Greetings from Nairobi. Many thanks to Abhi and the gang for letting me guest-blog, so here begins a short series (illustrated!) about Indo-Africa.
Amardeep’s recent post about Indo-African writers brought up the big question about Indians (East Asians, as they are called here) and the other communities:
And indeed, anecdotally, one hears that the Asians in Africa tended to hold themselves aloof from “native” Africans, at least before Idi Amin.
That question is a good place for me to start since, quite coincidentally, it’s where I started.
Visiting a place for the first time, especially one defined by a confluence of cultures, requires peeling back the layers of the onion, at least rhetorically. What is said or not said, and how it’s said, can reveal a great deal about a place, and it’s important for a journalist to get a handle on the terms of the discussion if he wants to engage it in any meaningful way.
Best way to orient yourself to the local situation? Ask a cab driver.
Daniel, a black cabbie in his forties attached to my hotel, took me to Diamond Plaza, a shopping center in Parklands, the Indian section of Nairobi. He said he had grown up nearby. I told him why I wanted to go there.
“”Indians are rich,”” he said. “”They don’t come from farms. They are in business.”” It’s always a little dicey when a person of one race makes comments about another to someone who belongs to neither. But I thought he sounded admiring. “”They are good employers,” he said. “”They hire cooks, housekeepers, drivers, guards, lots of staff.””
And then we reached something close to the center of the onion: ““They don’t hire their own people. They hire Kenyans.””Daniel’s tone mattered little at this point. Here was a statement about race relations in Kenya that clearly identified the power structure and the economic arrangement. It hinted at the past and looked to the future.
Daniel then mentioned Idi Amin’s purges in Uganda. ““We were very sad when that happened,”” he said.
“”A lot of Indians came to Kenya then?”” I asked.
“”Yes,”” he said. ““That type of thing would never happen here.””
By this point, we had arrived at the destination.
I toured the shopping center briefly–—imagine the shops in Jackson Heights, New York, all piled on top of one another inside a guarded compound with a big parking lot. But it was early on a Sunday morning and not much was going on.
Walking around the neighborhood, I discovered the City Park Traders’ Market, a covered plaza of fruit and vegetable stalls, set up by the Aga Khan Foundation as a way for informal growers and middlemen to sell their wares (the Aga Khan Development Network is one of the big cultural and development engines in Kenya). The space is quite large, a muddy warren of piled mangoes and bananas, cucumbers and tomatoes, plus many unfamiliar fruits whose names in Swahili meant nothing to me. There were some Indians shopping, older couples or large families spreading out among the stalls (men in one direction, women in another). A typical Indian Sunday morning.
The traders’ market seemed like one of the few places for Indians and blacks in Nairobi to meet outside the employer-employee relationship. It wasn’t a public park, and there was no socializing, but commerce is good for community relationships if people come together regularly and negotiate terms.
Daniel later told me that the original plan for the market had been to sell low-cost produce to poor people. “But now rich people shop there.”
I didn’t debate with him about how the flow of capital from the haves to the have-nots is invariably a good thing or that anyone could shop in the market or that nothing could stand between an Indian auntie and a bargain on groceries, but I took his point. Perception is all.
Aloofness or, better said, the political and cultural status of diaspora Indians in their home countries is always an issue. Indians form the core of Kenya’s middle class (especially in Nairobi) and contribute significantly to the economy, but they are a market-dominant minority, possessing greater wealth than the “native” majority population. But at some point, these terms are useless. Meet the Indians in Nairobi, and you will find that most speak Swahili. Many families have been in East Africa for four generations or more and have no contact with the subcontinent. Some families have relatives in India, Britain, Canada, or the US, but they see themselves as Africans, not non-resident Indians or PIOs.
