10 June 2007
Dear Guy with the Big Puffy Navy Blue Jacket, Jeans, Baseball Cap Who Kept Looking Over His Shoulder and His Three Associates,
I wondered what you thought of
Anna Karenina. Not an easy read, huh? As I'm sure you'll soon discover, Tolstoy is an amazing author. The way that he can get into a person's head, and interpret their most trivial emotions is just breathtaking. His powerful command of language to accurately convey feelings, thoughts, and emotions is, I think you'll agree, pretty much incomparable.
You'll notice that I only had 90 pages of the book left to read. (wink) I've long been aware that the book ends tragically. Now I'm just not sure how it happens. Perhaps you can write me a brief explanation? Did you see it coming?
If not, I'll understand. It's a real time commitment! (
LOL!) And English is probably not your first language anyway. (Nor Russian for that matter!)
K.W.
Wamitila's Mayai Waziri wa Maradhi na Hadithi Nyingine may be more up your respective allies. This book of Swahili short stories is truly unique. I put in that black bag next to
Anna Karenina just the other day because I wanted to read the title story by E.
Kezilahabi again. “Eggs Minister of Diseases” is the literal translation. It's a bizarre title and the futuristic
dystopia, of a governmental minister haunted by bad dreams, his own shady past, and the fears and paranoia inspired by his autocratic government, definitely threw me off.
Though my memory is hazy, I wouldn't quite say
that it had the same effect as the choke-hold, take-the-guy's-wallet-phone-and-bag-on-a-busy-street-on-a-Sunday-morning did. (Smile!)
While it's a bit more of a political science-y kind of book, I wonder what you all might think of
Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy. Is it inspirational for guys like you?
By the way, did you get to read that special on
Mungiki in the
Sunday Nation I had? Do you guys think
Mungiki is as widespread as some people fear it is? Can the government really bring it down? Is the government being
too harsh on suspected
Mungiki?
As for the wallet, did you see my driver's license there? Isn't that just a ridiculous picture? The strange shadows made it look like I had a
mullet! While I kinda wish I had it back, I won't mind never seeing that picture again!
You're probably slightly annoyed that I did that whole “phone lock” thing where when you switch the phone's SIM card, it asks you for the password. Probably meant you had to pay someone a couple hundred shillings to reset it. Sorry! I'll give you a hint: it starts with a 7.... Even still, the
Sony Ericsson T610 will probably fetch you two or three thousand shillings.
Altogether it should mean you end up with something like 4,000/-. (Unfortunately, most Kenyans aren't big into reading so you probably won't get more than a couple hundred shillings for those books....) Divided between four people, it comes to about $15 per person.
I'd ask you if you thought it was worth it, but I'm assuming you're not all that disappointed. Sure it's a fraction of what you hoped for with a white guy, but the chances of anyone catching you are pretty slim. I went to the police station and someone told me I'd have to pay a private investigator 10,000/- ($150) for them to try to catch you. As you may have guessed by now, I'm not the kind of person who can afford that!
Oh, and by the way, you don't have to worry about returning the ATM card! Instead of troubling you all, I just decided that it'd be easier to cancel it and order a new one.
Anyway, if we do get the chance to meet up again, I hope it's under better circumstances! If you let me keep my wallet (hint, hint), I'll buy the four of you cups of
chai and some light and fluffy
maandazi! Otherwise, it'll have to be on you!
