The Chronicles of this place... D.C.

Discount.... this place discount! I walk in through the main entrance. I can't see a face I recognize yet, but nostalgia kicks in heavy! I can hear reggae playing off from a distance, guys laughing and shouting. 'Now that sounds familiar', I say to myself as I head towards that direction like a bee to a flower for nectar.

If you have been to Nairobi West, the town of pubs, pubs and more pubs; then you probably know Discount or have heard about it. Discount, or as it's commonly called, DC; is a shopping mall of sorts, housing close to 50 mid-sized stalls ranging from pubs, salons, food joints, beauty shops, clothes and shoes shops, tire repair centers, soup & meat joints (my favorite) and many more.

Its the perfect "all under one roof" I must say...kinda 'rightfully' so since Nakumatt don't have a soup and meat joint! Haha 

Discount Shopping Center - courtesy of Google.

Having lived in Nairobi West for close to 5 years, I knew most of this joints in and out pretty much. DC  specifically made a huge chunk of that pie chart; well second place after West Mall! Don't get me started on the chronicles of this place,West Mall. It's a mall that has pubs and food joints accounting for about 85% of the businesses set up here. A sort of discount, but now, "uptown". Anyway, story for another day.

DC is then closely followed by that mutura and roho guy... that "fast food" joint maan.. wueeh!! I mean, we talking maini, roho, mafuta choma, mutura, you know... 'zile nyama za ku point' as my friend George Clarence Waynaina would put it; or 'road kill' if you'd like.

I was just a fresh graduate from campus and as life would have it, I had all this adventure ahead of me to live and what better way to start if not from my immediate surrounding? Yeah! I kinda had this 'life-after-campus' thingy all figured out. With a few months to let off some campus steam and before I could start serious job hunting, I was quit psyched up for some exploration!

I walk in to 'Livondo's joint, the famous Edge pub, all excited and expecting a hero's welcome.  My smile slowly fades. It's not the same place anymore. I cant see any face I recognize. The great funky decor that once adorned the walls had now been replaced with ugly pink whitewash paint. What now? I curse as I squeeze myself into the benches that sit where there was once well cushioned seats. I was however quite uneasy; I wasn't about this life anymore. But I needed to check it out, see "how far I had come", you know?

Oh well... I get comfortable and get ready to order 'my cup'. At least to my joy, our guy Jaymo was still there. He is so excited to see me. I get up and we exchange pleasantries. I have to admit I was elated to see him.. I mean I had spent most of my time here and we had become friends. Those campus days when we would skive class and just chill! Talk with my boys hours on end about cars, girls, raves...you know, typical campus dudes vibe.

I ask for a 40 for me and a jug for him.. the dark one! Ooh the bliss after my first sip.. priceless!! Cold and sweet!I couldn't stomach a lot of it though. Jaymo told me how a lot had changed. Some people had left and moved to new places, got better jobs, others, life just happened. I related.

We don't get to chat without a lot of interruptions since Jaymo has to serve the 'faithful' clients all seated squeezed up on each other sipping the dark cold frothy EABL spoils! How they were co existing in harmony. Saying hello to everyone that passed by or was seated next to them. Here at Discount, specifically "kwa livondo" and "kwa chalo', people live in harmony. Its a brotherhood thing! Well, not of the nights watch though, but at least of the drink!

Am sipping from my drink enjoying the Leicester game against some team. I'm trying to follow the game since I had placed my bet on Sportpesa in favor of Leicester but this brother next to me felt the need for us to bond, well, he insisted we do.

He goes on and on how he has been drinking from morning and he was so pissed at this point in his life. Ain't everyone too at some point? Anyhow, I ask him how and why he would opt to start imbibing the drink that early. Nijo tells me how he had reported to work late at Kenyatta hospital where he had been a casual laborer for a month now at the new building coming up there.

He had always done mjengo work most of his life. That previous night, he had had a quarrel with his wife of one year, after she had told him she needed 3,000/- to go to Mombasa since a friend of hers had promised her a job at a local pub in Ukunda.

Nijo tried to tell her wife how it was risky traveling that far for a job she wasn't sure was gonna be there for her by the time she got there. Again, his lack of that money would delay her cause further.
"Hakutaka kuskia sina pesa! Elfu tatu ningetoa wapi na unaona vile mwezi iko corner??" He asks as he helps himself to a cigarette.
I am deeply engrossed in Nijo's stories I didn't even realize Leicester score if  not for the cheers and jeers during soccer games.

I am relaxed now after the score. I had bet big in this particular game and if we won my weekend would have been a couple of thousands better.

By this time, I had started seeing familiar faces and would occasionally interrupt Nijo as we greeted and chatted for a few minutes as Nijo puffed away seeming deep in thought.

"Sasa ulipata hiyo elfu tatu?" I ask startling him off his day dream.

"Nitoe wapi brathe?!"wacha ata hivo, si nimevutwa kazi juu ya kuchelewa leo! Me nakwambia brathe wanawake si watu wazuri!"