The identity question is more than just fodder for a cultural-studies seminar. The Amin purges in the 1970s still resonate. Racially charged political instability is a hallmark of life in Africa. Zimbabwe’s expropriation of white-owned farms has shaken minorities throughout the continent, especially in nominally stable and prosperous countries like South Africa and Kenya, which haven’t been as strident as one might hope in their denunciation of the practice. Lives and property, long family histories, and unique ways of life are bound up in questions of identity.
But Daniel was probably right. Amin-style purges would never happen here. Blacks and Indians have too much invested in each other to start tearing things apart. But no one takes anything for granted.
The aloofness question comes down to whether or not Indians are perceived to have a stake in the future of the country and are not a foreign population siphoning wealth and keeping it for themselves.
One recent event went a long way toward showing that Indians are as Kenyan as any black in the country.
In 1998 when the US embassies were bombed by al-Qaeda in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the victims were almost entirely black civilians who worked at the embassies or in nearby buildings or who just happened to be passing by at the wrong moment. The initial relief efforts were haphazard and mostly by hand–—individuals picking through the rubble looking for survivors. Indians, who dominate the construction industry, quickly brought in bulldozers and backhoes, the heavy machinery vital for the rescue operation. Indians were credited with saving many lives through their initiative and organization. That gesture has not been forgotten.
Scenes from the traders’ market:
all photos by Preston Merchant
Thanks Preston. Would it be possible to get higher resolution pictures? Here or some other site.
FANTASTIC post Preston!
🙂 Never knew that it is applicable even outside India.
That’s generally applicable to Indian aunties around the world, whether they drive a mercedes or a civic.
“Some families have relatives in India, Britain, Canada, or the US, but they see themselves as Africans, not non-resident Indians or PIOs.”
I don’t see that happening in Britain, with its sizeable Indian immigrant population, but that’s already happening in America.
wow!!!
This is 24 Carat GOLDMINE. Many many thanks to you!
Hi, circus. I’m still figuring out the SM software. When I do a photo-heavy post, I’ll present the pictures a little better.
Sorry but this sentence is merely around for sexing up the narative. “Africa” suffers much more from ethnic tensions that racial ones. The ethnic tensions that do exist are instigated (via hired thugs, inflamatory remarks) by and for political means. I’d like to note two things.
First, in the case of Uganda, it was Idi Amin, a crackpot dictator, rather than the people themselves. The situation is similar in Zimbabwe — Mugabe is hardly executing popular will. Extrapolating from these events to questions of identity as “more than just fodder for a cultural-studies seminar” is specious. The Indians that I know of who left East Africa in the 70’s and 80’s bare no ill will to Africans, rather, are particular to mention Idi Amin by name as the root of trouble. And in all my time in Kenya, I never experienced or heard stories regarding “racism” from people I knew. Perhaps others could chime in.
Second, your concern that the Kenyan and South African governments have not denounced the events in Zimbabwe is unfounded. Politics happens in the mansions and Swiss banks, not on the front pages of the newspapers. Indians/foreigners everywhere in Africa make good, and mostly blood-free money for those in power. Mobutu is a fool. Indians on the continent are well aware of this; it’s the naive in the West who worry.
Kick the intern awake 🙂
Uh, sorry, that was in response to you figuring out the software. The intern fixes everything! Very interesting post btw. As you can see though, I’m not very coherent right now. See y’all in the morning.
The intern’s still hungover. 😉
We actually let the intern out of the bunker this new years. That was a mistake.
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Fantastic post Preston! I have some friends at work that are from Kenya. We talk a lot about this stuff.
Waiting for more!
so much to say so much to say so much to say…will have to wait till I get a “break” at work…fantastic job Preston…btw, next sunday, go to the phenominon that is Sweety-Sweets (Pop-In Centre) for the mad Sunday Ghatia-Jalebi rush…now that’s a site to behold 🙂
You haver NO idea how excited I am 😛
I actually had a chance to visit Kenya and incidentally got married there.
