28 February 2026 – Nairobi and Ramesh’s Search
In the morning it was time to leave. After breakfast and checking out, Don dropped us at Voi railway station for our onward train journey to Nairobi.
At Nairobi Terminus we were met by Captain Ephraim, who took us to the nearby Grand Argyle Hotel close to the airport. After checking in and resting a little, we set out on a Nairobi city tour with him.
This was now Ramesh’s day of memory. He had been born in Nairobi in 1954 and had left in 1967. It was his turn to try to find the places where he had been born and lived as a child.
Captain Ephraim drove us into Nairobi along one of the newly built bypasses constructed by the Chinese. Nairobi, unlike Mombasa, has changed enormously. It has developed into a modern metropolis with new roads, flyovers, bridges, and thousands of buildings. Because of this, we quickly realised that finding old places from sixty years ago would be difficult.
Ramesh guided the Captain to several locations that seemed familiar in his mind, but nothing quite matched. We drove around and around, yet he could not recover the physical map of his childhood from the transformed city before us. My own recollection of Nairobi was almost nil, so I could not help much. In the end we had to give up. It was a sad disappointment not to find the place where he had once lived, but that too was part of the truth of this journey: some places survive only in memory.
We drove through the busy streets of Nairobi, taking photographs and videos. We passed government buildings, and Captain Ephraim pointed out the famous New Stanley Hotel. We then moved on to Parklands, where many members of the Indian community now live.
By then we were hungry, so we went to Red Ginger Restaurant. We were fortunate to get a table, because the place was jam-packed. People were watching a live Cricket World Cup match while eating and drinking. The atmosphere was electric. We enjoyed our meal and drinks there and then returned to the hotel.
