What is in a song? Over the years, certain songs have had a major cultural and political impact on societies and served as catalysts that defined historic moments.

Three years earlier, it was the RAF who introduced Seven-A-Side rugby to Kenya at their base in Eastleigh in 1937.

I was summoned to attend a mate’s 6-year old daughters’ birthday party. The text message was coded with all the right undertones.

There has been a spike of bizarre news story of rather unusual standards even for news in Kenya. A man who was pronounced dead and transferred to the morgue walks out of cold storage and spooks everyone out.

The pressures of contemporary living have reduced the value of fatherhood to a sperm donor and a cash dispenser.

I watched a couples’ show on one of the local TV stations and wouldn’t help but sympathise with three guys racking their brains to answer simple questions about their spouses even with Sh100,000 at stake.

Christmas cheer is in the air and most people will want to know, where you are going for Christmas?

Madiba’s funeral was always going to be a media circus.

Our beloved Kenya is celebrating its 50th year of existence and one would think the country was battling with a midlife crisis.

I have no intention of opening a barber shop, but I spent a whole afternoon talking about hair with an acquaintance

He ‘local’ is the bar around the corner in the neighbourhood within staggering distance

The story of Icarus was a popular mythology in ancient Greece. Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a gifted and highly respected craftsman.

For 12 years, the machine gun preacher has been on the battle field rescuing children whose lives were disrupted by the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army( LRA).

Many Kenyans were irked after American Bishop T.D Jakes used the N-word in a sermon in Dallas, USA.

With all the heat generated over the ICC cases at The Hague, one character keeps missing out in the conversation. He may be seen but he is never heard. He sticks out like a swollen lip, an inconvenient reminder that the small guy also has some responsibility to bear over the 2007-2008 post- election violence. In case it escaped your attention, Joshua Sang is the forgotten suspect number three. He would have been absolutely irrelevant if fate hadn’t bandied him with bigger than life characters. He is the little guy you wish to ignore but every so often, he makes the front pages, diminutive in size, cast against the confident William Ruto. Always subdued, a pained expression permanently scrawled on his face, and it no longer seems to bother anyone that he may be innocent.

It is difficult to tell a partner that she is dressed inappropriately without causing offence. Especially when they have walked past a whole line of onlookers and no one said a word. Many coupled men are forced to learn how to approach the matter delicately, because to tell a woman who spent nearly an hour picking out an outfit, that her mirror is playing tricks on her takes guts. It is not uncommon for the messenger to be shot in these instances. Unfortunately, some women have no access to the benefit of a second opinion and have become totally oblivious to the notion of public decency.

There was a lot of brouhaha generated recently over a Vaseline billboard that displays media personality Sheila Mwanyigah, showing what some people thought was too much some skin. I finally stumbled upon the controversial billboard two weeks ago, and as I drove past it, I craned my neck and was generally pleased with what I saw. Some nudity was on display, but it was laid out tastefully. I failed to see the moral danger that some have alluded to. There is space for a little artistic expression in packaging a product for consumer advertising and people need to stop being so hang up over their prejudices. We see what is in our minds.

When there is heaviness in the air, media outlets tend to focus on what’s wrong and the chorus of bad news becomes an anthem.

It is easy to find a couple of valid reasons to lash out each day in the city. There are several people, notably parliamentarians and matatu drivers who could do with some righteous anger. I would love to give them a piece of my mind or a good thwack. But I was brought up better. I know how to hold my tongue, keep my cool and walk away.

There is an instant justice story about a man named Olago Queen Cake that makes me smile every time I hear it. He was an ambitious hustler who hanged around the main bus park in Kisumu and could talk. Olago always had something smart to say about everything that happened around the bus park. He was short and wiry funny man, and an endless stream of stories. But he was also known for his abuse and was the kind of man who easily resorted to insults in a disagreement.

It is amazing that Madiba keeps going. Two months ago, the world press camped around a hospital like patient vultures waiting for the inevitable victim’s end. Tribute clips were prepared some played accidentally, rumours traded back and forth, mashed with wild allegations, but Mandela simply refused to die.

I don’t know if you caught ‘the man bites dog’ headline last week. Two men who live in Kisauni, Mombasa County, came to the sensible agreement to share a woman they had been having an affair with for more than four years.

I recently talked to some young men who said, rather confidently, that he would prefer an open relationship with a woman. I just chuckled.

There are Kenyans who have a knee jerk moral response to bad news. Every time, they hear something that does not agree with their moral sensibilities, they quickly jump to one conclusion: “The world is coming to an end.”

I don’t know if you gleaned at the retirement perks that SRC (Salaries and Remuneration Commission) tried to justify as deserving for high ranked state officials. A cool 485 million a year may be reserved for a small bunch of guys to cushion their retirement. The perks include cars, domestic help, equipped offices, bodyguards and a diplomatic passport thrown in for good measure.

The view across from a 4th floor office I sit in, offers contrasts. One end pans out over a tree line, dotted with red tiled roofs with Ngong hills in the background. The direct view faces a storied construction site that is eight floors and climbing.

Are you looking for a gentleman in the all the wrong places? One would think that otherwise gainfully employed adult women should have moved along from this level triviality but alas! It keeps popping up in social conversations.

Jim Nyamu is a real hero. The name does immediately register a bell because Nyamu’s brand of heroics is not celebrated. Jim Nyamu is the man who is spending a great deal of time walking to spread a simple truth, that elephants are going extinct under our watch. His campaign is dubbed Ivory belongs to Elephants. Ivory smuggling has hit alarming proportions in Africa and its demand insatiable in East Asia.

It is difficult to be optimistic about the bright future when the country’s biggest airport goes ablaze, and the most we can do is stare helplessly. .

Ipsos Synovate, courtesy of their public affairs arm, released a poll that left relationship skeptics disturbed.

The Barbie doll is more than doll. It is a lifestyle aspiration and I am afraid to announce that Kenya is in the midst of a Barbie storm.

I grew in the cold war era, when spy thrillers were the popular read. Men in black suits hide in the shadows, snooping on the enemy and engaging in such sophisticated and daring espionage missions. I wanted to be a spy.

The first time I visited the South East Asia countries of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, I came across a common refrain. Look out for the ladyboys or katoeys. I was warned by other tourists that some of the most beautiful women could be men.

I have been following the Tuju snafu in dismay. We understand that middle life can be exasperating for most women. But really! What happened to exercising decorum in your marital affairs?

I will start with the good stuff about the Big Brother Africa (BBA) reality show.

I got a letter from a keen reader with a ‘Dear Dolly’ situation. She met a man on Facebook and things got cosy when she discovered they went to the same high school.

Every man’s commitment story begins with promise. A man walks into a marriage with good intentions. He declares in front of the multitude in church, that it’s for love and faithfulness. He is not like the other guys.

A kitten got its head stuck in a plastic water can for several days at the Coast, and no one would rescue it because, well, maybe it was not a cat.

There is a TV show on KTN known as Tujuane. The reality TV concept is based on a blind date theme, set in a restaurant where odd couples are paired up in the desperate hope that their chemistry will ignite after a single date under the full glare of camera. I have not watched enough shows to give a balanced critique, but the three shows I caught, while channel surfing, left a sinking feeling.

Emmanuel Juma, that droning drawl of a voice behind NTV’s political satire show Bull’s Eye, introduced me to MOHAs, the Movement of Hustlers and Sufferers.