Dar es Salaam. That’s where I spent 17 years of childhood. It is a place that I will always remember with affection. I particularly remember as I grew up, how dependent our lives were on our parents and house workers. The cook and the maid took care of all the cleaning and the washing and cooking. The watchman made sure that the house was secure by night. In all my time in Dar es Salaam, I made many friends. In my young days, the Drive In Cinema was the highlight of the weekends. Then as I grew up and moved to a different school, it was the camping out with friends that made the weekends. Then came the class parties and the discotheques in town. The ones I remember particularly were Oysterbay club and Peninsular. Peninsular had an open area and a closely packed dance floor. But things in Dar change a lot and when I left in 1992 to go to college in India and returned in 1993 for a visit, things had already changed. The new place was Billicanas club in downtown and also a few clubs in Masaki. In 1997, the Msasani Slipway was the hang-out of our school crowd. I wonder what it is now. I may have to go visit and find out. But what would be really great is to visit my old school which was just a mile from the beach front. This was the road that I would use to return from school everyday when the afternoon sun gleamed off the deep blue Indian Ocean. Oysterbay too has many memories including one near drowning incident. But that will have to wait for another article. Dar es Salaam shall always be my Haven of Peace..