ktravula – a travelogue!

the Nigerian Ghoul in an American Forest

A Checklist for July

I feel guilty. I neglected this blog for much of the time this month, and that was because of two nagging issues: internet, and internet. I have concluded that Starcomms was actually a wrong choice of connection for me because I’ve been fond of using it at different places. Not having the connection spread of bigger networks like Multilinks and MTN, they charge more, and offer less. In my next life, or as soon as I find someone to buy this one off me, I will make a different choice. Starcomms is more expensive and offers less national coverage than the other connections. I’ve put this to test. In any case, there are still a few nagging things in my mind and I’ll try to say them before the month escapes from my grasp.

Just in case you haven’t noticed, July concludes my first twelve months of blogging on this portal. Alright, if blogs were babies, this one should by now have started mouthing “ba-ba-ba”. It is for this reason that I will also try to complete the pattern that has been the case since that auspicious night in Lagos in August last year when I made the silly decision to begin blogging :) . It has been full of ups and downs. I’ve blogged sitting down on the dusty floor of a train station in St. Louis, on a delayed plane in New York, in a crowded bar watching the World Cup final in Ilorin, with a laptop battery on the verge of dying out in the absence of power, and even under the influence of several bottles of Satzenbrau in pleasant company. It’s been good. And let me confess, I have wanted to abandon it many times. But if I did, how would I survive it?

Now if this blog were a book, August 2009 would be the first chapter, titled THE ENTRANCE. The second month of September would be BLENDING IN. October would be IMMERSION while November would be DISCOVERIES. December was ADVENTURES WITH THE COLD and January SIGHTS. February would be tagged BREASTS & CHRIS, a whole dedication to the Mardi Gras in St. Louis and adventures with Chris, March would be CLASSROOMS, April would be LOSING RESISTANCES, May would be A FOOT IN TWO WORLDS, June would be BADAGRY, and July 2010 would be AROUND NIGERIA. Now that I think about it, it might make a thrilling read, if only a self-publication to distribute among friends, and not for the general public, just like that old one Drawing a Straight Line from Hamburng to Ibadan, never before seen by more than a handful of people.

I have not yet completely processed the lessons, the essence and the thrills of my short trip around Nigeria, perhaps particularly because it was so short and I’ve not yet giving myself the right reflecting space. No, no quasi-perfunctory visit would do next time. I may even need up to four to six months to have as much impact as I would have loved. Maybe volunteer in a local secondary school to teach the English language. Maybe teach them to act a play at their end of the year party. Maybe help construct a traffic sign of paint the zebra crossing at one of their community roads. I look forward in the nearest future to a longer immersion exercise in local communities in order to contribute in a more meaningful way to the lives of citizens. Jos is a special case, and as much as I tried, I was not able to reach the Red Cross officials this time. What have they been doing? How could one help?

All in all, it’s been a nice twelve months and I thank you for being there with me. I have just agreed to work with Nokia to promote their new product Nokia C3, so in the next couple of days, you will see Nokia related posts and quizzes one of which will earn one reader of this blog a Nokia C3 prototype to be presented at the launching in Lagos in August. (See this previous post.) From what I hear, this is open only to residents in Nigeria. So if you are interested, and/or you know anyone interested in winning the prototype, stay tuned to this page. All you would need to do is to be the first to answer a set of questions coming up in the next few days.

Well, happy end of month, when it comes. I am hoping that my last post for this month will be a poem rather than (or in addition to) the usual 10 reasons debate, but let’s see how that turns out. Let us look forward to August with peace. And who knows, maybe it will bring all required good.

PS: I’ve submitted two of my photos for a “Democracy Photo Challenge.” You may see them here and here. You may kindly leave a comment there too. Who knows what I may win for audience choice.

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A Checklist for July was published on July 29th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Opinion, Soliloquy, Travelling category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Out With The Old?

Henry is running around the house with his brother and I yell at them to stop with the noise. They ignore me, taking over the administration of the living room. Their mother is in one corner enjoying the whole noise, or at least indifferent to it. By now, she is used to the ordeal of living with two young boys under ten. I’m on the computer and all I need is my serenity so I shout again. “Hey boys, unlike your grandmother, I don’t mind you running around as fast as you like, but please don’t make any noises.”

“It is Henry.” the brother screams.
“No, It is Oyin.” the other responds, and they resume the noise and the demonic speed all around the house.

I am peeved and I shut down my laptop and relocate to a different part of the house.

You see, this is exactly how people get old: new ones are born and they are so cute, and they take over all the attention in the house. They’re smart, they’re agile, and they are vulnerable. Yes, yes, they’re babies, and nephews, and nieces. And before you know it, the old guy is no longer the cutest boy in the house. Once upon a time, it was Laitan and I running around a far larger compound than this with dust on our brows and heels. Now she’s all grown and taken, Ha, and another aeon has gently replaced us.

This is exactly how people get old. What on earth happened here?

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Out With The Old? was published on July 29th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Observations, Soliloquy, adventures category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Nokia and Me

I’ve used one Nokia phone after another since GSM came into Nigeria so I could say that our relationship has grown over years, from the old 3310 that never broke even after falling from a two-storey building or being run over by a car, to my current Nokia N70 that has often made my friends wonder if I used a Blackberry because of being able to reply mails as soon as they come in. I’ve resisted all my friend’s poaching efforts to get me into Apple or Android, and I’m proud to say that I’ve largely succeeded. In any case, I hear that there’s a new Nokia coming out, and I am looking forward to it.

