My friend can’t stop laughing at the fact that my choice of a music gadget was a Discman when I had to pick between a Discman and an iPod. How was I to know what an iPod looked like in 2006? Before you start judging me harshly, YouTube was created in 2005, just a year before, so cut me some slack.
I had an awesome Canadian friend who had come to Kenya for an internship. She still is my friend. We clicked instantly. One day she wanted to buy me a gift to appreciate our friendship. Rafiki- as I call her, told me to choose between an iPod- a small thing that you put music in and carry along with you, and a Discman that used CDs. I had seen CDs before. I knew how to use CDs.
Smart people select the familiar, right? Yes, no? Anyways, I considered myself smart then, by gravitating towards the familiar. I was even smarter because I didn’t have electricity back then. I lived in the slum and electricity was a luxury. So, there was no way I could charge my device. Do you still believe I made a dumb choice? I hope you change your line of thought at the end of this short story.
My sleek black gadget stopped working after two weeks, and I had to take it back to Yaya Center for replacement. It was that fancy. Warranty and all, you know? It played music with a bass that would lock all your troubles away. That’s how I developed a taste for mzungu music like “Dancing in the moonlight”.
My Rafiki was generous enough to burn CDs for me from her playlist. Enough to last me a year. My Discman worked just as good as an iPod – at least I had a gadget to carry around.
An opportunity to go to Canada came in 2007. I was elated! Finally this was a chance to meet my friend in her country. Rafiki couldn’t believe our dream of meeting again was coming true. I couldn’t believe it either. I had to pinch myself to believe it.
Canada was fun! Just imagine a girl from the slums of Nairobi traveling alone to Canada. Travelling on an airplane wasn’t such a culture shock, because I had traveled to London earlier that year. That’s a story for another day. I may just tell you of my embarrassing experience in a London washroom. Just maybe!
My Canadian friend bought me a ticket to the city she lived in. Ater finishing the fancy engagement that had taken me from the slums of Nairobi to Quebec, I went to visit my friend and her family. It was an interesting two weeks. I even carried my Discman. How could I forget to carry such an important gadget?
When we went shopping, in Canada, I bought a heavy step-down converter that weighed almost 5 Kg- like a building brick. It would enable me to connect my Discman to electricity. Electricity that I did not have then. A girl has got to have dreams. I also bought a half Kg adapter which I still have. I am a keeper. I still have the Discman somewhere. Oh! I finally saw what an iPod looked like. I couldn’t believe I picked a heavy Discman over that. Sometimes I wish I picked the iPod, but I wouldn’t be telling this story, would I?