Indians in Kenya rock. For instance, they have country clubs there. Basically,the majority of people come weekend time go to these clubs and just hangout. They drink great beers such as Tuskers (this is another story). They swim in swimming pools, play cricket, play squash, or play billards. They even have old-time lounges where men sip their hard liquor.
Best of all they have these patios where the entire family gets together to make amazing chicken dishes. It is sort of like BBQ but at night and a lot slower. It generally takes several hours to cook a meal.
Outside of that, my observations have been that the Indians in Kenya are a whole lot more liberal. Savings…screw savings. They live paycheck to paycheck. Alcohol flows freely and the parties just continue. They have an active bar scene as well as an active camping scene.
If Kenya wasn’t filled with gangster Somalis and had poor security standards, I would live there in a heartbeat!
maybe. maybe not. Aug 1 ’82 could have gone any way – but things did change for the better after the al qaeda bombings.
nice pix. is that the pan’gani area. looks like a developed version of the same – nothing quite like the guju matron with the ratty pony tail and the major nose flower haggling away for the bhindi.
you should check out the desi religious spots – the ramgarhia temple. the arya samaj mandir. the ismaili mosques, liberty cinema, tom mboya street.
mainn… youze being too polite. muhindi they are – all of them – dot or no dot.
Hairy_d, the market is in the parklands area, on the opposite side of the street as the Aga Khan empire 🙂
The market was built so that the vendors, who came (and some still do) door to door with 60-70lbs of their wares on their backs/heads could have a stationary place to sell their goods. And the vendors there are very protective of the muhindis…if a purse gets stolen, or someone is mugger, the aggressor will be caught and beaten up so that people aren’t afraid to shop there…
not from what I see…most muhindis have bank accounts abroad
Great photos and post, Preston. With respect to the divisions between ethnicities, to all cultural/ethnic subgroups tend to segregate themselves, or is it limited to the desi population? That is, I’m sure within the indigenous population there are also ethnic differences, but do they tend to mix more than the South Asians?
I would give anything anything anything anything and I mean anything to be in Kenya. One way ticket, any mode of transport from SF to Kenya, I’m game.
Kenyandesi, you’re enthusiasm is infectious. Great pics Mr. Merchant.
there was also a more pukka market with fixed pricing on a side of town with a name starting with n’… n”.. something. slips me. it was called city market or town market or something like that. do you remember?
preston – great project and i’ll look forward to attending the perspective when you put it up (there will be one I’m sure, right 🙂 . a random thought. there is a seedy side to the indian diaspora as dragant pointed out – a lot of the old timers are prodigiously rich and spoiled rotten. their ancestors built the industries – from confectionery to constrution to trade orgs (look up the names on the industries making popular brand named consumer packaged goods) – but they’ve retained none of the industrious zeal or people skills. they live there, because that’s the only society that will tolerate their burra-sahibisms now. that being said, they keep the wheels going by feeding the kleptocrats with booze, women and money. this is a rotten segment of the indian diaspora. the more you know, the more you loathe them and their elephant leg footstools and their zebra hide sofas.
n’gara n’gara?
on a side note…here’s Shashi Tharoor’s article from his visit to Kenya…
Preston: On your comment: “The aloofness question comes down to whether or not Indians are perceived to have a stake in the future of the country and are not a foreign population siphoning wealth and keeping it for themselves.”
My better half, who is from Kenya, would rather keep a Kenyan citizenship than get an American citizenship which I found to be amazing. I almost choked. Indians in Kenya based upon my limited experience have a firm sense of belonging to Kenya.
That being said, Kenya, to my understanding, does not have good colleges so the Indian children are forced to go to America, Australia, England, and in some cases to India to further their education. In fact, I heard Africans even go to India to further their studies.
