Back in the days…phew!

Old days, old days; a lot of interesting stuff back in the days. Before the Mercedes Benz A, C, D (does it exist anyway?), class made their way in Rwanda, before Tigo and RwandaTel eased out communication, before the KBC coasters invaded in Kigali, I am talking about earlier than the ATM cards were used to withdraw money. That’s the time I am talking about, back in the early 90s. If you were around those days you would wish to go back and take a glimpse at all those things. Back in the days of ELECTROGAZ (Ahem, I have just been reminded its now RECO RWASCO), days we heard on Radio Rwanda that ELECTROGAZ was to start cutting off water supply from those indebted to it. You would actually picture, “Electrogaz” boarding a taxi from town, via Kisementi, then Remera to Kimironko, on your door to come and destroy the water pipes until water bills are paid. Currently who will be scared of the contraction of “RECO RWASCO” (Oops I hear it’s now called EWSA)…EWSA cutting the water lines off? No one, even a 10-year-old will defy the acronym. I still think ELECTROGAZ was better sounding. I surely miss those days. Not to talk of when anybody said they resided in “Kanombe”. Sincerely if anybody heard you resided in “Kanombe” they thought you lived at the airport—this was considered classy of course. You would actually picture that only the rich enough to travel in airplanes lived there. Then the people in “Kiyovu”, passersby actually thought they saw the President in his compound because they were in the same neighbourhood, can you imagine? I surely miss the old days. What else to split? Ahhaa! Before the NOKIA N- series invaded the country, remember those telephones that existed. You had to roll numbers arranged in a circle with holes in it to call. If you owned that telephone were considered a bossy and rich person. The first time I saw it I even dreaded to touch it. Then as the technological revolution swept in, mobile phones set in, who remembers the Ericsson T-10 (brick-like phone) big enough to be mistaken for a brick? Heavy and big enough that one would recognize it from a distance, not forgetting they had an aerial to boost the network unlike today when the latest phones have no aerial, are super slim almost like paper and touch-screens. I wish I could get one to refresh my happy memories. How about music? Before Rider Man, Kitoko, Meddy and The Ben (where are they by the way?), then our CHOGA king, before Miss Jojo and the rest made it in the Music industry; anybody remembers this guy Byumvuhore JP? What about the “Amasimbi n’amakombe” days. Sincerely I wish I could go back to those days. Okay, now before “Skol, Heineken, Amstel, Mitzig and the mighty Turbo King beers set in, what did we have? Oh yes the local brew “Ikigajye, Urwagwa” before they were modified to be sold in supermarkets where they now carry the name “Tarama”. Back to the old days, any one who afforded this local brew was equivalent to what we call a celebrity now. I remember watching my grandpas getting drunk after galloping two sips of the drink served in Calabashes. And of course no percentage of alcohol content was in place to determine the strength of a drink. Young as I was, trust me I wished I was a grown up man ready to sip of the local thirst quencher…or did I mean chocker. But lately, who would drink that stuff, with Coke Zero around…yahk, awful taste! I wish I could take back the years. Ends