Some fun little tales from my trip to the motherland.. Mumbai International Airport It is witching hour when we step off the plane and into the tunnel in a dreamlike haze. People await their fellow travellers like confused ghosts floating in the tunnel. They stare at us walking by with slow, sleepy eyes, and we…
First came the baby and toddler stages, gradually learning to think. Through primary and secondary school I was a studious, obedient kid who aced exams. Come university, I danced through a wonderful three years of undergrad, learning how to live alone and navigate the balance of work-hard, party-hard. 3 weeks after the Bachelor’s ended, the…
I joined a Vipassana meditation course without knowing what it was. My favourite cousin and wild spirit whom I deeply love once told me I had to do a Vipassana as it would change my life. So I unquestioningly signed up. Only then did I start reading up on it and realise what deep mud…
Time for some honest racial realizations from yours truly. Brown Privilege We all know about White Privilege. I am a person of colour, specifically of descent from the exoticised Indian peoples. Doesn’t sound too privileged does it? However, my skin colour lends a fair amount privilege to my life in Kenya. A simple example of…
In the post “Am I Kenyan or Indian?”, I described my identity search as a Kenyan of Indian heritage. In “Brown Privilege” I looked at the interactions between brown and black Kenyans, and how the fault for a lack of integration and harmony lies on both sides. Here’s another take on the identity crisis faced…
I had to go to India. Believe it or not, it was my first time – at the age of 25. I had to go; I had to go alone; and I had to go now. My entire life I have struggled with my ethnic identity, and with a lack of that feeling of belonging…
My dear subscribers, I finally managed to revamp the People in the Margins blog! This did mean a change of website address from peopleinthemargins.wordpress.com to peopleinthemargins.com. Your subscriptions have been migrated over to the new site. If you were a follower through WordPress and would like email notifications, you can do it through the new site.…
Trudging through foreign lands like a turtle with your life on your back; not knowing where you will sleep that night; crashing on random people’s couches and ending up as BFFs; volunteering on remote farms and gorging on fresh organic food; staying at the cheapest hostel in town and exploring secret alleys with fellow travellers; surviving on risky but tasty street food; bussing miles of the unknown alone – this is the life of a backpacker.
“Whoever is cutting off the source of water to the lake is being selfish and wants to benefit alone. We [in Turkana] will die of starvation.” – Selina Akiru – Pastoralist and firewood seller . The hot sun rises on another long day in scorching Turkana county. Meanwhile the rays graze over the greener, but also…
Seasons of friends Sweet their entrance Sorrowful their departure Alien the reunion. Distance can mean Growing separately Growing apart Incompatibly. A friendship once so ideal Treasured in memory Sours upon meeting A newly broken jewel I shed a longing tear Whisper an ode to lost joy Steel myself again And take a step onward.