Taro (Kimitolotolo) in my Village Perspective

Internet picture of the Taro plant (Kimitolotolo)

By WABUYI DENIS

Isn't this kimitolotolo?
They are very delicious when prepared in ground nuts with kumushelekhe.
We used to have a bird which would always remind grandma whenever she delayed to serve lunch.

It would sing like,
"kimitolotolo, kyera Wokuri"
"kimitolotolo, kyera Wokuri"

Meaning; sweetness of kimitolotolo is killing Wokuri.

I last tasted them in 1996 when I last ate from my grandma.

The next time I visited her in 2000, she had lost her sight and was staying with her blind mother (my great grandma).

They always insisted on singing to me.

There was this funny song whose lyrics I cannot recall so well but it was a mix of Luganda and Lugisu.

They went along something like,
"Khatalina khatalina bakhana, banasul'ebwelu,"

Then great grandma would sing along,
"uuuu, uuuu"

I never used to want to leave but they always had sudden change of mood and their nice stories often ended in bitter disagreement and then the blind great grandma would threaten to hit her blind daughter (grandma).

This would make my grandma cry which would also reduce me and my cousin Biira to tears. In May, a few days before or after my 11th birthday, my grandma died.

Somehow, I have not understood why but my grandma was buried at the same site as her father and not her husband. One of these days I will ask mummy whether it is because she was the youngest of my grandpa's wives or because she did not have a son born to her. She only had daughters and all went to settle in their marriages.

But I think having born only daughters in such a setting is the reason why.

In turn of events, my mother has born only boys for children. Same number as her mother.

My grandma was the last grandparent I had and was the only one of my biological grandparents who crossed to the new Millennium.

I need to find out how her husband (the one I am named after) got to have 3 wives, many children but still educated almost all his daughters. For a man who was born in early 1900s, that was epic!

Mpozi, how did I reach here?

Kimitolotolo ikyera Wokuri!