You know during our days life used to be….. Whenever I’m seated in the company of senior members of our veterinary society and one of them uses this phrase, it gets my antennae alert for a trip down the memory lane. In more than one occasions, I have gotten invaluable lessons from such kind of conversations.
On this day I walk into the institution’s canteen and meet an older vet who is about to retire from formal employment having served as a researcher for close to four decades or more. I settle down on a table next to his and order my favorite cuisine “Chapo mbili na madondo”. I’m still new to this place and being the youngest vet around, I find it hard to break a conversation with him. Good riddance!
Other colleagues join us who break the monotony by discussing the current state of politics in the country and beyond. As the conversation progresses, the senior vet interjects and says “Do you know that during our days, this train “meter gauge railway” was quite useful to this institution?
I get interested in the conversation and look at him keenly. “You see during those days when I was employed here we used to get research animals from all over the country, and the most convenient way of transporting them was via the train.
We could get animals from as far as Nanyuki, Kitale, Taita Taveta and beyond. These old structures you see around here were all filled with animals, from cows, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits, pigs etc. This place was buzzing with activities. In fact you could not get time to go for a break that’s why they had installed that bell over there to alert us whenever it was lunch time or time to leave office. Aaah those days we used to be busy”.. The conversation about his early days as a vet progressed as I continued to partake of my lunch while he ordered for a cup of tea so as to continue with the conversation.
He continued narrating his adventures while hunting for the malignant catarrhal fever from the wildebeest in Masai Mara. How they would compete with scavengers for the fresh placenta of wildebeest. Here my mind digresses as I ponder about the scientists in China who are searching for the origins of the Coronavirus. What could they be sampling? Where do they get their data from? Bats? Cats? Wet markets traders? Sewage? Hospitals? Research institutions? Well I come into a mental conclusion that I might have to wait for the next few decades before I understand what really happened behind the scenes.
By now we’ve all finished up our meals but the senior vet signals that he’s going to cater for our bills which he gladly does. Hic* it’s as if he knew my pockets were buzzing like the KPLC tokens meter box. We thank him and in unison arise to leave the eatery but my mind is still fixed to the stories of this gentleman who has proudly served this nation and in particular our veterinary profession.
Sometimes you get nuggets of wisdom from the unlikeliest of places.
Viva Daktari. Enjoy your Retirement in peace.
By Dr. Charagu Erick.
Veterinary Surgeon.
