The death of the telephone booth

I spotted a rusting telephone booth close to South C in Nairobi today. I wonder if anyone knows what a telephone booth looks like. I mean those big red metal boxes that we an integral part of our life just a while ago.

I was just a kid then, and I can remember the endless ques at the local post office by people who wanted to make calls. They were on of the busiest spots around shops and the Postal Corporation, had made sure that these boxes we available in every corner of the country. (Were they called Telkom Kenya or Posta? - I can't remember).

Hey, I was even taught how to use these telephones in primary school. It was there in the syllabus I think in class four or five and the teacher gave us very elaborate explanations so we would not miss it he next time we had to make a call.

I at times would pop into an empty booth to call 999 just for the fun of it and it was amazing just hearing the sound of another person on the other side of the line saying, 'Unachezea simu yangu? eeehhh...' then I would quickly hangup and run-away since my sister told me they could find me.

My friends and I would hatch plans to break the boxes that held calling coins but such childish plans never saw the light of day. I wondered how these things worked and we even made toy telephones with strings and tins to try and copy the technology.

So much for my childhood nostalgia.

Now the few telephone booths left are lying abandoned in some dirty corner of the street. Most of them have been sold off or vandalised as technology is taking new turns.

The few telephone lines that have survived the wind of change are hanging loose on falling telephone poles.

Ohh... how mum would fuss when the repair guys at Telkom Kenya took too long to repair a cut wire!

Today we have mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter, smartphones and a whole lot of other technology for communication and soon Postal Corporation will be out of business incase it's not a liability already.

Honestly, can you remember the last time you sent a letter or parcel via the Post office?

I can't.

We mourn the death of the post offices now lying dusty and deserted. Who will revive these important societal institutions?