Lovingly known as “Rameshbhai”
3 November 1940 — 19 February 2021 · aged 80
Kisumu hardware merchant and community elder who sold nails and gave away advice
Kisumu, Kenya Born in Kisumu, Kisumu County Resting at Ashes immersed in Lake Victoria, KisumuIt is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of RAMESH VALLABHDAS PATEL, proprietor of Patel Hardware & Building Supplies and former Secretary of the Kisumu Hindu Union, on 19th February 2021 at Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu. Husband to Hansa; father to Nilesh, Kiran and Meena; grandfather to six. In keeping with Covid-19 regulations the cremation and prayer meeting will be attended by close family only and streamed online. Please send condolences by message. Contributions to the Kisumu Hindu Union Welfare Fund via M-Pesa Paybill 441207, Account RAMESH. Om Shanti.
Rameshbhai Patel could tell you the length of a roofing nail in his sleep, and the name of the person who needed it. For almost sixty years he stood behind the counter of Patel Hardware & Building Supplies on Oginga Odinga Street, selling nails, paint and cement to a Kisumu that was rebuilding itself from colonial railway town to lakeside city, and he knew every carpenter and mason by their first name.
He was born in Kisumu in November 1940 to a family who had come from Gujarat to work on the railway and stayed to trade. He attended the Kisumu Boys' Academy, and at seventeen began to work in his father's shop on weekends, learning to weigh screws and haggle politely. When his father died in 1967 he took over the business, and he grew it into the most trusted supplier of building materials between Kisumu and Kakamega.
Rameshbhai was a man of ritual: tea at six, prayers at six-thirty, the shop open at seven-thirty and a walk to the lake at dusk to watch the sun sink behind the hippo point. He was secretary of the Kisumu Hindu Union for twenty-two years, and he organised the annual Diwali celebrations that drew thousands of residents of every faith. He extended credit to young builders and rarely collected when a season was poor.
He spoke fluent Kiswahili, passable Dholuo and perfect Gujarati. His shop was a place where Luo carpenters, Luhya masons and Asian contractors argued about football, politics and monsoon prices over sweet tea. He died at Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu, on 19 February 2021 after a brief illness, and in keeping with Covid restrictions, his cremation was attended by only a few relatives and watched by hundreds online.
He is survived by his wife Hansa, two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.
“A good merchant sells nails; a great one sells trust.”
Sunday, 21 February 2021 at 07:00 UTC
Add to calendarComing together to honour Ramesh and support the family.
Cremation arrangements and the thirteen days of mourning.
Prayer meetings at the family home, Milimani, Kisumu, held daily for thirteen days
Contact: Nilesh Ramesh Patel
$0 raised through this committee
No fundraising target set.
Community prayers and a welfare fund in his name.
Annual remembrance prayers each February at the Hindu Union hall, Kisumu
Contact: Dilip Mehta
$0 raised of $1,550.39
Fellow traders contributing to the family and the free eye clinic.
Association office, Oginga Odinga Street, first Monday of the month
Contact: Joseph Ouma Onyango
$0 raised of $775.19
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Proprietor
Patel Hardware & Building Supplies1967 – 2019 · Kisumu
Ran the family shop on Oginga Odinga Street for over fifty years.
Married Hansa Patel
1966 · Kisumu
A marriage of fifty-four years.
Secretary
Kisumu Hindu Union1985 – 2007 · Kisumu
Organised the annual Diwali celebrations and a free eye clinic.
Kisumu Business Community Award
Kisumu Chamber of Commerce2010 · Kisumu
For lifetime contribution to local trade.
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Ramesh is survived by
5 people have shared a memory of Ramesh.
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Sign in to write a tributeNeighbour, Kisumu
In the 2007 troubles he opened his shop's back door to shelter our family for two nights. He gave us tea and never mentioned it again. He was a brother to us all.
Former customer and friend
I built my first clinic with his cement and his advice. He said a clinic should have a wide doorway and a bench outside. Both are still there fifteen years later.
Friend from the Hindu Union, now in Leicester
We organised twenty Diwali nights together and he never once allowed a guest to leave without a box of sweets. Kisumu was lucky to have him as its host.
Granddaughter in Toronto
Nana taught me to count in Gujarati by weighing screws. I watched his cremation from Toronto at three in the morning. I am glad I could say goodbye even from far away.
Carpenter, Kisumu
Rameshbhai gave me my first box of nails on credit in 1989. I paid him back a year later and he gave me a free hammer. I have bought from no other shop since.
