Random Thoughts of a Girl in Nairobi

1. You instantly become best friends with someone who has the same taste in books as you. I have made several friends this way. 2. So many books. ..so little time . Life often gets in the way of your reading. 3.  The agony of waiting.  When you read a book that's part of a series and it ends in a cliffhanger but the next book in the series isn't due to be published for at least a year. It's a struggle between valuing the author's creativity and needing your next great book fix. 4. You take it personally when the movie adaptation is a total flop. We have long accepted that movie adaptations will never be perfect but we still have standards. 5. Finding a book that surprises you.  After a while this becomes the challenge. You've read so many volumes that you can spot a clichè storyline a mile  away 6. Walking into a bookshop while broke. Absolute torture. And even when you do have money,  it's never enough...

   The other day I was in a Matatu headed to town, my nose deep in a book. This gentleman sat down next to me while having a lengthy phone conversation. At some point during the ride he finished his conversation, disconnected the phone and turned to me. Our conversation went something like this: Him:      How are you? Me:         * pretends not to hear *                 ( Because this is Nairobi and I’m not particularly in the habit of talking to random strangers. Also, he might be trying to hit on me. There was something about the way he said that statement; how are you? ) Him:      * A bit louder *                 How are you? Me:        * sighs inwardly, replies tersely *    ...

   I've always been fascinated by stories like these. Stories about women who really went through stuff that would break anyone and still survived against all odds. Stories set in parts of the world I'd only heard about. Sure, Google images helps but nothing beats a narration of first hand experience. Stories like Arthur Golden's ' Memoirs of a geisha ' which I read as a teenager. This book firmly falls into this category.    La Prissonniere caught my attention because of the title.  It's the way I'm drawn to all things French. The book details the imprisonment of Malika Oufkir, her five siblings and their mother in the Moroccan desert for 20 years because her father staged a failed coup attempt against the then Moroccan king.  The oldest was 18 years while the youngest was just 3 years old.  Talk  about sins of the father! All this despite the fact that she had practically been raised as a princess in the king's household. The descripti...

   I was reading an post by one of my favourite bloggers about how to keep loving God even after people in the church have hurt you . She says that bad people make bad choices but God is still good. And I felt it resonating with so many of the things I've been thinking about this past year and some of the things I'd seen people around me go through. We canonize individuals and raise them onto this pedestal of religious perfection while conveniently forgetting that they are human beings. Human beings fail...human beings are not good. They sure do try to be but the only person who is infallibly good despite all variables is God. People will dissapoint. Maybe not today, not tommorrow but someday. Maybe in a big way or a little way, but somehow. Because people are human, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So when all is said and done and they dissapoint we take it really hard because in our minds they were supposed to be be perfect.    So the thing ...

 ***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 ...

    2nd Timothy 3:16-17  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NKJV)    I came across this verse as I was doing my morning Quiet time. I'm currently reading one chapter a day, going from one New Testament book to the other. I started with Romans a few months ago and I'm currently on 2nd Timothy. As of now, my plan is to go to the end of the New testament, then go back to the gospels before starting the Old Testament. A bit unorthodox, I know but it works for me. But I digress.    So I came across this verse this morning and then it struck a thought! I googled the NIV version of the same verse for the sake of comparison and it says this: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, c...