Another Matata winner for Menezes
Among The
Jacaranda
A novel based
on true events
Braz Menezes
Available on
Amazon and most E-book platforms
Review by
Cyprian Fernandes (Yesterday in Paradise,
Stars Next Door)
Among the Jacaranda is the third in the Matata series: Just Matata (reissued as an expanded
edition as Beyond the Cape 1920-1950)
and More Matata (1951-1963) by the
Kenya born author Braz Menezes, a former award-winning architect.
The first
three books quickly established a large fan base for Menezes who quickly became
recognised for imbuing the hero of the books, Lando, with wit, humour, a sense
of adventure as well paying homage to Kenya and especially Nairobi. No doubt
Among The Jacaranda is already assured of a following; probably more in E-books
than the printed variety, both are easily available.
I am finding
reviewing this exceptional trip down nostalgia road a tough gig. Not only
because I get a left-handed compliment but because, like Menezes, I was born
and raised in Kenya and I think the author is a couple of years older than I.
Hence it is easy for me to walk down familiar roads to familiar suburbs, Goan
social clubs, especially the Goan Gymkhana (where I was a rare visitor) and
many, many familiar faces.
Some one questioned
the other day why East African Goans over-feast on their past lives in the
former British colonies. History. Just a shared history and the unbreakable
links that a community gives birth to. Even more, authors like Menezes, Mervyn
Maciel (the doyen author of Bwana Karani) also act as low-level historians
charting the lives and times of Goans and prove to be invaluable in the absence
of any recorded history or documented almanacs. Even more importantly, fact or
fiction based on true events, serve enlighten the non-Goans in our respective
adopted countries about everything Kenyan in historical terms.
More
importantly, Lando mirrors to a large degree the lives of young Goan men and
women who began university life in the 1960s, got their first job, excelled at
sport, or towards the end of the 1950s or early 1960s faced the heartbreak of
being forced to leave the country with their parents on the onset of
independence. On the other hand, there were many young people who achieved the
move to university life overseas and committed themselves to a future back in
independent Kenya. Menezes’ hero, Lando (who, I am sure is based largely on his
own life) did just that.
So if you
have slightest connection (and even if you have no connection) with Kenya, then
hope along for a nostalgic safari.
For a young
man who had not travelled much before, there is all the wonder of a European
holiday to explore. You will have to buy the book to enjoy the details.
Lando,
seeking fame and fortune as a future architect, heads for university in
Liverpool in 1964. Even though the UK is running a high fever, fighting to
“keep Asians out”, Lando is unphased. He is aware of it and is concerned about
the treatment and abuse being meted out to Indians who already settled in the
UK. However, Lando is just an observer.
It is not
long before our intrepid hero meets a white girl and takes the first steps
towards falling in over a period of many months. Menezes takes us on a romantic
journey that is rather seamless, without drama of any kind and the two later
head for Kenya to make bliss official at the wedding ceremony in Nairobi. As I
said, it is all very seamless.
On his return
to Nairobi, Lando spends as much time as he can at the Goan Gymkhana. To his
delight, most of his friends are still there and club continues to function in
an independent Kenya with little change. These days, in Sydney, Australia, I
chew the nostalgia fat with one of the friends he mentions in the book: Felix.
With a bunch of other ex-Nairobi friends who meet at a bowling each Friday,
come rain or shine or whatever, we celebrate our collective past.
There is
much, much more to this valuable contribution to the historical record of the
Goan community in Kenya, especially Nairobi.
I loved it.
Because it is everything so familiar. Another winner for Menezes.
Cyprian Fernandes is a former Chief Reporter of the Nation.
A glimpse of
Mombasa
‘We
drive over the Makupa Causeway that links the mainland to the island of
Mombasa. A short while later we are crossing the Nyali Bridge and heading north.
It is about 5 pm when we pull into the magnificent portico of the Nyali Beach
Hotel.
It’s pure
luxury to wash of the day’s dust, change into clean cotton evening wear, and
sip a long cold drink on the terrace of the hotel. The terrace, set high up on
a promontory of coral, offers beautiful views of Old Town Mombasa and the large
colonial mansions.
The pin sky
turns slowly to a bright orange as the sun disappears over the island.
An overnight
stay at this beautiful hotel and its stunning view of Mombasa was the big
surprise I had managed to keep secret from Eleanor.’
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