And Home Was Kariakoo

M. G. Vassanji was born in East Africa, and like many East African Indians of his generation, he emigrated to the West and made a life for himself there. But Africa remained his primal home-the land whose colours and smells most beckoned to him, the land in which his family roots went deepest. In And Home Was Kariakoo he travels to this homeland to draw a vivid portrait of East Africa today-always the melting pot of Asia, Africa and Arabia-and tells the story of the Gujarati Indians of that region for whom Africa is both home and not home. Entwined through his accounts is the story of Vassanji’s own childhood in Dar es Salaam. Part memoir, part travelogue, part history, And Home Was Kariakoo is an insightful, thoughtful, deeply moving meditation on the Indians of East Africa and what it means to call a place one’s home. It is yet another masterpiece from one of our finest writers.