassava et al you’re talking about champeh, cheneh, catchil and everything else i can’t spell. i loathe it all. potato or nothing.
kenyandesi:
i swear i was going to comment on that.. but you beat me to it.. went to my patel friends house one day growing up, asking for a ‘kisu’..she looked at me like i was crazy.. thought that that was the guju word…
what about oga for bath and tumbo for stomach?
gotta love the tri-cultrue we live in: african, american, indian…whoah… yeah baby!
anna: it’s not a potato, more starchy, and stringy, but the fresh stuff from the ground is fabulous…trust me… they cooked it well in peru..
green mung beans? my mom let’s it sit out and sprout, puts it into salads, or i eat it plain..tons of protein…gotta get the proteins for the vegetarians out there.. hehe.. add a little lemon juice, salt, chile pepper, and you’re golden..
Abhi: Your Mom was born in Kampala, but her parents lived in Jinja. She went to elementary school in Jinja, and her parents came back to Ahmedabad – for good when she was nine or ten years old. She always bragged about how beautiful Uganda and Nairobi (Kenya) were. I never made it to check out her claims. Me, a typical Guju born and raised in good old Ahmedabad, coudn’t care less for “Sani”, “Bakudi”, “Fagia”. She still craves for and make “Mogo” and “Matoki”, once in a while. May be one of these days we can go “Safari” (Chick Pea is welcome too) and check out the validity of all the claims….Yo Dad
p.s. She always said “Mimi Taka ……” I still don’t know what it means?
oh, i KNOW it’s no potato…hence why i loathe it. the stringy aspect is exactly what i dislike. there are dishes that my mom uses it in, which she knows i won’t eat due to my negativity towards her choice of “starch”, so she subs potato to make me happy. 😉
Kenyandesi..I lived in Nairobi and was there in august. Mimi taka means, I want. The funniest times are when you have indian women trying to speak swahili..it’s hilarious.
By the way, i hear that there are places in DC where you can get ugali and sukuma as well.
And talking about using swahili words for everything, I still say ngazi for stairs and ndizi for bananas.
Ex kenyan indians in dc should meet up, just for a trip down nostaligic lane. 🙂
msichana, I’m so jealous you were in Nai in Aug. I’ll be going next year and I can’t wait 🙂 but in the mean time let’s meet up!!!
I can find the place that sells ugali and sukuma and githeri and Tusker and nyama choma…mmmmm mmmm….although, I did always prefer my mom’s ugali with jeera and green chillies. Can Indians eat ANYTHING without adultrating/indianifying it?
Do you remember the Tava parties people (desis) would have at their houses? Well I have one die-hard Kenyan uncle who lives here, who HAND carried a steel tava (this thing is a solid steel cooking utensil that weighs probably 50lbs) and jiko (a charcoal cooker) with him so he could have good ol Tava parties right here. And man if you’ve never had biriani that’s been slow cooked for several hours by a Bohra mom, you aint tried nothings!!!!!
man I miss it all, I miss the fact that Eid and Diwali passed with not so much as a wink and nod here, I remember we’d go over to my Ismaili neighbour’s house when they broke fast and ate all their yummy food. And they’d come to ours for fireworks and mithai on diwali. The Eid and diwali mela’s, the garbas going from Premier club to Bhram Sabha to Maje and then the best was at KICC 🙂
so seriously lets meet up? Anyone else down?
I am totally down… By the way, I learnt how to do my own ‘koroga’ at home when I went to kenya this summer. It’s an awesome feeling to make your own chapos and jeera chicken. How funny…my folks live next to Lohana Mahajan. I literally grew up in Gymkhana across the street! Talking about diwali…I miss the fun we’d have when Simba Union etc out up melas. Yeah, we have 4th of July fireworks etc here but seeing the stuff in Ruaraka etc still gives me goosebumps! Tusker in DC? Maaan…you got me reeling now.
baada ya kaazi burudika in wakati wa…. Tusker 🙂
I grew up in the gymkhana pool with the infamous “we don’t swim in your toilet, please do not pee in our pool” sign 🙂 Then we’d come out and have grilled cheese and tomato sanwiches and chips with lots of peptang tomato sauce and chillie sause and lemon on the fries…mmmmmmmm or we’d go to exotica for their stuffed chappos….damn, i’m so hungry now….
ok so lets do it next weekend?
Kenyandesi…you read my mind. Of course, exotica is still going big guns. Their masala chips are divine!
Hit me up at lenikaps@gmail.com
And yes…that gymkhana sign was crrrazy! It has changed a lot though. A lot of expansions thanks to the cricket world cups etc.
By the way, if you tell me that you know someone who went to vogss or oshwal high, I am going to crack up! Almost every indian went through the shah system, it seems like.
