Where laughter lives: Memories with Baba, Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Renowned Kenyan author Prof Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. [File, Standard]

There’s a way that laughter easily fills up the spaces in our house in Gĩtogothi.  It is early evening, and I am just about to have tea when my father, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, calls me.  He is in the bedroom, his head on a pillow, leaning against the headboard.  He is in brown corduroy pants, legs crossed at the ankles, his hands interlocked behind his head. My mother, Nyambura wa Ngũgĩ, in a flowing dress with yellow flowers interwoven between, is beside him perusing the dailies. They look like they are headed out on a date.

“Ndũcũ,” he starts, “there’s this cartoon in the papers that reminded me of you…show him,” he smiles.