I would be interested in knowing how many return to Kenya after their studies? Also, it would be interesting to know if the Indian population in Kenya is rising or decreasing (population trends). My guess is it is decreasing based on the increasing uncertainty in the region, especially the war going on in the North (Somalia and Ethopia). Few years from now, my guess is that crime will go through the roof if the Somali refugees crowd Nairobi. Not sure if Indians there would accept that.
we’re all waiting for Kenya to get off their high horse and allow dual citizenship 🙂
It’s not so much that the schools are bad (my dad studied medicine there, and more recently I’ve had several friends go through Kenyan universities). more than bad unis it that they’re unstable. Profs don’t get paid, they strike, students feel abused, they strike. there were periods in the mid 90s when the unis were closed for 6 months. These days it’s much more stable and more and more muhindis are just going to school in Kenya…the UK/US/Aussie education is more of an escape hatch than an indicator of a bad education system, it’s more a way to get out so you don’t have to face 35% unemployment rates at home
it’s actually stable and because of the influx of new south Asian immigrants (we used to call them rockets) it might actually be rising. The big exodus of Asians occured in the 70’s and 80’s
Preston, by any chance do you have a local Kenyan taking you around? My husband is from Kenya and I am sure we can find someone to help you out a little. Let me know. Excellent post, always wanted to have an unbiased opinion on brown Kenyan life, my husband and I have numerous argument about which Indian community is more superior, SA or Kenyan, he usually loses and then claims that he is actually American.
Amazing pictures! Preston and others, I wonder if there are in Kenya the same divisions within the Indian community as there are in SA, for instance, where the “bread” (North) or “porridge” (South) Indian distinction arose daily; I was living and working in Durban the summer of 2005. I suppose I don’t look like the average Tam-Bram/South Indian, but I wonder how much inclusiveness (or not) depends on appearance as opposed to self-identification.
just because the man can’t argue doesn’t mean you’re right 😛
there aren’t as many south-Indians in Kenya. I knew 5 south Indians the whole time I was there…the distinctions in Kenya are more community based…Ismailis vs. Punjabi/Sikhs vs. Kuchis vs. Goans vs. Gujjus…and withing the Guju community it was/is even more statified (Patels, Lohanas, Vanias…)
Fascinating post and topic; looking forward to more.
Not sure about the Idi Amin turning point. After Uganda’s independence in 1962, a number of Asians very consciously chose to take on the citizenship of their newly independent country, as a mark of belonging and loyalty. But when the expulsion orders came in 1972, it didn’t make any difference — while originally limited to non-citizen Asians, the order soon encompassed the entire Uganda Asian community, citizens included.
Aloofness and integration are fraught concepts for the East African Asians. There is a distinct EA Asian culture, with its particular patois (somewhat archaic or rustic forms of Kutchi or Gujarati packed with earthy Swahili words and phrases), outlooks (western education, African grounding), cuisine (anyone for razi mandazi and cookoo paka?), and a sense of identity that — in my experience — is ineffably and inextricably tied to a sense of and love for East Africa (the sky, the fruit, the chaos). And there is often (but not always) an ease of interaction between Black Africans and Asians, particularly abroad. It’s hard to talk of integration, though. A distinct community in Africa, yes, but of it?
Aloofness and integration are fraught concepts for the East African Asians. There is a
couldn’t have said it better myself…I always wonder what exactly integration means though…is it an intermarriage issue? is that the ultimate test of integration? because as all other things go, the way I see it, EAAs are pretty well integrated into the fabric of Kenyan society
Gasp….
I didn’t see this post until a few minutes ago and am pleased to see that KenyanDesi (respect!) and my husband, Dragant have already put their two cents in.
It is very interesting how Kenyans and Indians function there. There have been issues thanks to politicians instigating the educated and jobless. Like any place, it is not perfect but it is home.
Preston, my entire family still lives there so if you want a local to take you around, be sure to holer.
sorry about the quote issue, don’t quite know what happened
Wow Maya, comment# 24, itÂ’s been a while since I heard the bread/porridge thing, it made me smile. I agree, there is a slight division between the N.Indians and S.Indians, but you get that here as well, actually itÂ’s way more divisional here. In South Africa we donÂ’t identify ourselves as Punjabi, Guajarati, Mallu or Tamil. Its basically, I am N.Indian, S.Indian, Muslim or Christian. And that comes in effect only when you have to split up to go for hindi, tamil, urdu or bible class during religious study period.
