BUNMILOFE'S MUSINGS

Leah has been on my mind lately. Yeah, that Leah. The one who was smuggled into Jacob’s bed by her dear father. First, imagine the humiliation of your father asking you to marry a man who obviously does not want to marry you. I mean, you have lived in the same house for seven years and he has hardly ever noticed you. It’s not like he’s blind or anti-women. Nah, he saw your little sister just once and his sense flew out, he didn’t even know when he pledged seven years of hard labour for her. After the long wait for his seven year prize, your father has packaged you to disappoint him. And it gets even worse. Kongi is a bad thing sha, It blocked Jacob’s eyes. Until the deed was done and a new day had dawned, the mister didn’t notice he had the wrong sister. Imagine the embarrassment, Leah was ravished all night and rejected by morning. She must have been crushed. Her ‘husband’ didn’t want her and no other person could have her. She had been branded ‘Jacob’s’ by her night in his bed.

Everywhere I turn, someone is either talking about GEJ’s hilarious make-up or GMB’s stunning daughter. I have gradually become convinced that all these aggressive debates about the contesting giants are responsible for the alarming weather twists. Or, how else can one explain the sudden heat wave that has taken over Lagos in the past few days except that like that largely forgotten  KOWA woman, the sun has decided to remind us of its existence after harmattan’s intense reign. Someone I know actually put up a status pleading with harmattan to remember this is Nigeria, not Russia. Such pleas must have made the sun extremely jealous, hence the vengeance we are experiencing now. Now that Charles Soludo has almost rendered both parties unworthy of our precious votes( which also signify our power) by his much appreciated expose’ on the state of the Nigerian economy, I am weak. So weak that if anybody should mention Buhari, APC, Jonathan or PDP around me right now: I would scream. OK,

A lot of things happen to us that almost take away the things we think we cannot live without. I bet you have said at some point in your life, ‘I cannot do without bathing at night, I won’t be able to sleep at all’. Or, ‘I have to have my phone with me all the time’. Or maybe, ‘my mum, I just cannot live without her’. So many things we cannot do without! I am also sure that at some point, in defending your supposed inability to do without such a thing to others, you have probably said; ’it’s part of my person, I’m just used to it’.  I bet you even have ready examples of situations when you almost had to do without it and the extreme steps you took, just because, to you, it is that important! Recently, I have been thinking a lot, I’m trying to find that one thing that is absolutely important to me, that I cannot imagine doing without, that I’ll go to any length to have or protect. And yes, I know life is impossible without God, we all do, so this is not about Him. I have

I like to think I love Christmas. I mean, who doesn't? It’s the one time when our lack of street lights does not matter because Christmas lights flood the streets. It’s the time when everyone claims to do discounts and sales, only that the clothes one actually wants are never really on sales. It’s also that time when your employer gives you a bonus that you end up spending  to pay up the gift debts you acquired all through the year. Well, not that I am complaining, the fact that there is a bonus to spend and dear ones to spend it on is in itself a blessing. However, the process of picking so many special gifts for so many special people without spending so much is like solving a further maths inspired word problem in two minutes without a scientific calculator. How does one buy the perfectly special yet affordable gift? This nagging question reminds me of an experience I had few Fridays back on the trip home from work. There was this Hausa man standing in the traffic, not

Going by the date on my last post, it would seem like I took a year long vacation from posting on this blog. This blog that I started with so much zest, commitment, and hope. It would look like I share kinship with that guy who started his building project without first counting the cost, only to realize halfway that he would die of starvation if he dared to buy just one more block. But, that is not my case, at least, not exactly. I am probably like the unenlightened young lady who started with Adamu. Adamu who found her when she was oblivious, who discovered her beauty before she understood the language of mirrors, by whose words she defined her girlhood, who bought the jigida beads and aran that marked her coming out. Adamu; her link to the world, the reader and transmitter of her deepest thoughts. Until she met Dolamu. Dolamu with his suaveness, popularity and wide spread reviews. Dolamu who didn't even have to sell himself to her, because everyone else could not kee

About two Wednesdays ago, it was still October, late October though, but still October.   I was on a drive to Falomo with a colleague. As we drove past the Civic center, I observed that someone had adorned the fence with Christmas lights. Surprised, I retorted "why are these people rushing, Christmas lights already?" Laughing, my colleague responded, "but its October already, how far away is Christmas?" Smiling, I let the matter drop, still somewhat convinced the lights had been placed too early. Fast forward another two days, I’m talking to a dear friend over the phone and  he says; "I can smell Christmas already". Finally I realized, it isn’t people who are rushing, it is the year that is running by. And it is not just running, it already ran. The year is over already, Christmas is here! But, wasn’t it just new year a couple of months ago? Even if Christmas and new year happened long ago, what about Valentine, Easter, all the Eid’s? When did th

I like reading car stickers. Some are downright funny, some are almost annoying, others are thought starters, and some others just simply make no sense. They come in different categories.   Religious car stickers easily take the position of most popular. At least, one of every four cars  you encounter on a Lagos road would have one. There are the general ones which are just statements of religious affiliation. For instance the car belonging to a Christian would often times carry ‘if God be for me....’   or ‘touch not my anointed’, or   ‘a life without Christ is in crisis’, ‘no Jesus, no peace; know Jesus, know peace’ , and the list goes on. The Muslim establishing his affiliation to Allah too would have ‘Allah reigns’ conspicuously displayed somewhere around his plate number. Religious stickers sometimes take it further. Beyond just establishing that the car owner is a Christian or Muslim, it can continue to tell you the denomination and doctrine he buys into. So you would see ‘So