Tribute

AMIN was a well-known fi gure among the golden years Nakuru folks especially during the 
discotheque era in the late 1970s and 1980s. The latter Oyster Shell Discotheque, a popular 
Nakuru night-spot during our youthful days was Amin’s brain-child. Amin had worked very 
hard to develop the former restaurant into an advanced acoustic, starry disco hub despite 
its limited space. He’d shuttle to the UK to borrow exotic ideas and to buy up-to-date music 
equipment in order to upgrade the chic entertainment joint, assisted by his younger brother 
Alnoor Lakhani. Prior to the entry of the duo in Speke’s Building, I remember there used to 
be one Ashok Darbar, an equally enterprising person like the two. In the 1970s, we used to 
converge for weekend afternoon discos (boogies) and the entry fee was “only” 3 shillings - a 
tall order to raise those days, not to mention that one was still needed to have some money 
for a soda to kill time while “grooving” until around 9 pm when the club closed its doors. The 
comical Sammy Weregere was the star-dancer of the time. Jumaa Mohammed (Juma Kiboko) 
- the long-serving Oyster Shell DJ akin to his Pivot Hotel counterpart, DJ Hussein Abdalla were 
regular features. Much later the club would operate for a longer duration of time and wind up 
business in the wee hours of the morning. We continued frequenting this place in the ‘80s 
when it was even more sophisticated than in the earlier years - courtesy of Amin’s dynamism. 
Most revellers of the time preferred to start raving at Oyster Shell before ending up at Pivot 
dubbed “The King of Disco”. When Amin passed away, Nakuru people of his time were deeply 
saddened terming him as an industrious, innovative, uptown and friendly person who was 
always full of new ideas. On behalf of Nakuru Golden Years & Today (NGYT) Facebook group, 
my thoughts are still with his entire family particularly Shemin, Alnoor, and Minaz Lakhani as 
we approach the fourth anniversary of Amin’s death this Friday. Continue resting in peace, 
Amin Lakhani.