"The ‘flame’ trees that lined the only road from Nairobi city to Jomo Kenyatta airport whizzed by as we drove past. Occasionally, a giraffe or impala stood out in the dusk, silhouetted against the setting sun, and a strange tugging at my heart made me want to stamp my feet and yell out “No! I want to stay! I don’t want to go!” I had a feeling of helplessness, as though precious riches were slipping through my fingers, and I couldn’t do anything at all to stop them."

This is an eyewitness account of a life spent growing up in Kenya, East Africa, until the attempted coup in 1983. It is indeed an essay on the times spent there.

"Sinha writes with fluidity, candor, as well as surprising layers of complexity..."