Rihana
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 26, 2013
- 498
- 250
MEMORABLE MOMENTS IN DAR CITY CENTRE
I rarely go to the Dar es Salaam city centre these days. But when I happen to go there, it's usually for sights and sounds of the smoke-belching city to rekindle old memories.
As a young reporter, working for The Express— a weekly newspaper published by Media Express, I was quite used to the city’s hustle and bustle, but as a senior Journalist working for online international publications, I don’t move a lot to chase breaking stories.
While the face of the city—a home to six million inhabitants, has remarkably changed over the years; with sky-scrappers and modern amenities replacing dilapidated structures built in early 1950’s, some of the city’s landmarks including the iconic Askari Monument are still intact.
On a bright Saturday morning, I set out on Bunju-Morocco Daladala to get to UDART terminal, on my way to the city centre. The ride was quite pleasant and fast, thanks to former president Kikwete who conceived the idea of decongesting the Dar es Salaam city.
My first stop was at Kisutu. I wanted to visit K.T shop— an old tearoom popular with customers of Indian origin located at the junction Chagga and Libya Street.
It was from this tea room, our office maid, Mama Angela used to bring tea, samosa and kebabs every Saturday, and we feasted during our routine post-mortem meetings to brain-storm story ideas for the next paper edition.
As I moved closer to the restaurant, a gush of hot steam wafted off as a Chef, dressed in white apron and a Torque Blanche hat, hurled pieces of fresh Samosa’s into a hot frying pan.
Founded by Indian Immigrant in 1968, K.T shop attracts customers from all walks of life and varied cultural backgrounds.
The restaurant is known for its meticulously blended aromatic milky tea and crispy snacks— usually served with roast green chilly and tasty coconut chutney.
After having sipped my nice cup of tea and snacks, I strolled along the highly gentrified Morogoro road to Samora Avenue.
As I was moving, I looked across the street and saw two opulent twin towers in the horizon. These buildings have become the symbol of city centre.
The yellow towers, containing a maze of residential apartments and commercial rental space offer unparalled panorama, but also highlight a wide divide between the rich and poor city dwellers.
At Samora Avenue, I saw a maze of wooden stalls replete with old books and a pile of old Magazines. It is the only place you can find old copies of ‘The Economist’, ‘NewsWeek’, ‘Time magazine’, NewAfrica and a wide array of fiction and non-fiction books.
From Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, to Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in the World that cannot stop talking, to James Hadley Chase novels, the stalls are ubiquitous with best books of all times.
I spoke with one of the hawkers— a smartly- dressed man possibly in his mid 50’s but with blackened scalp, ostensibly applied on his hair to make him look younger, and asked him with a blinding insight, why would anyone waste their money, buying old books whose ideas might be obsolete?
He looked at me with deepening disillusion and calmly said,“ It’s the content that matter, most of these books are history books whose reality doesn’t change forever,”.
As an avid reader myself, I was not entirely startled by his answer. In fact it reminded me about a famous adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover”
As I moved on towards PPF-Tower, I wanted to have a stop-over under a huge Jacaranda tree, to have my shoes brushed off.
To my surprise, it was the same shoe-shiner I used to see many years ago. He’s still confined on his rudimentary wooden bench, vigorously scrubbing leather shoes with his bristled brush. Although he didn’t seem to recall who I was, we spoke casually and occasionally cracked jokes, while waiting for the polish cream to dry.
THESE ARE SOME OF MY MEMORABLE MOMENTS. I HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED READING.
I rarely go to the Dar es Salaam city centre these days. But when I happen to go there, it's usually for sights and sounds of the smoke-belching city to rekindle old memories.
As a young reporter, working for The Express— a weekly newspaper published by Media Express, I was quite used to the city’s hustle and bustle, but as a senior Journalist working for online international publications, I don’t move a lot to chase breaking stories.
While the face of the city—a home to six million inhabitants, has remarkably changed over the years; with sky-scrappers and modern amenities replacing dilapidated structures built in early 1950’s, some of the city’s landmarks including the iconic Askari Monument are still intact.
On a bright Saturday morning, I set out on Bunju-Morocco Daladala to get to UDART terminal, on my way to the city centre. The ride was quite pleasant and fast, thanks to former president Kikwete who conceived the idea of decongesting the Dar es Salaam city.
My first stop was at Kisutu. I wanted to visit K.T shop— an old tearoom popular with customers of Indian origin located at the junction Chagga and Libya Street.
It was from this tea room, our office maid, Mama Angela used to bring tea, samosa and kebabs every Saturday, and we feasted during our routine post-mortem meetings to brain-storm story ideas for the next paper edition.
As I moved closer to the restaurant, a gush of hot steam wafted off as a Chef, dressed in white apron and a Torque Blanche hat, hurled pieces of fresh Samosa’s into a hot frying pan.
Founded by Indian Immigrant in 1968, K.T shop attracts customers from all walks of life and varied cultural backgrounds.
The restaurant is known for its meticulously blended aromatic milky tea and crispy snacks— usually served with roast green chilly and tasty coconut chutney.
After having sipped my nice cup of tea and snacks, I strolled along the highly gentrified Morogoro road to Samora Avenue.
As I was moving, I looked across the street and saw two opulent twin towers in the horizon. These buildings have become the symbol of city centre.
The yellow towers, containing a maze of residential apartments and commercial rental space offer unparalled panorama, but also highlight a wide divide between the rich and poor city dwellers.
At Samora Avenue, I saw a maze of wooden stalls replete with old books and a pile of old Magazines. It is the only place you can find old copies of ‘The Economist’, ‘NewsWeek’, ‘Time magazine’, NewAfrica and a wide array of fiction and non-fiction books.
From Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, to Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in the World that cannot stop talking, to James Hadley Chase novels, the stalls are ubiquitous with best books of all times.
I spoke with one of the hawkers— a smartly- dressed man possibly in his mid 50’s but with blackened scalp, ostensibly applied on his hair to make him look younger, and asked him with a blinding insight, why would anyone waste their money, buying old books whose ideas might be obsolete?
He looked at me with deepening disillusion and calmly said,“ It’s the content that matter, most of these books are history books whose reality doesn’t change forever,”.
As an avid reader myself, I was not entirely startled by his answer. In fact it reminded me about a famous adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover”
As I moved on towards PPF-Tower, I wanted to have a stop-over under a huge Jacaranda tree, to have my shoes brushed off.
To my surprise, it was the same shoe-shiner I used to see many years ago. He’s still confined on his rudimentary wooden bench, vigorously scrubbing leather shoes with his bristled brush. Although he didn’t seem to recall who I was, we spoke casually and occasionally cracked jokes, while waiting for the polish cream to dry.
THESE ARE SOME OF MY MEMORABLE MOMENTS. I HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED READING.
