This is related by a Kenyan Indian. Going to the cinema was an activity interwoven into the fabric of the Indian cultural life in Mombasa!!
B Meera Joshi https://www.linkedin.com/.../meera-joshi-9a9321232_i.../
I grew up in Mombasa, Kenya, East Africa. Regardless of the weather, our dinner time was at 8:00 PM and bed time was 10:30. Eating out at a restaurant was a huge deal, a rarity actually, that only happened when it was a birthday or a very special occasion to celebrate.
There was no such thing as fast food on every other day, and having a bottle of either Coca Cola, Fanta, pepsi or Mirinda or portello with jugu was a real treat reserved for SUNDAYS only if you had behaved well during the week, or potato chips and coconut chutney. Bhajias of Mombasa with Coconut Chutney and pack potatoes. Bhagwanji, Mombasa Mix was a treat once a month and the same went with Jalebi and Ghantia and other snacks from Bhagwanji's. Pass your final exams and you might have gotten a new set of clothes or Bata shoes, Kit Kat etc. Blue Room
There was no taking or picking you up in the car, you either jump on lifts in friend's car or rode on your bicycle ( if you were lucky to own one) or just walked home. We didn’t have appletv AmazonPrime or Netflix. No TV was available. Our main entertainment was Radio....during football matches...every corner had a gathering and would all listen to live commentary from BBC. On weekends, our parents took us to Naaz, Kenya, Regal, Moons cinema for a rare treat of movie..and offcourse DRIVE IN cinema which was more like picnic place on weekends...and their amazing mouth watering chips.
Raw mangoes, mbuyus and muhogo filled with pili pili manga na kachumbari were like god's gift to us..We played chor police, gili danda, Football, Cricket, pakra pakri and gololi and any other game we could come up with. We went every morning to Mombasa Old Port where Tangavizi with plenty of sugar was out of this world. At home, we stuck to draughts (dama), ludo, snakes and ladders and Monopoly. Popular Book shop, Pran pen corner Hussieni Bookshop for Stationery and books and get our comics Dandy, Beano, Topper, Beezer and other magazines.
Staying shut in the house was a PUNISHMENT and the only thing we knew about "bored" was --- "You better find something to do before I find it for you!" And times with a stick too
Life was good without insta, facebook, twitter.
We ate what Mum made for dinner and put in our lunch and snack box. Bottled water was non- existent. We drank from the school water tap.
We weren't AFRAID OF ANYTHING. We played until dark... sunset was our alarm.
If someone had a fight, that's what it was and we were friends again a day later if not SOONER.
We did not know what luxury was. Our simple lives were so good.Those were the good days. So many kids today will never know how it feels to be a real kid
.
I loved my childhood and all the friends I hung around with.
Our generation has been through all the major inventions and achievements of tye 20th and 21st century.
We are the rarest of them all
There was no such thing as fast food on every other day, and having a bottle of either Coca Cola, Fanta, pepsi or Mirinda or portello with jugu was a real treat reserved for SUNDAYS only if you had behaved well during the week, or potato chips and coconut chutney. Bhajias of Mombasa with Coconut Chutney and pack potatoes. Bhagwanji, Mombasa Mix was a treat once a month and the same went with Jalebi and Ghantia and other snacks from Bhagwanji's. Pass your final exams and you might have gotten a new set of clothes or Bata shoes, Kit Kat etc. Blue Room
There was no taking or picking you up in the car, you either jump on lifts in friend's car or rode on your bicycle ( if you were lucky to own one) or just walked home. We didn’t have appletv AmazonPrime or Netflix. No TV was available. Our main entertainment was Radio....during football matches...every corner had a gathering and would all listen to live commentary from BBC. On weekends, our parents took us to Naaz, Kenya, Regal, Moons cinema for a rare treat of movie..and offcourse DRIVE IN cinema which was more like picnic place on weekends...and their amazing mouth watering chips.
Raw mangoes, mbuyus and muhogo filled with pili pili manga na kachumbari were like god's gift to us..We played chor police, gili danda, Football, Cricket, pakra pakri and gololi and any other game we could come up with. We went every morning to Mombasa Old Port where Tangavizi with plenty of sugar was out of this world. At home, we stuck to draughts (dama), ludo, snakes and ladders and Monopoly. Popular Book shop, Pran pen corner Hussieni Bookshop for Stationery and books and get our comics Dandy, Beano, Topper, Beezer and other magazines.
Staying shut in the house was a PUNISHMENT and the only thing we knew about "bored" was --- "You better find something to do before I find it for you!" And times with a stick too
Life was good without insta, facebook, twitter.
We ate what Mum made for dinner and put in our lunch and snack box. Bottled water was non- existent. We drank from the school water tap.
We weren't AFRAID OF ANYTHING. We played until dark... sunset was our alarm.
If someone had a fight, that's what it was and we were friends again a day later if not SOONER.
We did not know what luxury was. Our simple lives were so good.Those were the good days. So many kids today will never know how it feels to be a real kid
.I loved my childhood and all the friends I hung around with.
Our generation has been through all the major inventions and achievements of tye 20th and 21st century.
We are the rarest of them all
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