By Awaaz Correspondent

Tucked away in Chemitex, a pharmacy shop next to Kenchic Inn on Nairobi's Moi Avenue, is a tiny shop that repairs watches. It is a remnant of a past era, a reminder of the friendly, personalized and affordable service that used to be the norm in days gone by. Then, unlike in today's increasingly corporate culture, the customer and the shop-keeper exchanged pleasantries and got to know each other. While purchase or repair of the watch was the central issue, a relationship developed. As a result the cost of the repair and the time factor could be modified, even credit facilities considered and a refund of the payment made if the repair work had not been successful. Advice would be freely given regarding the purchase of a new watch. A onetime customer would stop by such a duka just to say 'hello' even if his or her watch was in perfect working order.

Yes alas! Modernization, while marvellous in its technological achievements, often rides rough shod over human values. And the majority of watches made today are not even repairable! In addition it is not possible to compete with the watches and clocks being sold in Nairobi's 'informal' sector. How long the friendly old duka in the city centre will be able to survive remains to be seen!

Awaaz is pleased to share with its readers the history of this shop which not only still exists; but also celebrates a century of service this year. The story, as told to us by our narrator of Parsi anecdotes, Kersi Rustomji, begins in India with Jehangirji Rustomji, Kersi's paternal uncle who was born at Rustom Para, in the city of Surat, in western India. His uncle was a watch repairer in Mumbai, India. After leaving school, Jehangirji joined him, and learnt the watch repair and allied trade.

At the start of the twentieth century, Indians were being recruited in large numbers to work on the Uganda Railway. Some time between 1902 and 1904, Jehangirji travelled to East Africa and arrived in Nairobi. He did not join the Railway but in 1906, set up a small watch shop in the old Indian Bazaar, beside the then Jeevanjee market, opposite Jeevanjee Gardens.

After a brief period, he returned to India to marry his wife, Aimai, whom he brought back to Nairobi. The couple lived in a wood and iron house at the rear of Tommy Wood's hotel. The hotel was built by A M Jeevanjee on the then Victoria Street (now Tom Mboya Street) - the site presently occupied by Mercury House.

In 1928, Jehangirji moved his business from the Indian Bazaar to the then Government Road. He set up his small 'ghadiali ni dukan', watch repair and sales shop, in a corner of the Nairobi Pharmacy, a chemist shop owned by a Goan, Mr D'Mello.

Jehangirji and Aimai had 3 sons and 2 daughters. Rati, the youngest son, studied in a primary school on Whitehouse Road (now Haile Selassie Rd) and completed his studies at the Jamhuri High School. He joined his father in the watch repair business at the age of 15. Jehangirji continued to trade at the same place until his death in 1954. Rati says: 'I have seen Nairobi change from a village to a town and then a city. The first law courts which Jeevanjee built stood at the present Imenti House and Industrial Area was once a part of the national park. During the dry season, animals used to come right up to the railway station.' He remembers walking as a child with his father to near the Norfolk Hotel to watch the train as it came from between the present GPO and Nyayo House. The JR watch shop, was well known to the European and South Asian community, and was highly regarded by all its customers. They included top government officials, Chief Justices and also Kenya's last Governor General, Malcolm MacDonald. Among the items found in Rati's home, in 2003, were Swiss fob (nurses') watches, which the owners had failed to collect. These watches still bore labels with the owners' names in Gujarati and the prices were marked in rupees.

The Nairobi Pharmacy has since changed hands, it was bought over in 1945 by a Shenabhai Patel and the name changed to 'Chemitex'. Since then it has changed handsEntrepreneurial Spirit several times. The small watch repair business, however, has continued in its tiny corner. Rati, quite justifiably, feels that he is the only Parsi who services watches in the whole continent of Africa. The only untoward incidents the shop has encountered were in the 1982 coup when looters entered the premises and smashed all the glass counters. In 1992 an armed robbery disrupted the business.

Most of Rati's siblings are no longer in Kenya. His eldest brother, Darabsha (aka Dali), was a very keen scout. After gaining his King's Scout award, he represented Kenya at a Jamboree in Australia, in 1935-1936, the first Kenyan South Asian and Parsi to do so. After completing school, Dali joined the General Post Office in Nairobi until his retirement, by which time he had become a Superintendent.

Another brother, Savaksha, joined the Motor Mart & Exchange in 1941 and retired in 1963. Both brothers now live in the UK. A sister, Nargis, was a teacher for many years till her marriage to Jayant Patel, a civil engineer, in 1962. Amy, the other sister, married and settled in Quetta, Pakistan, in 1968.

The Parsi community which numbered 350 individuals before independence, is now reduced to 20 or so. Surprisingly there are at present more expatriate Parsis in Kenya who are in banking, insurance and other industries.

Rati Rustomji and his sister Nargis Patel are the only two members of the Rustomji family still in Nairobi. Jehangirji Rustomji's watch shop, established in 1906, continues to serve Nairobians as it celebrates a hundred years this year. Rati, a remarkably fit and energetic 77 which he attributes to walking (he does not own a car) and a sensible diet, completes 62 years in the shop.

Congratulations from Awaaz.