Hello all the people of Nyeri and your families of course,
I am reminded of the Israelites of the Old Testament , when, as the story goes, they wondered from Egypt, to Syria, to Jordon to Mesopotamia, only to reach home thanks to their travel agent, Moses, who parted the sea and even guided them to Israel. He even gave them 10 Commandments as they were likely to be naughty.
Of course, the Nyerians did one better, as they seem to wonder all over the globe. It seems we can be found anywhere and everywhere. From wherever you come from, whether from far or near, our travel agents or Internet have got us here. I hope it has been worthwhile for you and you have managed to socialize with all the nice people. It certainly would appear like a good gathering.
It is nice to meet everyone face to face, and indeed put faces to our Yahoogroup friends. We all have a common thread, in that we come from the town of Nyeri in Kenya.
Although we do have something in common, having come from a town that binds us together, but the timeline for us is different. I would hate to tell you when I lived there and I hope to see some folk who were some years before me.
I was born in Thika in 1932, but soon our family moved to Nyeri. It was then that my dad, Nanji Meghji Bhadresa started his business as Ladies Tailoring House. I was there to 1944 after which I was in Nairobi.
We were five brothers. My older brother Jamnadas, and younger brother Tarachand joined the firm. As you can see, I was the renegade of the family, and so was Magan. My younger brother. Ramnik, the youngest, now runs the business with his son Kishan and their families.
At that time, we had Osman allu, Gordhandas Jinabha Kotecha, Trikam Keshav- the shoemaker. Velji Tejshi, Chamshi Tejshi, Jeshang Devshi , where we used to go and buy fresh vegetables as soon as it came from Mombasa, Dhanji Jiwa and his brothers and Hassanali Khimji, with the famous Shiri Mashi, Khimji Devshi Shah, who had a book shop, Ghelani Bakery which came later, Hussein Suleiman, who with many others used to gather on Fridays at the bus stop as the stinking fish used to arrive that day. Mr Gajri ran the Post Office, Raichand Rajpar who brought stacks of money to the Std. Bank of south Africa everyday, money earned from his trade, Shamji Raghav, Narshi Pancha, Jeram and Ramji Samji etc. Of course there were many more, like Mr. Costa, Breganza, etc. And who can forget Kamar massi, wife of Kasam Premji. If you were in any trouble while going on the way home- you ran into their shop, and she protected you with her largess and her booming voice. Their children were Pyarali , Fatehali, Sadru and a couple of well endowed daughters.
There are many other names, like Meghji Rupshi, Mepa Kanji, Bhoja Jivraj, Rughani , Vir Singh, Kartar Singh, Mohamedali Rattansi, Keshavji Meghji Bhadresa- my uncle and many others. Many of them are slowly becoming a distant memory , to their families and to a large extent, mine.
I was hoping to see Girish Dave tonight as we have corresponded a lot, but I am sorry that it was not to be. He has passed away prematurely and I am sure the whole group have been very sad about it. I believe he was one of the pioneers of this group, and as you know, life is like a relay race, when a hero falls, the gauntlet is picked up by others and face the challenge.
The Europeans in the forties not mingle with the other racial groups,, and of course, we did not mingle with the indigent race.
At my time, the school was Nyeri Indian School and classes went up to Standard 6. There was no temple, Mahajanwadi, or Gurudwara.
We had brilliant teachers, and I can recall them lovingly. Mrs Mahan, Mr Gandhi, and there is Mr. Joshi, Mr. Patel and many others.
You had to be good, or the report would reach home via the oral gossip column of Mrs. Mahan, faster than a newspaper or even a telephone. She was a great teacher, by the way.
Mr. Gandhi was I think a was a genius and most memorable- he made his own electricity when the town was in darkness, except for Osman Allu and his family, who had a noisy contraption that made electricity and it went on till 10 at night. It was actually eerie afterwards in the silence, and the noise was in fact a comfort. Mr. Gandhi showed us how to make a sundial, he made a paper mache globe of the world, and he had us measure out the compound in Nyeri and draw it to scale. We missed him when he left for Ethiopia and a better pay. We had a Bengali teacher whose face and glasses were shattered by an irate parent. Along with my brother Jamanbhai and a school mate Jamnadas Padya, we put on our own magic shows and got into trouble for it. And of course, there were many other adventures.
My class mates were many- Ratilal, Jamnadas, Bhagwatlal, Bhagwandas, Lalita, Kanchan, Nemchand and many more who attended the school at the time. Unfortunately, I had to go to Nairobi for further studies. Bago ran the taxi and carted us backwards and forwards to Nairobi. He was given the responsibility to look after all the Asian kids.
Later I ended in Liverpool for medical studies but once again had the privilege to practice in Nyeri, starting in 1959, but once again leaving in 63.
I had Dr Madok, Smith, Drs Patel, Avasthi, Portsmouth, Keating, Ciono and many others as colleagues. Dr Dinker Patel, his wife Vasu and Chandrakant. Dinker had taken over my practice in Nyeri when I left but leaving a piece of my heart and love there, because I loved the Kikuyu people- so wise, so simple, so humble and so poor, just like the Canadians, except for the poor part.
Apart from fleeting visits to East Africa, our life has been in Canada where I have a wonderful family and worked for forty years as an eye specialist.
I have also been lucky enough to drag my daughter and granddaughter with me, and not forgetting all the other members of the family who are present here. The Bhadresas have come in full force tonight.
In conclusion, all I can say is keep writing and make the Nyeri Yahoo group even stronger, and maybe our next meeting will be in Nyeri, which will probably cure us for the next ten years.
( I am sorry that many of the family were absent because of a bereavement in the family, a calamity which happened rather suddenly.)