THE VILLAGE TAVERN...(Part 1)

Tucked away in the valley at the foot of the hills is a banda...From the hill top, all you can see is the roofing thatched with dry grass, figs and twigs. Proper and neat thatching, I must add...the kind you see in tourist hotels who try to create the traditional look that detests the modern unity of architectural glass and tiles. This valley divides the hills and its inhabitants but the banda puts them together most evenings. It creates daytime acquaintances and night-time buddies! 

Identity? ‘Kwa Munyui’ which when translated directly means ‘At the drinkers’. Here, village men meet, chat, laugh, toast to their successes, build solidarity in their failures and most of all pour their woes to Munyui, the bar tender. Munyui has heartily run this trade for about fifteen years. He still tells a story of how he began with 10 bottles and about two regulars before becoming the much renowned tavern owner that he is.

He has taken time to brighten the interior of the setting. Vanishing the mahogany surfaces that have to often put up with spilt liquor from the daily drunks, putting up colourful cardboard quotes that remind the clients to stop hugging the mugs too close for their liver’s sake and often rearranging the Mixmaster array that knows too well each client’s preferences.

Munyui knows every customer by name, he makes the extra effort. Knows them from both hills, and he knows which hill each comes from. He knows what to serve by looking at them, by the manner in which they swing open the loosely-hinged door and the posture that they take on the stool. He knows when to make it strong, moderate or light. He knows when to mix it up and when to pour it plain. That’s his job. A man is as good as what he knows he does best.

Weekends mean longer working hours. After a long day in the farms, the men like to cool off at the valley joint. The wives have much to worry about but they have made peace with it, or so I believe they have. The harvest season is the best time for him. He makes great sales as almost every client feels the urge to buy a round of drinks for the entire bar members.

This tavern is not one of those proverbial ones you watch on TV where the major (most respected) client is a bearded men who kicks the door open with his cowboy boots, adjusts his complementing cowboy hat by tilting it to a measured angle that only he knows of, straps off a rifle from his belt, shoots in the air and in ensuing silence from the other pub members sits at his designated bar stool, adjusts his pot belly and without a word is presented with beer in his special mug! Then the chatting can proceed! However, just like every drinking joint, there is a chairman, I am made to understand. The one who stands out as the most celebrated and adds that ‘culture extraordinaire’ to the tavern. His name? ‘Gitobu’.

More about him on part 2...