Well then you’ll really get a kick outta this one–I was in conso for primary (I loved that school, man I even remember some of the hyms and stuff :), then went to VOGSS aka the ninth dimension of hell, for TWO terms. That’s all I lasted, couldn’t take the damn place after that…could tell you stories to make your toes curl…but yeah I knew kids who went to VOGSS, and OH, and some who had been in the Oshwal system since pre-K… my two best friends went to Nairobi acad, aka bombay academy…one did his A’s at OH, but I still accredit his sawa-ness to not having been raised in the oshwal system 🙂
I eventually ended up at rosslyn for 10-12 grade, those are other hellish (of a different kind though) storo’s I could tell you… what schools did you go to?
i’m game for a safari…
meet up, where? i’m in atl..
ah, msichana, next to the lohana mahajan? i’m lohana… :).. cool beans.. my mom grew up on martini road, across from the old hindu mandir.. my dads folks had a record shop downtown…
oh gosh.. i’ve been to kampala once..buti’m hooked.. my dad gets all these thigns off ebay realting to uganda and stuff.. he has an amazing historical collection of stuff… no joke…
All this nostalgia – my mouth is watering. I’ll need to make some mandaazi this weekend. I bake mine rather than fry them. Yum yum! That subtle hint of coconut, dip it is some cream and take a bite, followed by a good cup of chai (recipe here if you want to give it a try).
I am glad that statue has finally gone up in Uganda after that dark period in desi diaspora history. The sad thing is, many of the desis from East Africa who moved out really missed Africa and the loss to the East African economy was huge. Every one lost in that deal. My Dad is still reminisces about the gymkhana (swimming club) in and yacht club in Tanga.
Yo Dad, (or should that be Abhi’s dad), If you ever want to go on safari let me know, I’ll let you know where to really go, places like Lake Bagoria and 14 Falls that the tourists never get to see….Kenya is stunning, as is Uganda, parts of the country really do look like the scenes from Missisippi Masala…but add to that gorgeous beaches, and uber-friendly people, mountains, the rift valley, there’s soooo much to see…
Most Gujrati’s from India don’t care for our Swahili-fied guju, but it just goes to show that we really are Kenyan/Ugandan/Tanzanian more than Indian, but that’s a discussion for a whole ‘nother day…
abhi/kenyandesi/and the other folks from east africa or parental roots there…
i really feel that we are more african than indian… or that the indians from africa are distincly different than indians from india..whether it be thought, word, deed…
don’tcha agree? wanted to continue your thought kenyandesi
the bean garbanzobean@gmail.com
Hahahaha! Okay…I did forms 1-6 at VOGSS and turned out semi sawa. I have friends who came from conso and went to VOGSS with me as well. I did primary in Arya Vedic in good ol Ngara. That’s another place that muindis have killed….they call it ‘nagara’.
So, chick pea, you are in atlanta eh? That’s a tad too far out for me right now…I am in DC.
Ek Aurat, you are right. The economy really suffers when indian do a massive exodus. It was first to england and the states and then to Canada. Right now, there is hardly a household in nairobi that doesn’t have atleast one person in Australia. Perth is literally full of east african muindis.
Okay…so, who is up for meeting up in DC soon and talking about kenyan indian things? I know that I and kenyan desi are..
By the way, we had a guju neigbour who totally killed me when she spoke swa. This is what I herad her telling her driver one day..’John, enda kwa agasi, toa nguo, ngoja mimi’. The poor chap didn’t get that she wanted him to take the clothes off the line and fold them. He quit in a few days…
And if anyone needs a good tour operator for a safari in Africa…I reccommend Dipesh Gelani at African Bush. The man rocks and his prices and services are superb!
Lenika
lenikaps@gmail.com
Ek Aurat, thanks for the recipe!! I think brimful and I will have to get our cook on
chick pea, do you know that every thanksgiving they have a HUGE Kenyan reunion in atl? I’m talking about thousands of Kenyans converging on “hotlanta” for a weekend of debauchery
i’m in Bmore, and I think msichana is in DC…so you’d have to come up this way for a east african asian meetup 🙁
ek aurat, thanks for the recepie, i’m def going to be trying that soon
Kenyan Desi: Thanks for the offer to help when I go for “Safari”. You are right. Although I don’t particularly care for “Swahilified-Guju” language, it sure sounds pleasant. It’s fun to listen to her “Bana” language when she talks to her two sisters who were born in Kampala too. My wife (Abhi’s mom) left for India few days ago. We will have to wait till she gets back to plan a trip to the “Cradle of Homo Sapiens”!! I am in DC (Suburban Maryland to be precise) but I will take a raincheck on get-together and a bit chow of Mogo!
So..when is the meet up here? Anyone want to exchange contact info?
Chickpea I totally agree with you, I’ve had so many people tell me that I think I’m better or whatever, but it’s more that I feel different.
My third day at college, this random girl walks up to me and this conversation ensues:
her: Are you [kenyandesi]? me: yes? her: I’m an RA and we got a list of incoming frosh over the summer and I noticed you were from Kenya and your name was gujrati and I’m so glad you’re here because you speak the same Gujrati as I do!
It was an INSTANT conection, even though she was born and raised here, her parents were Nairobians and that was more than enough. without knowing much about me, but knowing I was homesick she invited me to her brother’s wedding reception and I instantly got along with her parents and the rest of her family who had flown over from the UK etc. we established at least 10 connections and we were good …hehe I still sometimes just call to chat not with her, but her parents.
it’s also this idea that we are not “indian” enough, and this one really cracks me up. Most EAA will never even claim to be Indian (or Pakistani for that matter) because that’s a national identity we don’t quite get. I won’t speak for anyone else, but most of my friends feels this way: we’re Kenyan. India is not a place that even really features in our cognitive history in the sense that our forefathers left before it was even created. My family’s been there for over 120 years. We are wananchi (citizens). We are the nth tribe. A rather nomadic one at that.
I love this article by Shashi Tharoor
sorry msichana I was about to email you…my contact is unbwogable [at] gmail
ohhh yes i did!