0024hrs.The tranquility
of the night has finally beamed in. The noise in the vicinity is immaterial.
Probably, it is the sizzling of music in my hacienda (do not confuse with those
in telenovas) that can bring some form of disquiet. The succinct thing about it
is the purpose it serves and its picturesque. In such a setting, I can afford
to pen a host of my petulant jargon. I
am glaring right into my PC; eyes so full of sleep and a heart that is guilty of
discern. Do not judge me for an
insomniac. Quite frankly, I take a few hours to lie my head in bed. Yet even in
the fleeting slumber that ensues, my thoughts often wander into the oblivion. I
take solace in the proposition that I have been a busy goose over the last few
days and that the effects may have spilled over. But only a proposition.
Today, I have the guts
to commend City Girl especially with
regards to a recent article she wrote a couple of days ago. The article Can the real Njoki Chege stand up? Well,
here I go, perhaps, besides the scintillating The Making of a man- god exposition, has been her best article.
Readers of her articles have been criticizing her propensity to bash anything
that does not qualify to be her predilection. Gamblers, shisha girls, broke
niggas- the list is insanely long.
Critics have been keen to pour scorn and charade at her without any
reservations. Yet like an astute and skillful writer, the criticism does not
deter from hitting the keyboard again. She has managed to flourish in the melee
and jibes directed at her. With a will so impregnable, she courts controversy.
Had she been a novelist, she would have picked up George Bernard Shaw’s
gauntlet - a confident gait and a vociferous inner voice reverberating all
through her work.
Her work is an epiphany
of self-concept. From the outset, you would have presumed she is trying to let
us into the inner dungeons of her heart but seals it when she perilously allays
them. Unlike David Ndii’s articulation Kenya
is a cruel marriage, it’s time we talk divorce, she racks in her readers a
couple of subtle lessons. On the contrary, Ndii is provocative and is gullible,
at best, to divisive politics. He takes note of Yugoslavian genocide wars and
its ramifications. However, he forgets to highlight the repercussions of what
he calls in his verbatim, reke tunamwo. I am no political scientist but I blatantly
think going our separate ways suppositions are uncalled for. Having read how
the United States supplanted colonialism and slavery, I exude confidence that
we can borrow a leaf. In the quest for a more United Country, America’s
founding fathers found it shrewd to rise above the horrors of civil war and
infamy and drafted articles of confederation that is often lauded as the
precursor of the modern state that it is today. Similarly, MLK in as many of
his superfluous speeches attuned the civil liberties drive to a prosperous
nation. His espousal of I’ve Been to the
Mountain Top is a tacit explanation of how we could fight for reform
without being ‘balkanized’. You all saw shujaas
lift the Kenyan flag. Their toughened
muscles beat the world’s hardened connoisseurs of the game. The pompous pride that followed was
inexplicable. A trajectory of
congratulations followed. The high-flying team from the skyscrapers of
Singapore where they charted history to the heart of Nairobi, a throbbing
metropolis. I am of the opinion that
there’s more that unites than divides us.
Meanwhile, I am waiting for someone to presuppose that I may have
reached superannuation. Or, equivocally issue a literary injunction to me.
Trust me, I wouldn’t mind.
A host of other impeccable
and talented writers I would allow walk the red carpet include Oyunga Pala,
Biko Zulu and Carol Mandi. Where they honed their skills- I don’t know. All I
know is that their gifts are rare to find. How else would you explain the
traffic they generate when they roll out an article? Even the more, their
readers are dying to read their next columns. While growing up, I never missed
Wahome Mutahi’s Whispers. This chap
always had a way of coagulating humor and style into his works. He will receive
my plaudits as well alongside the famous Mwalimu Andrew who titivates our
weekends with his Staff room Diary and
Dawood with his Surgeon’s Diary.
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