Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

So this is how it ends...

Well, Griffin always made us take 2 bitter Anti-Malarial tablets daily when we were to go to the Mombasa Camp for holidays. This was a ‘sickening’ experience, but coming from the highlands, it was necessary that we do this as the Coast (Lowland) Mosquitoes had a particular liking for people like us.

The female anopheles mosquitoes would just get WET when they saw the Men in Red and Blue (#mirab).

So, on Monday night, I boarded KQ 416 to UG and the flight that was to leave at 10:30am was just slightly delayed and left at 12:30am.

We reached UG at 1:25am and from the window, I could see Mosquitoes touching themselves and SMSing each other: “Salim is here. The ONLY disease he gets is Malaria. It parrrty time!”

Ofcourse, Safaricom were also happy to see me go to UG. Saf-to-saf call rates remained the same, despite the fact that everytime you made a call, you get 2 SMSes thanking you. So a heavy caller like me had to delete over 100 SMSes daily for the 2 days I was there.

The data rates were also very good. For Safaricom. I downloaded my proposals and meeting documents worth 1.1 MB of data. this made my airtime go down from KSHS 1945 to KSHS 1860. Browsing from your Safcom line via MTN costs just KSHS 75 per MB. I think Safaricom can rescind their IPO if all Kenyans went to UG for a day and they each downloaded the song ‘I am speaking to pamela.’, once.

So, the meetings went well and soon I will change my walking style. Can’t yet decide between the E-240, the Vitz or a Probox. But I am sure I will make the right choice.

Malaria

Yeah. Obviously. I just had to get bit. Ugandan Mosquitoes don’t buzz. The WALK to you and Bite you when you least expect it. So, from my hotel room, I was easy prey. Focusing on the presentations to the UG telcos makes one very vulnerable.

I could hadly walk yesterday and thought it was jet-lag. (For the 55 mins flight). But I know Malaria when I got Malaria.

I am in bed shaking and shivering, then again the rain doesn’t help. Obviously I can’t code today or poke some routers, so I will do something easy. Like web-design. I feel www.iddsalim.com is more than just a blog. Thus cometheth the site.

Back code. Not!

Wazi…