A penny for my thoughts
There’s something profoundly rotten within Nairobi’s psyche; our social fabric is tattered and stained. Hear me out: So today, on a bus from town to Yaya, I was sat next to this gentleman who, though not particularly expensively dressed, looked quite decent. His hair had that shade of gray that…
I’ve been discussing this picture with a friend and she says she wouldn’t actually mind living like that for the rest of her life. It’s an attractive life, one that grants one a great deal of freedom and unencumbers them from the demands and responsibilities that everyday common folk need…
There’s a billboard on your way to the CBD from Thika Road. It’s about period shame. In a colourful way that makes me lack the temerity to describe the image in words, the billboard utilizes shock value to bring attention to the issue of period stigma that, I presume, is…
As the country is glued to the funeral of our former president, Daniel arap Moi, I am reminded of my trip to Russia about two months ago, from which I am compelled to draw parallels. I had the opportunity of visiting the Red Square, an iconic place surrounded by many…
One of my all-time favourite TV series is Suits. In an episode I saw last year, Louis Litt (played by the bodacious Rick Hoffman), the lawyer whom everybody that watches Suits loves, got assaulted. He was rushing to a meeting when a lanky and menacing thug dragged him into an…
Guest post by: Julie Hope Ambani When I was young, all I wanted to be when I grew up was beautiful. I wanted to have velvet smooth skin and nice hair. I wanted to be the girl that no boy could resist. This was of course a result of watching too…
What’s the value of 1000 bob? To some, it can mean an entire month’s budget. To others, its cash they spend in the blink of an eye. To some, 1000 bob means everything. To others; nothing. For me, it’s the cost I had to pay to lose a friend. It…
So the other day I happened to be listening to the radio and a caller to the station got me thinking. I seldom think, so the topic at hand must have been so hot as to exercise a few of my neurons. An amorously challenged girl had called the station…
In the acknowledgements section, author Ciku Kimani, who also works as a columnist with Daily Nation, reveals that it took her close to a decade to finish penning her first novel, Nairobi Cocktail. I interestingly compared the duration to how I love my wine—sweet, smooth and matured for close to…
The other day I entered a bus and as is the norm, the radio happened to be on at an uncomfortable full-blast. As I heaved my body among the passengers towards an empty seat at the back, I couldn’t help but catch the tail-end of a melancholic love song, which…
And if I’m her man and that woman loves me—I mean really loves me?—she will defend me even when she’s not so sure I were right.
Welcome to 2015, a year in which Facebook will become a religion, boobs will be imported, nyenyenye will be added to the dictionary, Kenyans will migrate and beer will be drank more than water.
If the name Vera Sidika doesn’t ring a bell, then you probably are an alien from Pluto or some other obscure planet. I mean, how in the Kenyan showbiz have you not heard about this well endowed schoolmate of mine? Her booty is so big that it could win an…
The Mugendalets are at it again. This time, they’ve effectively crossed the threshold from being a reprehensible minute institution full of primitive energy to being an international (I blame this on Thika Road) institution still full of primitive energy. Their primal nature has never shone brighter than when students are…
NB: This piece is best read while smiling “Be happy in the Lord, and He shall give you all the desires of your heart.” That is just but one of King David’s numerous nuggets of wisdom, coming from Psalms 37:4. Here, David debugs one of the misconceptions that have dogged…
Several years back, my brother and I used to attend different boarding schools. A day before the opening date, father would ask us to write a shopping list of things we needed for the school term. He would then travel to the nearby town and buy for us the items…
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with deep regret and a long face that I stand before you this fateful day. I am sorry to be the poll-bearer of sad news, and believe you me; it pains me to the deepest point of my spirit. The world’s procreation industry has…
The reason why most people lead unhappy lives these days is because they pay too much attention to just the wrong things. They focus and concentrate on small stuff that should never be a priority at all. Things that while at the surface it may seem normal to pay close…
My comrades are on drugs. They’re hopped up on ecstasy, hyped by Bluemoon Vodka, topped up on Cannabis Sativa, puffing on sheesha and acting like a bunch of marauding dim-wits on a midterm break from the Mathare Institute of the Insanely Profane. It’s disgraceful and makes me really furious. You…
Everyday, I get more and more convinced that the only reason why grown men play scrabble is because it’s the only socially acceptable way to explore their curiosity about jumping onto other men. For those who don’t know what scrabble is, gather around me as I explain to you the…
Am that type of a person who would rather skip class and catch up later on my own. Not that I am a genius or anything, as my virtuosity itself has been hovering around rock bottom. It’s just that am the kind of a person who would rather bunk class…
This is a story that happened some few years back, when I was in classseven about five years ago, and I know you will find it reallyinteresting.I attended a boarding school that happens to be located deep in theheart of Western Province. It is in one of those far off…
A friend of mine who stays in the USA invited to me to an event on Facebook called Cover the Night. When I visited the page for the event, I found out that thousands of people had been invited too. What could this popular event be? I wondered to myself.…