Khelele Square

Kelele Square was written by

Aspi Dastur
(Posted on this Site recommended by George)
Great Story.

Khelele Square (Noisy Square) in Zanzibar was anything but noisy. Maybe at one time it was. It was noted for some prominent landmarks, such as Cable & Wireless, Mambomsije, Sailing Club, and the American Consulate. It was in Khelele Square that our house was located, and which became the central neighborhood for many of my youthful life experiences. The square had three grassy areas, or islands as we called them. They often became the venues for an impromptu game of cricket or hockey or soccer or marbles. 

The biggest island was right in front of C&W and became the preferable location for most of the sporting activities. An interesting feature of this island was a flowering tree (magnolia I think) that had become the target of many tree-climbing children. The lower limbs of the tree were user-friendly for even the youngest of kids.

The more adventurous ones dared to venture to higher branches. The tree had sturdy branches extending out horizontally allowing kids to hang from them and even do push-ups for some. For us growing up in the fifties, we did not have gyms with exercise machines. This tree was for us an improvised gym. The memories of my youth are filled with hundreds of fun-filled hours on this tree. But this tree was right in front of C&W, on the first floor of which was the manager's apartment. Sometimes the noise from the kids annoyed the manager who came to the window and requested some quiet.

But managers came and went. Most were nice, and not snooty like the civil servants. Occasionally, a nasty one came along and spoiled the fun for the kids.

For a brief period, one such nasty one occupied the manager's apartment. He asked the police to ban kids from climbing this tree. It was under this edict that the following incident occurred leaving a lasting imprint in my memory.

It was a beautiful late afternoon early evening and about four or five of us kids were playing catch on the island, when one of us had a sudden urge to climb the tree. As he did so, we all followed. Among us was a wiry tall kid named VG.

He was a better climber than all of us. He sprinted to the tree, and in seconds was among the upper branches. The rest of us were content to be closer to the ground. Unbeknownst to us, our noise had alerted the manager who called the police. Very soon we noticed two men in civilian clothes approaching us.

Realizing that the men could be policemen, all of us jumped off the tree, except VG. He was stuck in the upper branches. After identifying themselves as police, the men ordered VG to descend from the tree, and quickly handcuffed him.

We were all stunned with the quickness of events, and started to plead with the police to show mercy as we were only little kids. Before I proceed further, let me mention that VG was not only tall and wiry, but also had double jointed shoulders. On many occasions, in school and outside, VG has shown us how he could clasp his hands at the back, and without unclasping bring his hands to the front.

So as we were pleading with the police and distracting their attention, VG, who was uncomfortable with his hands cuffed at the back, looped his hands over his head and brought them to the front. When the men glanced back at VG, there was a look of puzzlement in their eyes. The senior of the two men, who had cuffed VG was almost certain that he had cuffed him at the back. But now he was not sure, so he went over to VG to check the lock on the cuffs. Suddenly, a couple of us simultaneously had a brilliant idea.

We continued pleading with the men to let VG go and in the process made them turn away from him. When they looked away, we signaled VG to loop his cuffed hands back to the rear. When the men turned back to look at VG we noticed their bewilderment growing. Once again the senior of the two went over and checked the lock on the cuff. After a couple such turns we noticed that the men's bewilderment was turning to almost terror.

At this point in the story, I have to digress to state that although by the fifties most black Africans had been converted to Christianity or Islam, their underlying spirituality was rooted in the fear of black magic, "ganga" as they called it. It was at this juncture that we decided to play our Ace card to trump the obvious onset of terror in these men. One of us mentioned to the men that VG was Bwana Ganga, and his feelings were not to be toyed with. On hearing this, the junior of the two had begun taking steps backwards and was ready to leave the scene. The senior man, also showing no desire to tangle with Bwana Ganga, had also started to walk away. When the junior man noticed that, he sprinted from the scene in full panic mode, with the senior guy not far behind walkingfast but with a little more dignity.

Although we could not help relishing in the predicament of these two men whowere leaving the scene in abject horror, we realized that VG still had the handcuffs on him. We had to get the men to uncuff him. So we ran after the men to remind them to remove VG's cuffs. By this time the men were so terrified of Bwana Ganga, that they had no intention of approaching VG again. Once again we had to turn the screw up another notch. We could only get to the senior guy. His assistant had gone way past the Sailing Club. Not seeing any hope of getting the key to the handcuffs from him, we had to convince him that he had to unlock the cuffs himself.

To this end, one of us came up with a brilliant scare tactic. He told the man that if he did not uncuff VG, Bwana Ganga would visit his house and his family in the middle of the night and terrorize them. By now the terror of ganga had so overtaken him that he was putty in our hands. So we turned it on another notch.

We told him that as he approached VG,  that he should not look into his eyes as that would make it easy for Bwana Ganga to cast a spell on him. It was quite a sight to see. Here was a man, who some minutes ago had caused us to almost come to tears, now gingerly approaching VG, shading his eyes with his palms as if protecting them from the sun. As the cuffs were unlocked, and fell to the ground, the man sprinted towards the Sailing Club. Us young lads took off in the opposite direction. To this day we do not know what happened to the cuffs.

Comment from George Pereira

Aspi: What a delightful story. Thanks for sharing it.

Aspi Dastur wrote:

To this end, one of us came up with a brilliant scare tactic. He told the man
that if he did not uncuff VG, Bwana Ganga would visit his house and his family
in the middle of the night and terrorize them. By now the terror of ganga had so
overtaken him that he was putty in our hands. So we turned it on another notch.
We told him that as he approached VG, that he should not look into his eyes as
that would make it easy for Bwana Ganga to cast a spell on him. It was quite a
sight to see. Here was a man, who some minutes ago had caused us to almost come
to tears, now gingerly approaching VG, shading his eyes with his palms as if
protecting them from the sun. As the cuffs were unlocked, and fell to the
ground, the man sprinted towards the Sailing Club. Us young lads took off in the
opposite direction. To this day we do not know what happened to the cuffs.

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Great stuff, Aspi.
Hope to hear more kumbukumbu from you and others here.
Mervyn