Somewhere to begin

I suppose the day my mum brought home a TV is not a bad place to begin. It was a 14 inch black and white Samsung. I mentioned to her that it was a nice TV, despite the fact that children in those days commonly received responses such as 'Kwani ulikuwa unataka ile mbaya?' for making unnecessary observations. If you asked 'Ilikuwa pesa ngapi?', a not so unlikely response would be 'Unirudishie pesa?'. Perhaps parents of that time were an angry lot. Anyway, mum didn't mind.

I proceeded to sit through two hours of what I would now call agonising viewing, in the form of 'Habari' then 'Utabiri wa hali ya hewa' with Nguatah Francis (you remember him), 'Professional View' followed by 'Press Conference' , news, maombi and kufungwa kwa kituo. I would later see these shows as an absolute bore, but for that day I was enthralled.

The next day, I asked mum to switch on the TV at about noon. She explained that there was nothing to watch, since the station in those days 'opened' at 4pm. I was confused and told her that Nguatah Francis had said there would be 'vipindi vya jua kesho mchana'. It was mchana and I wanted to watch vipindi vya jua now. Mum went to explain that 'vipindi vya jua' did not mean 'TV programs about the sun' but ' sunny intervals'. I guess puns have been chasing me ever since.