Two young graduates enter into the work force, they start making serious cash for the first time in their lives, one o them is the smart one, he starts saving, he gets into the stock market, he buys a small second hand car, a car is a depreciating asset after all, he lives in a cheap apartment, in his mind if you don’t own it you don’t have to pay too much for it, a few years down the line, he buys his first real estate, a plot. He puts in hours and hours at work to get a head in the corporate rat race.
The second graduate, is cut from a different cloth, he buys that luxurious, fast, and showy car he always wanted, he lives in over priced ‘apartment’ or an SQ in Kilimani, or some upper middle class neighborhood, he doesn’t put in as much as time as the first graduate, for him it’s a balance between parting, road trips, smashing beautiful women on the weekend and a few weekdays and doing what he has to do at work.
The fist graduate works even harder at work, he gets promoted a few times, but each promotion means putting in more hours to keep up with the new responsibilities and to keep a head of the pack, his portfolio in NSE is growing, he has saved enough to start building apartments on his plot, his life now revolves around him working long hours during the weekdays, passing by a mwanainchi bar for a couple of cold ones, he doesn’t see the point in hanging out in some of those bars with over priced drinks, and working on his on going mjengo on the weekends,
Our second guys has fine taste, you’ll find him hanging out on specific joints, he develops a taste for single malts, the upside is he gets to meet and network with boys from old money families, young tenderpreneurs, young entrepreneurs, older rich men drinking away there middle life crisis, naturally he gets to know this people, some of them become his friends, he directs some of them to his employer who in turn promotes him for his efforts, some tenderpreneurs let him into deals because of his corporate exprience. He joins a golf club, more networks develop, he gets to see how the guys making the big money do it up and close, he’s a smart guys is his own unique way, so he learns, sucks up the ‘wisdom’, he get’s to know who calls the shots, Women love the trappings, the car, the friends, where he lives, he has an array of women to choose from…
Our first guys, doesn’t date much, women come with too much demands, they want you to wine and dine them, clothes, shoes, they can’t cook, they are hoes on the downlow, but one day while driving to his mjengo, he spots a damsel on the side of the road, she’s waiting for a mat, she’s different, unlike most Nairobi chicks who would be wearing an above-the-knee tight skirt, with the ass trying so hard to spill out, she’s in a below the knee kitenge dress, very modest, he likes that about her and after a quick calculations he stops and offers her lift, she get’s into the car after a lot of convincin. She’s a young diploma holder just starting her first job, she was heading to the local Winners chapel where she’s a faithful, with time they become fast friends, she doesn’t come with too many demands, over the weekends she cleans his apartment, washes and irons his clothes, cooks, her ‘spiritual mother’ has taught her all about ‘submission’ so she doesn’t talk back when the man talk, the guy does what any man would do, he wifes her!
One day our second guys is chilling at the club house, then this hot chick walks in, implacable make up, pearls on the neck, a sexy summer dress, alimalisika, a game of cat and mouse started, it turns out she’s a young lawyer, a daughter to some hot shot lawyer with a big firm, she’s just getting started in her fathers firm. A few months down the line, the chick ako kwa box! kifunguo imetupwa… The guys decides that it’s time for him to quite employment and start his own thing, his girl supports, to her life is all about taking risks, she saw her father taking them when he was starting out, even without a huge bank balance he uses his connections, and his kiosk is up and running and now he is his own boss! He marries his girl in one of those ridiculously expensive weddings, the father-in-law picks the tab, he does it for his little princess…
The first guy moves into one of his apartments, he wants to quit and follow his passion,farming, but the new bride thinks it’s too risky, her father worked as a teacher all his life and life was just fine plus all the farmers she knows are impoverished peasants in her village. His job is all he has experience on, plus the employer knows his work ethic and he dangles the carrot to keep him on. Five years down the line, three kids are here, he doesn’t see them much because the job has gotten more demanding, the are no good schools in the neighborhood so the kids have to start schooling in a shitty school in the neighborhood.
The second guy, is a boss now, they decide on one kid, they get a house in Runda on mortgage, the starts schooling in an amazing school, his parting days are over so he uses that time mentor the young man and pass on the insights he gained over the years. He has accumulated a lot beautiful memories, when the wife doesn’t turn him on he can pull the image of one of his hot lays from his memory and it always get’s him going…
20 years down the line, the two men are lying in a casket…one has left a beautiful home in Runda, amazing education and a company to his son who he has been grooming over the years to take over. The other one has left a block of apartments and a fat portfolio at NSE to a bunch of clueless men he hardly knew because he was too busy at work when they were growing up.