Kijabe

To portray the issues and crises of a Diaspora culture in East Africa is one thing, but to write about them using the tools of various genres is quite another. Pally Dhillon has written a story about the clash of divergent cultures, of diametrically opposed religious beliefs, of the political and social struggles of a man who journeyed across the Indian Ocean to help build a life, a family, and a society. Kijabe is an impressive effort. Borrowing devices from popular genres--from murder mysteries and love stories, from political thrillers, Dhillon tells the story of his grandfather, a poor Sikh emigrant who went to Kenya to work for the railroad industry, operated by the British at the beginning of the twentieth century. Kijabe is the fictional account of Dhillon¹s life-long research into the life of his ancestor. The history and culture underscoring the narrative greatly enrich the reader¹s experience and keep the story from falling into the trappings of genre fiction.