ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing the archives for the adventures category.

Bargaining, Hausa Style

This is the kind of bargaining I’m used to. You walked up to the seller, you offered your rate and s/he offered his/hers. You went down and down until s/he could tolerate you no further and then you bought. I have found out a new version. I had walked into the shopping complex at Wuse Zone 3 a few days ago, desperate to buy a Dell powerpack. One I was using had blown up in Ilorin and I really really had to send an email. I entered the first shop and the sales person there was very welcoming. I told her what I wanted, she confirmed the voltage and went to look for it.

“How much is it,” I asked.
“Bring 5,000 naira,” she replied.

I’d learnt to be wary of offers that begin with “bring…” so I said, “I’ll pay 3,000.”

Actually, I really wanted to pay 2,500 because I didn’t have much to start with, and I couldn’t remember just how much I bought it the last time.

We went back and forth for a while, and after a while, I noticed that she was beginning to like my “3,000” idea so I went down again. “Actually, all I have is 2,500.”

She flared up.

Apparently, the way to bargain is to choose the lowest common denominator and bargain up to meet the seller. “Why did you say 3,000 when you knew that all you had was 2,500?” She demanded angrily and turned me into the bad guy. I wasn’t ready to be bullied into a hasty purchase anyway, so I walked to the next shop where I got it for 2,700. I had started my bid from 2,000.

Unfortunately, as soon as the purchase was complete, I was kicked out of the shop for staying longer than necessary “testing” the equipment.” All I wanted to do was to send that pressing email. And even though the first shop had a more welcoming attitude, it was too late to return there to ask for a favour. A teachable moment.

Bargaining, Hausa Style was published on July 17th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the adventures, Observations category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Adventures with Zainab

Before setting out to Kaduna, I sent a lot of questions ahead of me, mainly because whenever I thought of the state, my memory just fails to conjure up any images at all. If I had only thought a little while back to years of childhood, I might have remembered that the Nigerian Defence Academy that trains all Nigerian soldiers is located in the state. I should have known this because there was a time when my brother was seriously considering enlisting. That was like twenty years ago. Now, all that circled my head were merely blank thoughts that never materialized into any concrete images, and my father had always said that there were no stupid questions.

So I asked, in all innocence and as a precaution to a situation of being hopelessly stranded in a strange land far away from home, “There is a UBA bank branch in your state, right?” And the problem started.

Unknown to me, that was the ultimate of all ignorant questions in today’s Nigeria. Actually, even to me, I realized the folly as soon as the question was uttered, but I justified my question with instances during my youth service in Jos when my National Bank account was suddenly rendered useless when I realized that there was no branch of the bank in the state. If I had thought about it a little more, I would have realized that after the consolidation of banks throughout the country, one of the requirements of new banks was that they must have branches in all thirty-six states. Yeah. Dumb me. To add salt to injury, as Zainab took time to remind me about a hundred times during our first meeting since New York, “Kaduna was the capital of the old Northern Region. How could we not have UBA?”. All my protest that the question was supposed to be a reflection on UBA and not on Kaduna as a state fell on deaf ears, and I’ve been paying for it ever since. Think about it, I said. You have Chase Bank in NY and we don’t have it in Edwardsville. It doesn’t mean that Edwardsville is “bush” as you must have thought I meant, but that Chase just doesn’t have the national reach. The more I made the argument, the more I lost.

And there’s more. I never really put my mind to the extent of the Shariah law introduced to some states in Northern Nigeria since 1999 so my asking the question also seemed to put her at some defence. “Yes, we cut people’s hands,” she said, and I will make sure that you lose one of your fingers before you go back to Ibadan.” Now I’m doubting whether father was right after all, because here I am looking like the dumb American returnee, and about to lose a limb. I am still a Nigerian, am I not?

Adventures with Zainab was published on July 17th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Academic, adventures, Observations, Travelling category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Saturday Morning

By the time you read this, I should be on the road. It is a scheduled post. I do not know which way the road might lead, but it is surely not southwards just yet, except maybe they’ve removed that narcissistic governor of ours with several skin colours from the Government house, and then there would be something to rejoice about.

Now here are the choices: Abuja (again), Kano, Sokoto (the seat of the Caliphate), Katsina (where the Christmas bomber hails from), Jos (again, where I had my national youth service, and where the Red Cross had been working with the victims of the January and March clashes), and Nassarawa (where a friend had invited me to come and spend a few days).

None of this destinations is in the Eastern or Southern parts of the country. That trip will have to come later. And definitely not in these days of journalists getting kidnapped for a ransom of up to 30 million naira. And not the Niger Delta area soon either. I may not look like an American, but who knows what a random search of my bag might show.

In any case, I’m on the last leg of my tour and home is calling me little by little. I hope my dogs won’t be disappointed that I left them for so long. I have had my fill of Nigeria, almost. One of the best places of interest in this trip was the Anglican Church at Wusasa, a very prominent place in the history of Northern Nigeria.

The only thing my mother says she is worried about is that I (must have) been wearing “the same shirt all over Nigeria.”

Saturday Morning was published on July 16th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the adventures, Observations, Soliloquy, Travelling category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Abuja National Mosque

Here is one of the monument to religiosity, a crucial an often inseparable aspect of the Nigerian personality – The Abuja National Mosque. A few metres away from the siting of this is the National Ecumenical Centre where Christian events of national significance is held. The amount needed to build this mosque would definitely run into millions of dollars, but it adds some beauty to the landscape of the city, hopefully to the mind and character of the people who worship there as well.

The auspicious site of the mosque and its sheer size makes it a landmark not to be easily missed. I compare it to the Washington Monument, thinking of how the obelisk guided me to itself through the labyrinth of Washington DC in December. Well, get to Abuja, anywhere from Zone 10 to Wuse Zone 3, you could probably find your way to the mosque on foot if you wanted to. I did, and I was rewarded.

Abuja National Mosque was published on July 16th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the adventures, Art, Observations category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Footloose in Kaduna

Here is the deal: I’m not lost, but I have not yet informed my hosts that I have arrived in this town. I am discovering the city by myself. A chance meeting with a stranger at the bus park has got me far into town and here I am in the lobby of a famous hotel tapping out my thoughts to the world. I’ve seen the palace of the Emir of Zazau. There should be other things nearby to see, beside the barbecue of suya on sticks enticing me from across the road.

A few things have happened since the last time I blogged. I have been to Abuja. Yes, the famous capital city. I have visited the National Assembly and the National Mosque. I even went to Aso Rock. Truly. It all happened last night, like a dream. A few years ago, under military rule, all the places I visited last night might have been off limits. But here we are in a democratic government, perhaps with a little too much liberty. (Personally, I think the National Assembly Complex should be guarded a little more. We don’t want to have someone place an explosive device there in the dark of night, and still be saluted “Sir” on his way in and out.)

What else, the National Mosque is a very magnificent structure that make for good photography. It is somewhere to sit and contemplate, free from the bustle of the big city. And the city really is big. Sorry Lagos, you lost the battle a long time ago. Abuja is also a city of contrasts, like every big city. On one side are sprawling landscapes of wealth, and on another side of town are huts and small houses for the “ordinary people”. But don’t let that tag fool you. An apartment for rent even in those low cost areas cost a fortune compared to other parts of the country.

I have not had my fill of that capital city, but I am at least out of there, thank goodness. As soon as I’m done devouring Kaduna, I’ll see what else these parts can offer to the footloose traveller.

PS: This town is like Ibadan all over again. Or is it just me? I’ll put up photos as soon as Starcomms allows.

Footloose in Kaduna was published on July 15th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the adventures, Observations, Travelling category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.