Rolex vs paani
So many years ago, it was perhaps my very first month in primary school. By mama’s rules, it was either packed break or buying fruits at school. So, while the rest of the class had oily palms and lips after break, from the stuff they got from the canteen, I had done my time with bananas. It was tough. I wanted to taste some of the things these children were eating.
One lucky day, the girl who sat next to me pulled out something from her pocket. I thought it was mandazi but it was flatter darker and really flat and round. She tore it and shared it with me. I asked her what it was…. and she said it is called ‘Kabalagala’. What? Kabalagala? Her mother made them from bananas. It tasted like magic. I had never tasted something like that and the aroma was killer! That is what I wanted for break!
Coincidentally, we had new neighbours who soon enough started to make kabalagala. Holy Grail! Just next door! My siblings and I completely ‘hit it off’ with Kabalagala. It was such a long name, so we called them Kabs but also paani from pancakes … ( but they are not pancakes!). It is a never ending story! Kabs have been part of my entire Ugandan experience since I was young and as a teenager, it was a crazy fad in our neighbourhood. Kabs gave me some really good friends that I treasure to this day.
Out of the country where I couldn’t get them, I craved! Families that wrap paani in kaveras to their loved ones abroad. When I got back home, I had to make up for the lost time! See, I always thought that the Kabs was a national food. Like they were definitely one of the seven wonders of Uganda.
Now enter Rolex (What’s the spelling?). Rolex who? That stuff that we ate when we were running on empty at campus! If you could not afford a decent meal, Rolex was your fall back. All the time I ate it, I was stumbling financially. That is the most credit I will give it, it was a true bail out! But the true gold medal belongs to Kabalalaga!
I feel like a gastronomical coup-de-tat has just happened here. Rolex came from our uni struggles to surpass the royalty of kabalagala? How? In my republic I would have put it to a vote. However, if Rolex will get us to the middle income haven then, we just have to rally behind, no?