I guess during apartheid you had to join forces to ensure the survival of our race and therefore we kind of banded together and it still holds to this day. It is an ‘us’ against ‘them’ mentality but you can only blame decades of segregation for that. The healing has only been in effect for 11 years, and believe me the next generation is amazing!
Kenyandesi, I win because the SA Brownz rock!
nah
and that’s all I have to say about that.
😛
Dude, this happens in the States too. 😉
Really lovely post that makes me want to pack my bags…
Preston, this is fantastic! It is so fantastic that I can’t even articulate myself about my excitement… and the pictures? I really hope the software clicks, because so far it is great.
Out of curiosity, will you be heading out of Nairobi, also? I thought it was really fascinating to see how things change between Nairobi/Mombasa/Kisumu and again between Kenya and Uganda. Not sure if all that travel is in the plans, though 🙂 Also interesting (and not entirely desi in the strict sense) is the all-(black)African Sikh gurdwara on the Nairobi-Mombasa Road.
Haha, friends, if you are mhindi [Indian, which, let’s be real, is what anyone brown is called] west of Kisumu you become mzungu [white/European]. I wonder if this is true in other non-urban areas also?
Totally unrelated, but I think the one thing I found totally bizarre is that I could not, for the life of me, get a direct flight from Nairobi to anywhere in N/W India. Not to Delhi, Mumbai, or Ahmedabad.
This was semi-true among my group of friends 🙂 My friend Tom went to college in Chandigarh (he’s native Luhya/Maragoli), which I found mind-blowing; we used to do a Hindi-Kiswahili language exchange over Tuskers and chips. I have to agree with Kenyandesi in that the schools in Kenya are fairly good, but they’re totally unstable, and the unemployment rate among the highly educated is just as high as anything else. For the area I lived in, I found that a lot of folks with higher ed were also balancing their shambas (farms/land – mostly subsistence agriculture) with full time “professional” jobs plus family responsibilities, which were huge given extended families, large family size, etc.
Kenyandesi, did they finally settle the lecturers strike? I left in the middle of the protests, and the Nation online has been harder to follow than the text version.
Hmmm, sounds like the desi expatriates are aping their erstwhile colonial masters there. Wonder how long the party will last?
Again, you have to wonder how much longer the high-testosterone africans will put up with this.
quit trolling man. i find your comment on ‘high-testosterone africans’ patronizing and patently racist.
Doordarshan,
The party keeps on going on because once the colonial masters left, all colors get together and party together. Since I live with the person who made the original comment about ‘country clubs’, I feel no remorse in correcting him. Members’ clubs where people (all people whether black, brown, white, yellow etc) are popular because of amenities and social set ups.
Did you base that comment on the fact that Kenyans are world famous long distance runners? 🙂
What is the situation with
The Makindu Gurdwara is not all black, but there are a number of them at that temple.
Sorry, I’ve been a little out of the loop…Preston?
tons of doctors, lawyers, accountants etc are desi
more acceptable now, but know of a few mixed marriages from my parent’s time too…also my parent’s generation is chock full of love marriages across previously uncrossed lines (guju-punjabi; guju-goan; punjabi-kikuyu; ismaili-luo etc)
I walked everywhere, my aunt and uncle who don’t have a car take matatus (minivans used for public transport)…but both these things were seen as unsafe. There are many poor desi families in Kenya too….it’s not just all about them rich asians y’know
most people who live in houses and apartment complexes live behind gates (and usually houses are in clusters called compounds) gaurded by askaris (gaurds) and sometimes dogs…
Amin-style purges would never happen here.
never say never. the germans jews were among the most assimilated and integrated of europe. not to say that the analogy is a reflection of reality, but no one should get complacement about these things.
