Forums » "Musings" with Ola Kris

The Privileges of Selected Few - Love and Lust

  • October 12, 2015 8:05 AM CEST

    I have lusted uncountable times in my life but fell in love just ONCE.To fall in love is good, very good. Some believe that it is the privilege of selected few. Like many, I have a few regrets and missteps, but divine providence has made those regrets to bring no harm today since all things now work together for good. That could also be described as a privilege of a selected few. My parents raised me well, dragged me to Church early in life, planting seeds in me that were easy for the Spirit to harvest when the time was right.

    See, having god-fearing parents is another privilege of selected few.

    IBADAN!
    As a teenager, I left home to do “A” Levels at Akure, a city of about two and half to three hour’s ride from Ibadan (Oyo State in Nigeria). I was raised in this ancient city endowed with lovely cultures, traditions and festivals. Which should I mention? Is it the Oke’badan festival that gives you permission to rain abuses on “whosoever” for a day? I miss Ibadan and still cherish the seductive and nostalgic thoughts of going back to live there, even if only for extended visits. Ibadan remains my city. And I tell you, Ibadan is the home of abusive jests, beautifully rendered, even to the amusement and admiration of onlookers and recipients alike. Talk about poetic abuses, Ibadan had it.

    Even ordinary haggling by customers and sellers at markets were filled with poetic abusive jests. “How much are your tomatoes o”, a customer may inquire. “Ah, customer”, the seller responds, “they sell for a mere hundred Naira a bunch o, my husband’s mother”. “Ah, that much?”, the buyer queries. “See, it is even the best of prices around town, go try your luck further up and return if you discover I have the cheapest”, is the usual response of a typical cynical seller. “Is forty Naira for three bunches agreeable to you?”, the intending buyer prays. ‘No”, seller quips with a tone of finality. “Alright, let me pay forty Naira for two bunches”, buyer submits. “Ah ha, they have come o, thieves. Come carry the whole goods and myself for forty Naira. Forty Naira that will slap your dirty cheek, onigbese”, the seller retorts angrily. Lol!

    Believe me, to be raised in Ibadan is privilege of selected few. In my innocently primal theatrical bent, all those were absolute fun. But of course, the short-fused customers escalated such dialogues in a bad manner while the more matured ones would tone down its intensity, enjoy the banters, get a great bargain and even gain retainership of the seller. Africa is beautiful! Nigeria is outstanding!! Yorubas are one in a billion!!! Oh Ibadan, that precious city.

    AKURE!
    And then, my arrival in Akure for “A’ Levels at OGSA would alter my life forever: it would also put a stop to the foraging for a future-partner which my generation was known for, even when we scarcely knew the implication. On a certain morning on the corridor of the lecture rooms occurred a certain event that changed everything. Moments such as this are privileges of selected few. I was sited in a class trying to study when a girl’s voice yelled out the name of someone. The voice was unmistakably that of Yewande.

    You must understand that this just-come girl had won the admiration of not a few dudes. Some boasted while others ranted their desire for this new chick, but I kept my admiration to my chest, my moves concealed. Chess is good. Unlike a certain competitor who was a handsome tall Prince, I was from a very humble family and was raised to be frugal. To be raised frugally appears like a privilege of selected few.

    YEWANDE!
    Well, I heard Yewande’s voice and since I had admired this girl from afar, I chose that moment to make my “move”, and I did. “That’s a good voice”, I volunteered, albeit unsolicited. She gave no response. “You ought to say thank you” was my quick suggestion. I refused to go down without a fight. “Oh, thank you” was her reply. That was it. I was satisfied that at least I had begun a dialogue, even if only meagre. We became friends and I tactfully co-opted her into a singing group I started. Didn’t they say “bring your friend close”?

    Exactly what I did, but since I wanted her badly, I brought her even “closer”. I proposed shortly after she was close enough to hear a whisper and she blatantly declined my amorous rhetoric. In all my youthful life I never felt such humiliation. I thought I was good with the girls. The skilful chief of chicks was dressed down? Apparently this one was no mean girl. She was such that had been raised well. See, the “who does she even think she is?” rantings of losers never came to mind. Rather, Jimmy Cliff’s “Keep on trying” was my motto. I painfully kept proposing for three whole years. Three years of my life! And it paid off. Does the BOOK not say that the righteous falleth 7 times...and riseth 7 times! Lol.

    Today, 19 years after. I have no regrets. This wine is sweeter….and stronger…in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen

    SPECIAL THANKS TO:
    My one-in-a-lifetime Pastor,the Rev Victor Adeyemi, Late Hon & Mrs S.A.O. Jide, Elder & Mrs B. Akinola and our siblins, Princess Sola Kassim,Tunde Osinjolu, Dr & Mrs A. Uchenunu, Members of 4TH MAN’S Theatre co, Dr Sumbo Marinho,Rev Dr Albert Femi Oduwole, Mr & Mrs Adinlewa, Mr Olumide Fashina, Pastor Gbenga Akosile, Mr Segun Alo, Mr Sanya Ola-Joseph,1996 set of Global Harvest Church Ibadan Choir,Rev and Rev (Mrs)Olusayo and Bunmi Ojo, Pastor Tokunbo &Linda Emmanuel, Mrs Amdalla…and many too numerous to mention. Thank you ALL.

    From: 1996 Bride & Groom!!!

    • 2 posts
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