Perfumes and the Memories they Evoke

[Mathaais]

Some really touching stories do occasionally crop up in the village. Hope you overcame all that and you are now capable of shaping your own future.

[MBOMB]

@Riva

…For me, i have learnt to look at his life as an example of what i should never be…

Nuff said bro, keep your head high. As for your old man, there is a saying that goes “Love me most when i least deserve it because that is when I need it most.”

[system]

@Riva

Disclaimer: Long read

Today, as I was leaving an office after a deal I was trying to close fell apart, i walked past somebody who wore a very familiar perfume, I couldn’t get my mind off it. Then i remembered! the perfume was called Miss and the last time i saw a bottle was more than a decade ago. The person who used to wear it was my father.

Flashes of memories began flooding in. The primary school i went to, my mum, the way we used to live in apprehension because even at that young age we knew the rent was two or more months over-due and we were only living at the mercy of the landlord.

Thing is, my father was an a**hole. He loved living a life he could not afford. When chapaing mzururo around town with my buddies on weekends, I would see him sitting at those outside tables at some expensive hotel, sipping tea, and reading the daily nation. Then i would remember the 50 bob he left at the table in the morning when he left.

We were a family of five. What could 50 bob possibly do even in the economy of 2004. When he had 200 bob, he would call my sister to go with him to the shops to get change. Then he would give her 50 bob for our breakfast, lunch, and supper; pocket 150 for himself and disappear for two days.

During the time, my sisters and I discovered what a delicacy ugali and avocado can be. You know, make some steaming ugali, buy two avocados, engage in a emotional decision of how to share the two among three of us (especially if one is bigger), cut the avocado into two, add some salt, crush it into a paste and use it as mboga (you don’t even need a plate).

My mother was the bread winner, working at some flower farm, being paid close to nothing. The greenhouse gases, the hard labour, the stress of raising three children alone, and having a husband who does not live at home; would later take a toll on her body and wear her out for good.

Meanwhile, my father hang out with people who had money. He preyed on very old sugar mummies. If you looked at him (even today), he looked like an MD or a landlord. Nice suits, nice shoes, great perfume (Miss) and even an excellent command of English to boot (he is among the first people i saw with those suits with half-sleeve coats). But in the pocket, he had zilch. He despised work and was ok surviving on hand outs from his sugar mummies. Later, it got so bad he had to flee town after sleeping with a woman whose husband was some big shot. All his children were raised by other people after my mum died.

The last time i saw him a few months back, he still held on his obsession with good looks. He moved back to shosho’s place and converted the store into a room, which is now his base when he’s not out with some old widow. Life has beaten him. He has nothing and he’s lonely.

There was a time i had cut off ties with him, but as i grew up, i realized it wasn’t necessary because it doesn’t matter now. life is what it is. For me, i have learnt to look at his life as an example of what i should never be. I can tell that he regrets his past and he’d want to say something to the effect of an apology, but he’s a man and sometimes kufungua roho is never the easiest thing.

That perfume was really a throw back in time. It reminded me of the mistakes I should never make, and that God never sleeps.

Asante bro.
I remember my Dad cutting a piece of his Staedtler eraser for me. The best thing about that eraser for me was not how well it worked, but how it smelt. It smelt of his cologne. Every time I see a Staedtler eraser I remember my Dad’s cologne. A good man I always try to measure up to.

[Old_Monk]

@introvert

Asante bro.
I remember my Dad cutting a piece of his Staedtler eraser for me. The best thing about that eraser for me was not how well it worked, but how it smelt. It smelt of his cologne. Every time I see a Staedtler eraser I remember my Dad’s cologne. A good man I always try to measure up to.

It did influence you to draw

[system]

@old monk

It did influence you to draw

Indeed. His Engineering drawings pointed me towards Architecture.
Plus, I think he wrote the original manual for Osungu.dll…

[washing_powder]

Watu hutoka mbali

[Sunguch]

That’s deep bro

[Abba]

@john_doe

Your father was a A hole but that is in the past forgive

Good

[Abba]

It takes a real man to forgive the father , it takes a real man to pick his responsibilities of the kids he manufactured , it takes a real man to own mistakes and never blame others on self misfortunes .

Even if someone does umalaya, your family has to be come first . The day the malayas will leave you, you will have nothing to fall back on except the same family you despise , and if you did bad stuff, guilt will eat you up in isolation.
Learn from his mistakes and don’t punish your kids because you were punished by him. …

[WuTang]

Your story is really great. It is encouraging that you made something out of your life despite the hardships you endured. Hii tabia ya kupenda vya bure si nzuri hata kidogo.

[kloster]

The sad thing about this generation is that it hates the things our fathers did to us but we do the same thing to our kids and worse… Drinking,wasting money,gambling,raving,buying useless stuff instead of investing,beating up women,wasting time talking trivialities of gari, who is sleeping with who, how nani amechapa or is making easy money, ngoma kali,kiatu noma,suti noma ya 100K etc etc… Upuzi tu. No investment whatsoever should you die.

[pamba]

My former wife ’ shiny eyes’ now a single mother I always strive to provide for my kid financially and socially,being a dead beat father hapana tambua.

[Okwonkwo]

@pamba

My former wife ’ shiny eyes’ now a single mother I always strive to provide for my kid financially and socially,being a dead beat father hapana tambua.

Hekaya detected. leta story buda

[WuTang]

@Okwonkwo

Hekaya detected. leta story buda

Huyo haletangi hekaya. Lakini ni mjuaji sana.

[severe]

Kuzaliwa peasant sio makosa yako lakini kufa peasant Hio Ni makosa yako

[Koolibah]

Your dad lived on the maxim fake it till you make it

[Nattydread]

@introvert

Asante bro.
I remember my Dad cutting a piece of his Staedtler eraser for me. … Every time I see a Staedtler eraser I remember my Dad’s cologne. A good man I always try to measure up to.

@introvert hata kama simjui I say you’re doing a great job of sharing your gift the way he sacrificed half of his STAEDLER for you.

[system]

@Nattydread

@introvert hata kama simjui I say you’re doing a great job of sharing your gift the way he sacrificed half of his STAEDLER for you.

Asante bro.

[uwesmake]

@WuTang

Huyo haletangi hekaya. Lakini ni mjuaji sana.

ama ni english hajui , aambiwe andike hizo hekaya kwa kibukusu ni translate .

[system]

@uwesmake

ama ni english hajui , aambiwe andike hizo hekaya kwa kibukusu ni translate .

Hehehe…
Ziiii…
:D:D:D:D:D:D