ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing the archives for the Observations category.

Oh Yes!

“It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come“- Sam Cooke

One of the greatest demonstrations of freedom took place in Nigeria on Tuesday the 16th. It was a youth rally that had over a thousand young professionals storm the Eagle’s Square and the National Assemby complex (the Nigerian Senate building) to demand a change to the way the country is run and the direction to which it is going. It was tagged Enough is Enough. It was a popular uprising that the country has had coming for a long time. One stupid national event after another that has brought disgrace to the name of the nation has happened many times and for weeks, months and years it had been necessary for something to come along and break the cycle of citizen complacency. This was it, along with other rallies that have taken place in the past weeks. And this was extra relevant because it was organized by young people, the main beneficiaries of the inevitable future. On the short run, it won’t solve any problems. It will need to be sustained and backed with vigilance and active participation in governance at every level, but as a demonstration of the will of the people to challenge misrule and bad governance, this is one of the best recourse of an enlightened citizenry. Luckily, unlike what these pictures show, it was actually a peaceful protest – albeit a very angry one, as it should be.

I followed the rally from my laptop as early as 4am on Tuesday on twitter and via the live video feed until I finally slept off by 8am. One thing I can say is that the audio and video feeds I got didn’t give me the best and most accurate portrayal of the event and I was frustrated half of the way. But here now are some of the most memorable, and favourite, pictures from the event, obtained from Facebook today thanks to Ohimai Godwin Amaize, former campus journalist and one of the guys on the front row. What can I say? I am proud to be a young Nigerian, and I align with those bold to challenge the status quo. I hope that more rallies like this take place around the country, and I hope that the required change comes.

Yesterday, the acting president dissolved his cabinet, which on some level could be seen as the beginning of progress. Who knows?

Oh Yes! was published on March 18th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the News, Observations, Opinion category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Monday!

‘The Ides of March are come.’ ‘Aye, Caesar, but not gone’ – Julius Caesar

Work resumes today after one week of Spring Break. I look forward to the last quarter of my teaching experience which should be easier than I thought before. From the result of the mid-term test from two weeks ago, I think we’re doing well so far. It’s time to take it easy and just have fun. Yes, fun.

I got a few more books to read, just as soon as I finish Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sister’s Street which I’ve just begun. They include Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (my second copy), Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come, Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, the Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa’s In Praise of the Stepmother, JM Coetzee’s The Life and Times of Michael K, and Paula Varsavsky’s No One Said A Word.

Is it strange or not that my colleagues in other parts of the country are just beginning their own Spring Break today?

Have a nice week everyone.

Monday! was published on March 15th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Academic, Observations category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Dear Lord, Wherever You Are

“Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.”


Dear Lord, Take very good care of mum now. She’s sixty today!

So let every day of her life be filled with joy and with peace,

And with contentment, and love of her children, and friends.

And grant her the happiness she deserves, wherever you are.

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Dear Lord, grant mum long life, more pleasant days, and prosperity.

(I know I don’t care for too much money, but I am not her, you know.)

Remember how solid a rock she has always been for us. An optimist.

Even within adversities, and days of dark uncertain clouds, she stood firm.

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Dear Lord, wherever you are, let me be sixty years old too someday.

And when that day comes, let me still be strong, and happy, and healthy,

and hopeful, like my mother today, in the joy of a bright beautiful day.

And, like her today, let me be able to deserve all the love and warmth.

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Amen.

Dear Lord, Wherever You Are was published on March 15th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

At the City Museum

Here are pictures taken at the St. Louis City Museum last night where five of us from different countries had gone to spend the evening. There was Reham the Egyptian, Abdiel the Haitian, Chris the American, Stephanie the Taiwanese, and Kola the Traveller.

It wasn’t such a museum as it was a sorta playground. But it is a museum in the sense of the artifacts that it houses. Most of the attraction in the building is from the caves, tunnels and mazes that the it contains. And this could explain why there are more kids and young folks there than adults.

One more observation: A non-Egyptian would look at the clay mould in this picture and conclude that it is indeed a Pharaoh head, but Reham disagrees totally. “What is this?” she asked, genuinely amazed, and we were immediately amazed too. “I thought it was a pharaoh,” I said. “No,” she replied, shaking her head. “The pharaohs don’t have ear rings, neck bracelets and this kind of head.” Interesting. “I guess it is an American pharaoh!” I replied.

At the City Museum was published on March 13th, 2010, with the tags , , under the Art, Fun, Observations category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

A Son of the Rocks

or Narratives Around My Childhood, a guest-post by Ibukun Babarinde, a Nigerian published poet, and friend. His first collection of poems is titled Running Splash of Rust, a sort of journeying around Ibadan and its human landscape. He sends this from Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, and he can be found on Facebook. Enjoy.

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One of the questions that troubled my young days was the mystery behind the enthralling view of the top of the rocks that peeped into the sky lines over my home town, Saki. There are many mountains towering into the sky in the town, and all of them stood in different positions. Their view like an alluring drama set, offer different scenes and sights at different time of the day, and also different views throughout the seasons of the year. The most fascinating to me is the morning view of the mountain tops, especially in foggy and hazy weather conditions. The cloud formation on the mountain would literarily make the mountain top look as though it had poked into the heavens.

On sunny afternoons, a clear view of the mountain appears in the brightness of the tropical sun, and the scanty vegetation along the mountain steep would flaunt its greenness and all together a very lovely scene to view.
The most prominent of the mountains is the Asabari, Asabari is believed to be to Saki as what Olumo Rock is to Abeokuta. History had it that the people of Saki had sought refuge in the Asabari in times of war, another rock of equal relevance is the Oloogun rock, but with a singular distinguished attribute, it is only natives of Saki that are allowed to climb the Asabari, while Oloogun accommodates every one.

Other mountains and rocks also exist; Isia, Otun, Aganran, Efun, Sangote, Ayekale, Ofeefe. These rocks sit in places as though they are survey pillars mapping the whole Saki town into quarters.

At different times of the year and season some of the mountains are worshiped, the tradition of the town ascribed some element of deity to the mountains. But to me, every day I worshiped them.

Some Christian sect also do their picnics and some other spiritual gathering on one of the mountains, they had some kind of legacy in a particular mountain called ‘Oke Adagba’ the Baptist missionaries had settled on the mountain side, and left some old college buildings and beautiful premises behind. Every Easter, all Christians in the town would gather on the mountain from morning to evening, in simulation of the Galilee where Jesus met His disciples before he ascended into heavens.

As I moved from one junior class to the other in my early school days, I had a profound preference for chairs by the window side, so that I could view of the mountains any time I wanted to. I had very close view of the Isia rock, and at quite a distance, the view of Adagba rock which has the pinnacle of the first Baptist church towering out of dark of its evening shadow.

By evident reasons, I chose to go to Ayekale Community High School, as though to retrace my ancestry. The school was built in a valley, with the Oloogun rocks on the hind side, Ayekale rocks merging into ofeefe rock, at left and front. The secondary school had a small entry road, steeply and winding, as though folding into a valley. I spent the first two years of my secondary education in this school environment before I was snatched away by the city life.

One of the most fascinating and point of my attachments to this environment is the echo that naturally occurs as a result of reverberations caused by the guardian rocks. Even now, I still remember how the period bells in the school would resound, echoing twice or more, and how the voice of the then school principal, Mr. Afonja would be snatched by the waves hovering over the valley.
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You can find previous guest-posts here. Thank you Ibukun!

A Son of the Rocks was published on March 12th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the adventures, Fun, Observations category. There are currently 6 comments on this article so far.