UgandAshis 10. Hole in the road.

UgandAshis 10. Hole in the road.

May 5, 2009
Kampala, Uganda

Hole in the road.

Chinua Acheba, the Nigerian master writer wrote a story once about a hole in the road. A hole so big entire trucks would disappear in it. Employing an entire village to pull out the stranded vehicles nobody was trying to fix the hole in the road.
The road I take to my mansion is littered with smaller and bigger potholes. Some so big I am sure I have seen the snout of a hippotamus and on one occasion the wild snarl of a crocodile. Local kids do not believe me when I tell them to watch the water. I guess you cannot win them all.

A local builder found a great solution to his superfluous construction debris. Ditch it in the hole. And so we were hole-less for a whole one day. A bristling rain and new holes popped up straight away. This time I decided to make the best of it.

It has been a while since I swam and this Olympic Pool opportunity was not one to pass on. Within half an hour all the neighborhood kids had joined. A huge pool bash was going on. Hawkers joined at the rim of the pool and started selling sausages, ladies popped up with matooke and yams. The barbeque was on. Ghetto-blasters blared and the pool side party turned into a wicked rave.

As I open the newspaper, Daily Monitor: there it is: muzongo (foreigner) gives pool side rave – wild party as never seen before in Uganda. The Red Pepper opens with a front page photo of an ecstatic crowd partying to some groovy beats.
There is Uganda for you ; never miss an opportunity to party!

Namaskar,
Ashis