Self-Respect

Today, I elected to pen paragraphs on self-love. I relive a solid ipse dixit I lumbered upon as a nosy teen. Spurning its wise path, I only sing sob songs for my pighead. It teaches and learns its own life lesson. Sadly, I can't dig up who cut these dazzling diamonds:

Be too self-respecting
To lavish the love of the whole heart, soul and strength,
Especially where such a gift is not wanted,
And would be despised.

Pot Parade in the City of Accra

They range their varnished vases in open stretches and regular symmetry - the immaculate infantry on parade. The stunning shapes and dazzling colour coats take the watcher’s breath away! Every time I drive by, I crawl to (irritate the driver behind me, and) leer lovingly at the ovals and cones, pyramids and globes – my visual breakfast for the day.

One hundred tasty servings of cream crustaceans, turquoise turtles, emerald eagles, cobalt cauldrons, bronze fish, purple monkeys, gamboge balls, tangerine hills and ivory plinths. I wonder, I marvel.The splendour takes me, every single time!

Street(side) Manners in the City of Accra

You must not take it with a grain of salt – Maya was present at this misadventure too! A ‘big lawyer’ and a young lady hanging out at Melting Moments. It is a neat bistro at Labone, sublime at nightfall, lit in ochre, not too brightly or too softly. While sitting tight for our fancy frittatas, we took the time to delight in the gloaming crowd.

She was a middle-aged white woman. She bumped into the disarrayed metal furniture, bleeding from the nose and mouth. She froze at the mirror on the wall on seeing the blood in her girlish face. First the blood was there, streaming, drip-dropping in the wash basin. Then, it was all gone! Sorry, that was on the Hallmark channel which we were watching –frittatas yet to come :-)

The lawyer’s lady was in a forgettable top and a flair, fawn, sparsely sequined skirt. It was long, but scant excuse for her to sit with her spindly legs splayed wide apart, her back bent and her lips almost lapping the platter on the tiny-top, high-leg table. I craned my neck half-expecting to see dog biscuits in the dainty china.

We struggled between the devil of the horror flick on TV, and the deep blue sea of the barrister’s Brummagem. A thin, pretty waitress whizzes by, and the hateful Hoyden raises her head. What next? “Ssssssssssssssssssss!” The hissing caught the waitress’s attention (wouldn’t it?), but it also startled everybody else.

They herd out noisily through the french window, to the mini car park. So, he drives the big, chartreuse Honda Accord glittering beside Maxine. Cool! He showily beeps it open, and flings his door outward, not caring. It catches my poor car on the flank with a grating sound. Horrified I am, but I remain timid in my seat. I’ve had enough of them!

Farewell to Reema

I knew HER!
Loved HER!
Respected HER!
Prayed for HER!
Took pride in HER!

AND I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE!

Death!
Wretch!
Thief!
Cheat!
Tyrant!

YOU NEVER PLAY FAIR!

Check Point Charades in the City of Accra

And then the road dives into a vale, together with the black woods flanking it on other side. There’s nothing to see on the opposite lane. No cars, no lights, no people. But my line only inches ahead by the treble minute.

I have not seen them yet, but I know they’re there. It is past 10 O’clock. A bold night suggests itself. A restless driver behind me swerves out of the queue onto the jagged, hard shoulder. He meets my eyes with a bright-eyed smile, and burns up the dirt sidetrack. Another car follows. And another.

My turn comes. It is a bold night for sure. There are three of them standing silhouetted in the headlights.

“How is the evening?”
“The evening’s over.”
“What did you bring from town?”
“I’m coming from work.”
“On Friday? What work…”
“…I’m a lawyer.”
“Ei! You look young-o. Small boy lawyer. You know we and you lawyers, we are brothers.”
“Charlie, your brother is sleepy-o.”
“And your brother is cold. Won’t you give me something small for tea?”
“Here, take this. Which tea woman will come by now, anyway?”
“Oh, they come-o. Carry on, my Lord.”

Like most of them, he does not know he just addressed me as a judge.

They are not searching the cars or looking in faces. As I coax Maxine (my car) forward, I scan three cars parked a ways off the road. There is a half dozen people standing around, lips chattering in sync. As Maxine cruises past, they stretch their arms with open hands towards their captors. A bold night all round.

Badly Deflated Bums on the Beaches of Accra

At the beach on a beautiful, sun-kissed day, the fine sands always appear brighter under other people’s feet. Blankets of it stretch for endless mega-miles, and take on a deeper silver-white on farther eye-sweeps.

When you and your friends are having a kaffee-klatsch kick-about in your borrowed Black Acre, a litter of dipso-wino, liver-labouring louts leave their own wider White Acre to sandcrash on your game.

Scarcely knowing who they are not, what sordid substance they so lovingly abuse, or what embittered hopelessness has hijacked their heathen dreams, I surrender beloved Black Acre to them, and go for a pacific promenade with my lucky limbs still lithe and lissom.

The Ringing Lemons in the City of Accra

Would you accept a spanking new car which only drove in blind reverse? What dark torture might you devise for the man who sold you a wonder drug that lay wicked waste to your enchanting flower garden only to immunise the weeds as they defile your grounds? And though you may not be American, what would you think if you heard that GWB had hurriedly dispatched the sons and daughters of good American families to some senseless killing fields with no radio contact with their commanders?

So, what’s in a name? Simple, ego! The reason why we do not reject names that are simply not working, or are no longer working: Great Britain, The American Dream, The Dream Team, African Unity. See my direction? So, what’s in a name? Arrogance, snob appeal!

The City of Accra (as safe as she still is) is no longer the haven that she used to be. Every Accraian has a cell phone, or will soon acquire one. It is for security. The emergency lines have not been taught what an emergency is. While les sinistres are chasing you at night or tearing down your door, it makes sense to call your best friend and say simply, “Robbers, help!” Then, while you’re bound up and counting possibly your last seconds on Earth, your friend can call around for the police or whoever will help.

But how can we get help when the lion of service providers takes down the service for eight disquieting hours on a weekend night? It happened on Saturday. And when I was going to bed at 3 am, so many Accraians were crippled ceramic ducks.

They turn our lovely phones into lowly lemons; curious cars that only drive backwards; skyscrapers without stairs or elevators. Because of the snob appeal, Accraians will continue to use this service provider. A new addition is coming to town. Three million breaths wait, bated, expectant! Nokia did not make my phone to be a monument to inefficiency, silence, impotence.