Chronicles of Iyale ookan

Sometimes when my head gets hot,really hot that I fear it might explode,I just hide inside the closet (abi wardrobe) and pretend to have my chronicles of Narnia moments. It is  never as easy keeping up with my "plenty kids", especially  the one who wants to have a birthday party everyday of the week ,or  the one who is hell bent on writing a thesis on why Cinderella's stepmom was wicked.what about the ones obsessed with doing a remix of the song " man is not hot"?the stifling screeches of  the "skrrahh- pap- pap ka-ka-ka skidiki pap skrrah"will torment the living day out of you. When such moments reach their apex I will jejely enter self preservation mode and hide inside the cupboard. A mathematical equation illustration of my kids will be( 1child  = 10children's energies ;mental and physical). My phones are not spared either .The ordeals my phones have gone through in the hands of my kids in course  of their growing years can only be better...

Since every country in Africa always insist that they have the friendliest people in the Continent, I'm just going to go with that flow. But in all honesty ,Mozambicans are very warm people.Though not as animated as my naija folks but their hospitality, interests and smiles the people extended to me as a visitor (abi tourist) made it a remarkable experience in the country. Maputo train station Though Portuguese is widely spoken,most Mozambicans I came in contact with were able to communicate in English ,often times in smattering English and in all  my interactions with the people ,the intriguing and curious case of Mr kerebou clearly stood out. Mr kerebou,who owns a grocery shop around the corner, always  (strongly) insist that he doesn't understand English, but at  few times when he gets carried away, his English vocabulary, diction and that American accent are usually (almost suspiciously) impeccable that I often ponder ...abi homeboy is on some witness protectio...

 I cannot begin to thank  God enough  for his benevolence, for that discerning spirit (that loud voice in my head ,insisting I borrow myself brain). The 24 elders at the cardinal point ,I thank una gan for your endeavors in my matter. I can't still believe how lucky I was to have dodged this last December "fuel crisis" bullet when I decided to spend the holidays in Mozambique.  My  eternal gratitude to God as I escaped the pangs of the scarcity. The march 2016  fuel scarcity still fresh in my memory:the sweats,tears and well...the frustrations that accompanied my visits to over a dozen filling stations. You can't begin to imagine how close I was to personally vandalizing oil pipes , just to get fuel(story for another day).so you can understand the gladness of my heart as I dodged the December impasse.  I decided to spend Christmas in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique because one I have never spent Christmas outside Lagos. Two , I reckoned  i...

Thankfully, the  soldiers  weren't  as  strict  with the early  morning drills .At  first when  the  bugle  calls  were  made , I feigned  illness and  after  a while  the  soldiers just  gave  up  on me. My  routine?  to  get  up by  9am, get  all  dolled  up  and  resume at  the  mammy  market (my  new  operational  headquarters ). As  a part  of  my  branding/PR plan ,I ensured I didn't take  meals from  the  camp's kitchen..... I figured  since  I looked  the  part  I had  to  act  the  part,thanks to  the  governor's  generosity  to  Corp  members .I had  enough  money  to  splatter  on  meals. But even  at  that , my  fan base  had  grow...

Ninety-nine days  for  the  encoder , one  day  for  the  decoder. Someone  will  just  be  on her  own  trying  to  make  the  world  a better  place and  gist  will  just  come  and  locate  you  effortlessly. So I was  minding my  business jejely, throwing out  trash,when I noticed  a folded piece of  paper  around  the  trash can,  I picked  up  the  the  paper  and  opened  it.... involuntarily  I sucked  in  my  breath  and  my  jaw  dropped  to  the  floor.... Literally... Lo and  behold!!!!  It  was my  neighbor's  flight  itinerary  print -out of  her  "summer  trip  to  Dubai".The  real  bewilderment  was  that her  " summer...

Though the  shopping  destinations  may differ,yet the  same exhilarating  feeling  resonates through out  each shopping experience . The  intense  craving, the  insatiable  quest  for acquiring /procuring and the  indescribable  bliss it brings after you  have  liberated those  merchandise  from  the  shackles of  the  stores. The  surge  of  excitement you feel  clutching   your  shopping  bags  in  your arms  and   more  shopping  bags  in tow, makes  you stand so  tall with  your  head  almost  touching sky.  The  intimate, almost  sensual  yet  liberating experience retail  therapy  provides . The  anticipation and the  build-up that  keeps you  up  at  night  when  the   urge  to...

  I can  hear  the  rhythm again.... The  slow rhythmic melody almost hypnotic like  the  Piper belting out  tunes so wanton... so  bewitching ...causing my  resolute  to  slowly  ebb  away and in my  head I moved  to  the sound with  snake - like  precision, slithering from side  to  side .         THEN!  all  of  a sudden!! The  tempo quickened.... Pulsating, palpitating almost like  War-chant and in  my  head  still,  I made  movements like  a Roman warrior ,the forth and  back movements of  Abija in  the  Arelu series.... Prancing  as swift as  a cheetah  yet as  elegant as  a gazelle. The sudden  halt  of  the car snapped  me  out  of  the  trance. This  is Balogun  market in  Lagos...