One major benefit that Nokia has over all other phones that I’d wished I could use is that you could buy it without being tied to any network, they are affordable and durable, and… well, they are Nokia: less hype, more performance. I’ve used my N70 for over three years now and it has fallen down countless numbers of times from great heights. It still works. I’ve planned on getting the Maemo that came out late last year, but if the C3 lives up to its expectation, it just might be what I’m looking for. It looks like a Blackberry but it’s not hooked onto any network. What do you think? Have you heard about it? Have you ever used a Nokia? What do you think?

The C3 is a new Nokia phone to be launched in Nigeria before the end of August, designed to put messaging and social networking in the palm of your hand with access to Instant Messaging, social networking and email accounts, with Nokia Messaging.[1] The C3 also has a 2 megapixel camera, built-in Wi-fi, 2.4 inch screen, and support for 8GB of storage on a MicroSD card. (From Wikipedia). In the coming days, I’m going to tell you more about the product and the new promotion by Nokia to give blog readers the opportunity to win the product before it is launched. Stay tuned to this page.

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Nokia and Me was published on July 29th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

The Impossible Brief

Are you creative?
Do you work in advertising or does it interest you?
Can you think outside the box?
Can you crack “the impossible brief”?

Will you save the world?

Click here.

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The Impossible Brief was published on July 28th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Academic, Art, Fun, Literature category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

On “Stickfighting Days”

I read the 2010 Caine Prize-winning short story yesterday. “Gore” is the first word that came to my mind afterwards.

Olufemi Terry’s Stickfighting Days is a moving story that one never forgets in a hurry for its description of raw violence among (pubescent) boys in an imaginary dump site. I’ve read a few stories of raw violence that moved me. One of them was Fola by my friend Olumide Abimbola. It is a short family story with enormous prospects that I believe should be expanded to a standard short story length. It definitely comes to mind right now, but Terry’s offering takes us deep into an isolated world free of societal interference. There is no redemption at the end, just violence, and perhaps some jungle justice that must serve as the only catharsis afforded the reader.

Benson Eluma has written a review aimed at the insularity of the lives of the characters of the story. My friend’s observations in his review take the dialogue on literary craft and responsibility of the writer to a different direction and force us to ask a different kind of question. For me however, it is the stark violence without a chance for a real redemption that puts me off the story. It is not a deficiency as far as craft is concerned. The story is very well written and I don’t think I’ll be reading it again. Read the review on Nigerianstalk. You can read the story itself here.

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On “Stickfighting Days” was published on July 28th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Art, Literature category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Writing a Book

I have broached this idea of writing a book from my experiences in the United States, or from some of the observations I’ve shared with you on the blog. I’ve been surprised by the poll responses and I thank you for taking the time, especially to those who left comments. All the poll options reflect my own thoughts and preferences, so thank you for pitching in, although I’d hoped that everyone would ask me not to write it. Now I have got myself in a corner :) . Time to get myself to work.

The fun thing about a book is that you don’t really know what you’ll find when you open it, right? If you knew what you’d find, then it doesn’t make much sense, does it? My hope was to write something totally new on a particular theme, of the peculiar experiences I’ve had visiting places and the impressions they’ve had on me, not put the whole blog down into print, even thought that has crossed my mind before. So here it is, many choices as to consider. I do want to write something more than just an essay with ideas that will last for a while, and will contribute to thought.

And then, what about pictures? When I was young, like everyone else, I used to like books only if they had pictures. Growing up changed that, or did it? What is the place of photos – or maybe artistic illustrations – in a serious book? Well, it has to do with what kind of book, isn’t it? A travel book will have more pictures and less texts. A book of original random memoir-like essays will have more texts and less photos, isn’t it? Or what about just write many books, one of them just a photo essay book on interesting places of interest?

Random thoughts in my head, and July is already crawling out of hands. I guess it’s time to change the poll now. Thank you.

PS: Novelist Salman Rushdie has decided to write a novel about his days under the fatwa. I look forward to reading it, yet with a fear that he’s putting himself on the spot once again. I hope that he will be deft enough not to stroke any new fires this time. News is here. (Thanks Chris for the link).

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Writing a Book was published on July 28th, 2010, under the Academic, Opinion, Soliloquy category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

My City Has Gone Mad

Today was a strange day of many proportions. I missed a robbery shootout between robbers and the police at three different parts of the city, many times during the day. It’s not pretty. Earlier in the morning, I came across a crowd of people gathered around a young man recently hit by a stray bullet by fleeing robbers. He died on the spot. Had I left home just three minutes earlier, I would definitely have been in the vicinity of the attack. Returning home a few moments ago, I had missed another robbery on a fuel station on my way home by about five minutes. I’m shaken.

The spate of robbery attacks on banks and other financial centres in the city has been on the rise for a while now. This was just one of my closest encounters. The good news was that one of the robbers was shot dead while one other was captured. The bad news is that the situation that makes robbery viable to unemployed youths still remain in the country while the government plans over a feast of millions of dollars to celebrate the nation’s 50th anniversary of official existence. Shame!

We all deserve a national award for survival.

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My City Has Gone Mad was published on July 27th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

First Words

“May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, flatly baffled in the sun.”

- Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small things (1997)

“Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I’ve alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services.”

- Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)

“I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the suun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.”

- Karen Blixen’s Out of Africa (1937)

“The blow catches him from the right, sharp and surprising and painful, like a bolt of electricity, lifting him up off the bicycle. Relax! he tells himself as he flies through the air (flies through the air with the greatest of ease!), and indeed he can feel his limbs go obediently slack. Like a cat he tells himself: roll, then spring to your feet, ready for what comes next. The unusual word limber or limbre is on the horizon too.”

- J.M. Coetzee’s Slow Man ((2005)

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First Words was published on July 26th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , , , under the Academic, Fun category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

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