EVERYONE, DO NOT RESPODN TO Doordarshan, IT IS A NOTRIOUS TROLL. sorry for the yelling, but if you respond to it like it is a real commenter wishing to engage it grows and takes over the thread, insulting, offending, non-educating.
p.s. if Doordarshan shows up again the best way to handle it if the mods don’t catch it is to parrot it. keeping saying that you’re ‘insulted, offended even. educate yourself.’
the story was that they arent really sikh guys – but some guy got drunk on tusker and had a prophet come to him in a dream – the prophet was wearing a white turban – and so when he woke up he called himself the chosen one and started this religion – maybe indian sikhism was an extension to his … – they all wear whte turbans for this reason. but nah, my addled brain is thinking bak a long time…
and yea.. mucho white collar desis – doctors and teachers especially – blue collar too – as in foremen, industrial workers – and yea good desi representation throughout the legal system (always a good indicator of assimilation) – from lawyers to judges to top of the line justices. .. and yea… some kids considered shekar mehta to be an icon. look him up kidz – even i have a pic of me in a stretchy nylon T under the KICC. oh my word… what was the drive-in that showed desi movies… not the fox, the other one… starts with an l or a p i think… an l or a p.
random thoughts II – there are malayalam folks too – stay in that area which starts with an L.. an L… i think… where don bosco school was – good xtian education for the kidz .. and the ismaili girls wore pajamas under their skirts. dont know what the guju girls wore.
All apologies, when I went the congregation was all-black (and this was what I had heard), so I guess I jumped to conclusions 🙂
Also, hairy_d, I heard a different story — that this guy was a drunk but used to come to a different gurdwara for food, etc., and eventually through his relationship with the folks there asked how he could join, and they told him to clean up his act; he did, and also founded a gurdwara.
For Question #5 – don’t many folks live with gates and askaris? Everyone I knew at least had a gate, and many had askaris, and we were definitely not living in a “rich” area like Nairobi.
And lastly, as was mentioned, there are a lot of poor desis too. It’s a bit more complex than “oh, rich Asians have come to take over the economy.” While wahindi definitely are power houses in the economy, the dynamics are a little more nuanced, at least in my experience/opinion.
Wow I’m mesmarized. Thank you Preston. I will be hitting you up for a blow by blow in person account when you get back. It’s amazing how much the market looks like the ones in India.
Actually this is true all thru the Middle east as well. All thru the UAE and the other liberal Arab countries Indian expats have their own little upscale country clubs that they live it up thru. And this has been the case in India as well. My uncle owns a “Sports” club in Mumbai which pretty much is better known as a “country club” for the rich and famous. There is a 3 year waiting list for weddings!! Interestingly I find that Indians in the far west are the only ones that haven’t established anything solid like this concept.
for the curious – here’s the obit on chekameta (shekhar mehta) – the desi motosport icon you’ve probably never heard of.
The story I heard about the Makindu Temple was that locals living there noticed a bearded and turbanned man on a white horse in the region. They discussed him with the railway workers and those who were Sikh, recognized an apparition of Guru Gobhind Singh Ji. The Gurudwara was thus built.
Ahh.. the wonderful M-Wa rule and the most reliable way to score those few points in the grammar test
That’s what makes it so interesting. Am enjoying hearing….
A bunch of my close friends were at ISK in Nairobi from 85-91. They relate fun tales of mischief and debauchery in both country clubs and discotheques that I envy. Apparently young expat teens drinking was off the chain. Anybody here go to ISK?
you had that crap too??!!! beware those who interpret god for the masses because their tongues are tainted with curry and their sweaty armpits smell of shit – the virdis and the mehtas and the kanjis kicked me out because they werent sure i belonged with them and i spent the session brooding alone in the audi planning my revenge – someday… someday i’ll do a frank mccourt on the desi ass. some day…. BWAHAHAHAHAHA… urp.