Arms crossed over my chest I follow Nijo's unfolding drama as he laments repeatedly about how "wanawake ni manyoka sana" Oh, this was one pissed brother!

Turns out their fight lasted for about two hours as they hurled bitter words at each other. Nijo was so mad that he didn't eat the Ugali-managu she had prepared! I remember how his face said more than what he was actually telling.

"Umewai ona ni kama chakula inakuchekelea? Yaani vile iko kwa hiyo sahani inakucheki brathe ni kama imetumwa ikuchokoze! Si ati ata chakula iko na nyama ama tu royco, ni supu ya hiyo managu tu, na inakaa kama turungi! Alafu saiyo bibi ni kelele tu anapiga! Shetani kabisaa..."

Nijo was mad, and heart broken. He would rant minutes on end how he would at times find his wife at her  kibanda gossiping, all dolled and spruced up.

"Mbona mtu ajipige marashi na apake hiyo mavitu yao kama anauza mboga? Ni nani huyo anavalia vizuri hivo akienda kazi? Mimi ashawai ona kama najipaka hiyo mafuta nikienda kazi? Na pesa yangu tu ndio anakula" He puffed hard, blowing the smoke up as it furiously spread out and hang over the place as if to imitate his agitation.

I laughed hard! Now that was a jealous and insecure brother; though deep down a part of me empathized with Nijo. I try challenge him and tell him how "wanawake" are allowed to "glow and shine" at least a little. Sentiments that didn't sit well with Nijo.

Fast forward and after tones and tones of exchange and serious talk; sporadically having to scold him and give that 'big brother talk' when clearly he was actually qualified to be big brother here.

I ask for a second helping, and one for my already drunk, new friend. We were best of buds now. Laughing and talking like he was my schoolmate from back in class 6! And you wonder why EABL had the slogan "makes us equal, has no equal! *sips beer*

The game was over and the MPESA text from Sportpesa was delivered to my phone. Feeling like a million bucks, I had to snake Nijo to go check out the other joints. After thanking me repeatedly and showering me with blessings of "a better wife than his" (a prayer I said a big Amen to), I shook his hands with a few notes well tucked in, to see him off. Nijo gets up, trying to keep his balance, salutes and thanks me repeatedly after peeking to see how much I had given him.

I walk off thinking how tough one can be having it in this so called life. It was clear that his wife wasn't loyal and that she had been invited to Mombasa by an old male friend after they connected on Facebook. Nijo had suspected his wife was having an affair since she had started acting different. It ain't rocket science, but most of the time when someone starts acting all weird and different, bih must be cheating! Ain't shitting you one bit!

That aside. I make several stopovers 'hollaing' ma fans. The soup place is packed. De Matthew's songs blaring in the speakers. The setting isn't as different from the Livondo's place only that here, there was a sober crowd of older men having talks in vernacular talking about how things have changed, how ladies wear inappropriately, how food has become so expensive, how phones came to "spoil people's minds".
Am tempted to ask how the phone issue was true.
"Habari zenyu? Wacha niulize, nimeskia mkisema simu zimeharibu watu; aje?"

I ask as I'm served my ulimi and kichwa ya mbuzi served on a platta and a steamy hot soup with pilipili submerged in it. (Guys, this is a must have... all these men don't just crowd for soup coz they don't have something better... the benefits..guys, the benefits!)

Mbuthia, the older man in the group indulges me with serious insights of how a phone is a distraction. On how we spend our times 'bent down' staring at a screen not even noticing those around us.
"People have become strangers! How do you travel from say Nyahururu to Nairobi seated next to a fellow human being and not have a normal conversation about the weather, if not, how the economy is deteriorating?" he posed

I get serious lectures and lessons like it was 1972! My phone had been vibrating and ringing off the chains! But catch me dead trying to pick it during "class"! Wueeh! I get an extra cup of soup for being 'a good student' a favor that I return by getting then "maini ya mia"

It was 5.30 already; how fast that afternoon had gone by! Didn't feel wasted though, been outchea doing some good! :-) 

I had to say hi to Jolanta though! This pretty mamma was quite something! I remember our first interaction. I was just a bit tipsy and I had passed by her beauty shop without 'checking her out' as was kinda the norm... and she would shyly smile as always.

'So leo how come you've pitad without checking?' I remember how she engaged me.

'What? You speaking to me?" I ask as my excitement soars!

'Eeh..am asking what you have drunk today you ain't noticing me?!' She rolls her eyes. Oooh.. this mammy, this one! I think to myself. I laughed .. I didn't have an answer for that, but I thought fast!

"Haha... I did notice you, but I didn't have words to say; not when you look all angelic as this!" I flattered.

Ooh how that statement made her laugh!! All giggly and excited like a form 2 chick who had just got her first kiss!!

We chat and catch up for a while before I could go to West Mall... Nairobi West Mall. I had a stall to check out for a friend who was starting out a new business. I drop down towards the mall... the memories that this place holds... I smile as i pass by the security check. Let me get to it then I can have more to tell you in my next post. Be safe, will ya? *selfies out*

#TTYL.