What makes you feel nostalgic?
Nostalgia is a phantom limb, a sensation that carries on long after the source is gone. It can bring back the taste of a candy that no longer exists, the sound of laughter that has faded, the warmth of a sun that set a long time ago.
For me, the phantom taste is Goody Goody. Not just any caramel, but those small, chewy rectangles in the distinctive orange wrapper. They have vanished now, those sweet rectangles of my Nairobi childhood, lost to time and changing tastes. Nobody consulted me. The memory has stayed anyway, a ghost of flavor on the tip of my tongue.
Other things arrive with it. The flickering picture of “21 Jump Street” on a crackling TV screen, with its undercover cops getting through high school while dealing with real-world problems. They had unity, they had cool, and they had an undeniably catchy theme song. It was pure 80s magic, and it still works on me today.
“21 Jump Street” was not the only show that held us captive. “Neighbours,” with its endless sunshine and suburban drama, offered a glimpse of a world far removed from our own. “Family Matters” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” brought laughter and life lessons into our living rooms, each episode a reminder that family, friendship, and a good laugh could get you through almost anything, usually within half an hour.
Running through all these memories is a deeper longing, for the innocence of childhood itself. It was a time when the world looked as if it had been painted in bright colors of trust and optimism. People were good, motives were pure, and laughter came easily.
The feeling lingers like the faint scent of jacaranda blossoms on a warm Nairobi evening. It is a reminder of a time when joy was as simple as unwrapping a Goody Goody (if only we still could), singing along to a catchy theme song, or believing without any effort that the world around us was good. The candy is gone. The sweetness of the memories is still here.
