“May I ask something?”
I approached the four young people casually chatting, excitedly outside the bus station. One of them was holding a large spliff size of a sausage and puffing out balls of smoke like a car with a damaged exhaust pipe.
“Yeh” One of them eyed me, fearlessly, casually.
The only female in the group, was holding a small, plastic vape that young people love these days. According to health authorities in Europe, although they are flavoured with fruits smells, these vapes are as harmful as traditional cigarettes.
Two of the lads, rammed both hands inside their front crotches. The young leave your trousers like that. I can understand your female friend doing that, showing her backside, to attract males, but for men, it is slightly off.”
Like a group of large hornbill birds, they guffawed. Hornbills are Hondo Hondo in Swahili. Chaggas, we call them Makurang’a.
Spliff smoker: “Rebelling…”
lady continued puffing her fruit vape ocassionally, her trousers were sagging and baggy, too.
Three lads and one lady. A lad is used here in London like how Somalis say “woriya” to describe boys, men , males.
“Are you doing a survey?”
Eyes glazed, the marijuana smoker asked; his manner slightly anxious.
“Guys ! How come you
“I guess its like a fashion thing” said the other one I always see at the gym.
And the lady?
“Started in American prisons. Hip hop thing.”
“Who do you guys like?”
Again, the hornbill laughter.
Gym goer: “ I love underground stuff that you dont get on regular channels.”
He hurled both hands forward similar to a fisherman throwing a broad net to the sea.
“Such as?”
“Sweatshirt, Armand Hammer.”
“Any of you like Akir?”
They nodded. “Conscious hip hop. Akir is fire!”
I said : “ 25 years ago a British black designer wrote in the black newspaper, The Voice, that sagging trousers hailed from Afro American homosexual circles. Black gay men in the 1930s were scared to reveal themselves so they left their trousers sagging to secretly entice similar minded pals…”
The four were suddenly quiet.
“Who is the fashion guy?”
I said I could not remember but it was in The London Voice.
Nakofvony, if you speak Kichagga.
