Exams are coming up in a few weeks time, and now suddenly everyone’s become focussed with their studies. Unlike earlier in the semester, nowadays the library gets packed throughout the day that it’s almost impossible to find an empty space to study.

I was in the library yesterday afternoon, and they decided to carry out a fire drill to test the preparedness of students in case a fire was to break out. The silence was abruptly interrupted by the ear piercing shrieks of the fire alarm, but what happened after that is what surprised me. While I was hurrying to get my stuff and sprint out of the library, most of the other students just sat there with “WTF?!” expressions on their faces! Someone even yelled “turn that damn thing off! I’ve got a test in two hours!” The fire alarm was on for about ten minutes, but still, very few guys moved from their seats.

Ok this is a library i.e. BOOKS. Fuel! Tonnes of fuel just waiting for a spark to ignite it. I figured that if a fire was to break out in the library, we’d see or smell something burning, right? Only then would we hurry to get out of the building. That’s why no one budged, coz there was no smoke, no fire and no smell of anything burning. But this is a three storey building with only one entrance and exit, and I was on the top floor. What if a fire had broken out in the basement? We would definitely not know about it until it was too late.

Anyway, sometimes it’s best not to apply too much logic to such situations coz you and your logic will burn to death, and then you’ll look very stupid coz there was absolutely no reason for you to still be in a burning building if you heard the fire alarm! Get it?

I got an email from a former high school classmate that I haven’t seen or heard from in ages. We were dorm-mates for four years, but after high school, we lost touch (as everyone else did) but what got me thinking is that we have absolutely nothing to talk about. We never really did connect while in school despite the fact that we were dorm mates and classmates as well. How do you live with someone for four years, share the same bench in the dining hall, stand in the same queue during morning parade, share the same bench in the chapel, and not know who they really are? How is this possible? If we were to meet a few years later, where would the conversation start from?

However, there are a few funny incidents that I remember about this fellow. Cheruiyot is from the heart of Keiyo and has the perfect Kale accent to match. During the very first weekend in form one, when we were still a bunch of confused rabbles, Cheruiyot had dressed up in his best attire and the rest of us were curious as to where he was going. Did he have a date with a girl from the neighbouring girls’ school so soon? So we asked him, and the conversation went a little like this:

Us: Kwani unaenda wapi?
Cheruiyot: I’m going to the town.
Us: Do you even know where it is? We’ve only been here for a week.
Cheruiyot: Don’t worry, I cannot get lost.
Us: What are you going to do in town?
Cheruiyot: I’m going to buy a paget for my sister.
Us: A what?
Cheruiyot: A paget.
Us: Oh…ok. A packet of what?
Cheruiyot: Not a paget, A paget!
Us: Yes, we know, but you’re going to buy a packet of what?
Cheruiyot: Not a paget! A PAGET! Yaani ndoo!
Us: Oh…a bucket! *hysterical laughter* Yaani you’ve come all the way from Keiyo and the first thing you can think about buying for your sister is a bucket? Kwani there are no buckets in Keiyo? Kuwa serious!

Yes we were form ones, we were allowed to make fun at such silly stuff.

Ok back to the topic. Is it possible to know someone but not really know them? What does that say about you as a person?