Short and swift

Its interesting seeing the different reactions to the news filtering out of Nigeria in about the last couple of months. The spike in robberies, power problems and female harassment, irk the hell out of most folks.


Outrage driven by a passion for the homeland?


In the midst of it all I call up my folks. Not like I particularly had anything life-threatening to talk about, but three weeks of silence from their end is unusual. I figured it was about about 10am Naija time, so I call them up, just my Mum this time, Dad was out of town and the sibling in 9ja was at work.


Greetings and the usual prayers follow, yeah you know the sort, prayers about work, life, girlfriend/wife, kids and the like. I laugh it all off with mumbled answers in the affirmative, typical, I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get an appreciation of them prayers. I've heard them since I was "ye high" and they've blended into the background so much that my response is automatic. Even residence in some torture chamber wouldn't change my reply from "everything is fine".


Questions about my eating habits(her pet peeve), uncles, another sibling and other family members on this side of the pond ensue. Everyone and everything is fine, including that uncle I haven't spoken to in six months.


Typical isn't it. You call her up and she does most of the talking. Women!!!


Behind the conversation I could hear the toot of okadas cruising past on the streets, turns out she was somewhere on the island, Lagos island that is, doing something or the other. At that point I lost the urge to discuss anything further, said my goodbyes and disconnected.


It was 2:02am LA time. I wasn't sleepy, I just didn't feel like discussing the usual Nigerian issues. Not the first time I've preferred not to speak about it in recent time, but who the hell wants their homeland in disarray.