How Indians Came to Kenya & Uganda:

The British wanted to build a railway line from Mombasa to Kampala. The rumor spread among Kikuyu and other tribal people that the British were building snake and would destroy them eventually. 

Since they refused to work, the British administration recruited about 32,000 Indian laborers—mainly from Punjab and Gujarat—to build the Uganda Railway (also known as the “Lunatic Line”) between Mombasa (Kenya) and Lake Victoria (reaching Uganda) from 1896 to 1901. 

Laborers were brought under indentured contracts, with many facing harsh working conditions and hardships. After completing the railway, around 6,700 Indians chose to stay, settling in Kenya and Uganda as artisans, clerks, traders, and small business owners, established deep commercial and cultural roots, and became a prominent part of the urban and economic fabric of both countries.

Railway being built with Indian laborers, Nairobi Station and later locals riding the train:

 

 

The Kikuyu prophecy regarding the construction of Kenya’s railway: 

• There is a well-known Kikuyu prophecy regarding the construction of Kenya’s railway, most famously attributed to the prophet Mugo wa Kibiru. Long before the arrival of British colonists and the building of the Kenya-Uganda Railway, Mugo wa Kibiru foretold the coming of an “iron snake” that would cross the land. 

• This iron snake was described as having many legs and “swallowing” white people only to “spit them out” wherever it stopped—a vivid metaphor for the trains and carriages of the railway that would bring Europeans into Kenya. He said the iron snake would have a bushy head that bellowed smoke, which matches the appearance of steam locomotives of the era.

• This prophecy was seen as both a warning and an explanation for the dramatic disruptions brought by colonization and new infrastructure. Mugo wa Kibiru also predicted that the lands where pastoralists grazed their cattle would be turned into farmland, and that there would be significant cultural and economic changes following the railway’s construction. 

• He even foretold that a particular sacred fig tree in Thika would die when colonial rule ended—something many believed was fulfilled when lightning struck the tree around the time of Kenya’s independence in 1963.

Approximately 2,493 workers died during the construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway, also known as the "Lunatic Express". This project, which began in 1896, involved building a railway line from Mombasa to Lake Victoria and took five years to complete. 

The high death toll was attributed to various factors, including:

• Disease: Malaria was rampant among the workers, and many succumbed to it. 
• Accidents: The dangerous nature of the work resulted in numerous accidents. 
• Attacks by wildlife: Lions, particularly the infamous Tsavo Man-Eaters, preyed on the workers, adding to the casualties. 

Neelam was Born in Nairobi in 1958 and left for London in 1967. Her grandfather was hired by the British in India to manage a tea Plantation in Kericho, 250 KM from Nairobi. Her father was also born in Kericho. Neelam left Nairobi in 1968 for London, as there was a fear of violence spreading from Uganda, not far from Nairobi.