Random Thoughts of a Girl in Nairobi

   I am obsessed with Indian food. My family knows it and I know it. I’m currently looking for a support group. One which hopefully bankrolls trips to local Indian restaurants.  :-D  So you can only imagine the glee I felt when I stumbled across this gem of a recipe on Pinterest . It’s quite simple especially if your chapatti making skills are on point! And even if they’re not on point, it’s still easy enough.  I modified the recipe a bit and improvised here and there but it still turned out great!  So without further ado: Ingredients 3⁄4 cup warm water 1 tsp. honey 1 teaspoon active dry yeast 2 cups all-purpose flour 1⁄2 cup plain yogurt 2 tablespoon cooking oil 1⁄2 teaspoon salt ½ a cup of melted butter ( or cooking oil ) ½ cup chopped cilantro ( Dhania ) Instructions 1.        Stir the water and honey in a bowl; add yeast and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. 2.   ...

 ***Click here for part 1 , part 2 and part 3 ***  I'm black! That's something I've never really been consciously aware of. I've been aware of the fact that I'm female and that it might cause situations to turn out differently as a result. I've been aware of my class. I've been aware of my tribe. But never in my life has the colour of my skin and the texture of my hair been on the spotlight. In Americanah Chimamanda says that Africans only become aware of their blackness when they leave Africa. And I found that surprisingly true!    Reception about the colour of your skin in India depends on who you encounter. If you meet an Indian one of three things is likely to happen: 1. They stare . My friends and I have stopped entire market places and shops just because the people around stopped to guffaw at our blackness. All this despite the fact that I've seen South Indians with skin darker than my own.  If you're lucky,  that's all that happens. I...

***Click here for part 1 and part 2 *** Chennai airport during the floods...It was shut down!   This week a friend asked me how I've been. That was a interesting question. The answer is a bit complicated.    See, These are the things they  don't tell you in disaster flicks. You're phone will not be fully charged. No you will not have power. Your kitchen will not be fully stocked with enough non-perishables to last you the whole time. And mother nature is unpredictable!      Those who have been  to Chennai, India know that they basically built a city on a marshland with zero drainage. It started insidiously really. It rained on Monday evening,  and the whole of Tuesday. A cyclone apparently. Then on Tuesday evening they opened 3 dams and shut off the power telling us it would be restored by Wednesday morning . So was I worried with my phone battery at 30%? Nah! The fact that our usual take-out joints wouldn't  deliver food ...

For part 1 click here   You learn... 1. How to be an expert at speaking your mother-tongue, if you have one... Especially when it comes to discussing cab fares and the prices of things. In my case,  that would be Swahili. The locals keep doing the same to you anyway, whether intentional or not. 2. Being away from home takes the concept of budgeting to a whole new level. You actually have a cash limit and it's not like mom or dad can just bail you out whenever like they do back home. You actually have to think about ATMs that accept visa or Mastercard, Western union , Moneygram and the transaction charges charged by each.  Therefore that automatically means that you have to spend your cash in more sensible ways so that you only use the above services when absolutely necessary. 3. It brings new meaning to being an adult. Where to spend the night,  where to eat,  how to get your laundry done, what to do if you get sick, what cab service to...

   No amount of Google-searching and receiving pep-talks could possibly prepare one to deal with every single aspect of being in a country that is not your own. I've been here almost a week and this is what I've experienced so far. Some of it funny, some of it irritating and some of it down-right weird! I'll let you judge for yourself: 1. People being fascinated with my hair.   Braids are totally normal at home but here, I'm almost losing count of how many people looks at as and go, 'Wow, I like your hair!'. And then they want to touch it, and ask if we do it like that every day, and how we wash it.    Hi, my name is Val. Just your friendly neighbourhood red-head! :-) 2. Being called 'maam'.   It's almost like I took a trip to the sixties! 3. Shots of tea.   I ordered a cup of tea and it came in well a shot-cup. There's no other way to describe it. Then we asked if they had big cups and they said no. So naturally, ...