‘Nyama Choma’ – Happy Days

There are real stories, based on reported facts which confirm unexpected outcomes from a life of leisure. Not really, the majority of Asians still work hard and earn their day’s worth. The focus of this ‘story’ is more on Nairobi but also centres mainly on the Sikh community according to reliable reports.

Young Sikhs, of which I used to be one, tend to love their nyama choma of barbequed meat with lots of ‘daru’ or drink, mainly alcohol to help wash down the food.  Poor men; how could they be forcibly stuck with such hardship?  Not really. Which comes first; the drink or the drumstick?  Ahem. If you answer this one well, I will buy you … er.. a drink. And yes, another myth has also been shattered. There used to be a time when the Singha Singha used to rejoice the fact the Gujaratis were ‘weaklings’ who were too loyal to their religious beliefs and did not how to get a life. They were the ‘choroko’ eaters who calmly ate their daal (lentils) and drank their ‘phanta’.  Yes, the Sikhs knew how to enjoy life. Reports indicate that the Gujaratis started eating and drinking big time in the 80s. They discarded their life of ‘grass eating’ and went for the drumstick and in the process became ‘real’ men. Lo and behold, Gujarati women also enjoy the same poisons with equal measure. Who can complain about lack of equality?

The concerns reflect a life of indulgence, for many young men and others wanting to pass as ‘young’, there is a great life of enjoyment which ‘you can never get in the UK, you know’. They can have their barbeques every day of the week. You work hard in the office, factory, construction firm or technical services firm during the day, put in a huge amount of work and when the time comes to go home, the barbeque beckons. The wife and children who may be waiting at home can wait a little longer “A couple of quick drinks and a bite of chicken thigh and I will be home’. The wife can be easily pacified. Just as these thoughts begin to crystallise, the car automatically drives the young man to the garage or workshop where the nyama choma usually takes place. However, today it could be a sports club or a community space and since all communities enjoy the same food and drink, the Sikhs have more choice.

It goes without saying that everyone has their own ‘safe’ limits and ‘you cannot generalise, bhaji (big brother’, says my informant. And so the nyama choma seems to take over their life and regular drinking has started to impact on their health. There are reports of escalating liver disease, alcoholism, shaky hands, memory loss, impotence and diabetes, all depending on the margin by which the Sikh has beaten the Gujarati or how the latter can now proudly say that they can out-drink the Singha Singha. No one can dominate their lives anymore but the silent dominance of drink and indulgence appears to be breaking up families…. with occasional reports of wife beating. You also see the odd man with a black eye, where the wife has the power to retaliate or where she has been drinking with her own girlfriends during the afternoon.

Humour aside, this is a serious situation. Young men and women of all backgrounds need to curb their daily drinking in the workshop and the eating spicy barbequed food. The stomach that they are harming may be their own.  People also suggest that the life of indulgence is affecting the men’s motivation to work and others are no longer interested in emigrating. ‘You cannot have such a great life in the UK, you know’.