Daddy's Eyeballs
Daddy's Eyeballs
The year Kunle was to leave for another secondary school in Ondo town, Bukola, his mother felt as if a dark cloud has fallen upon her roof. It was a strange year, the year that a moon suddenly descended on the land in the middle of the afternoon, and when Kunle suddenly felt the deep-seated ache in his cervical spine on a Sunday morning preceding the Monday he would resume school, he thought the end was near.
He lay on the bed gasping for breath while the nurses at St Peter's clinic pleaded with him to be calm as the doctor's syringe might tore the vein of his buttock. All he wanted to do was to see Churchill, his father, get well and leave Moribodo College for the yet - unknown school in Ondo but fate was not having any of that. And he came, in his white garment. Kunle saw in his father's eyes; uncertainties and fears, and for reasons unknown, he kept mute.
It was Kunle who, would later read about the educational practice in ancient Greece, unimpressed with the Spartans educational policy centred on contribution towards military efficiency as well as a high sense of comradeship, and impressed by the Athenian education whose goal was to produce an all round cultured man who would be physically, mentally and spiritually fit. It was Kunle who would argued against the necessity of the fellowship period on his school timetable on Fridays. He would also criticize the essence of having a Mosque building domiciled in a secondary school. It was Kunle, whose back would be left an indelible mark by the principal's whip for celebrating with Ife Agesin, a friend on his birthday. It was Kunle who would nurse a deep scorn for his physics teacher for years for arranging extra classes on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. It was Kunle who would do same five years later.
It was Kunle who after leaving secondary school, would teach at St Michael's Nursery and Primary School a missionary elementary school established by a Celestial Church of Christ's prophet in Ilutitun-Osooro, where Ilemobayo, a primary four pupil beaten by a snake was treated the African way, and this would cause him to make a clear link between trado-medicine and Christianity.
It was Kunle who, after listening to Chimamanda Adichie, would in conversations with friends argue against the essence of IWO festival, a yearly event in Ilutitun-Osooro, his hometown, where a day was left for the gods and goddesses of the land, where it is against tradition to have footwear on and women go out, climaxing in such arguments that "culture doesn't make people rather people make culture", and also citing Mary Slessors' efforts in ending the killing of twins in Igbo land.
It was Kunle who would cry for hours in his hostel in Unilag after learning about the demise of a 16-year old family friend with SS genotype. Kunle would ponder this catastrophic disorder for a long time, with great sadness, and it would cause him to question God on why marriages topmost prerequisite should be genotypical compatibility of both sexes rather than the love between them.
It was Kunle who would feel uncomfortable going to Celestial Church of Christ owing to the church insistence on a different path when innovation, futuristic creativity and modernism are being discussed. He would still be a wanderer till today searching for truth elsewhere.
It was Kunle who after reading about how Sidi, Sadiku and Baroka were held spell-bond by Lakunle's grammatical prowess in Soyinka's Lion and The Jewel would make the dictionary his second friend. He would also fall in love with the way Patrick Obahiagbon, an Edo state politician puff out big grammars like the rattle of a gun. This would later affect him as shown in the unnecessary way he laced his writings with lines of nebulous esoterics where simple and lucid expressions would have been appropriate.
It was Kunle who after reading 'Why Men Love Bitches' by Sherry Argov, a book recommended by Seyi Boya, would have aversion for nice girls who need men to validate, complete and complement them. He would wait to fall in love with a B-I-T-C-H - - - Babe In Total Control of Herself.
But on that day as he lie on the clinic's bed, Kunle wasn't contemplating his futures. He simply looked into his dad's eyes, the only place he could draw hope of an education that will change him forever.
An excerpt from my autobiography, "Unilag Cresol; A Derivative Of A Congenial Isomer
The year Kunle was to leave for another secondary school in Ondo town, Bukola, his mother felt as if a dark cloud has fallen upon her roof. It was a strange year, the year that a moon suddenly descended on the land in the middle of the afternoon, and when Kunle suddenly felt the deep-seated ache in his cervical spine on a Sunday morning preceding the Monday he would resume school, he thought the end was near.
He lay on the bed gasping for breath while the nurses at St Peter's clinic pleaded with him to be calm as the doctor's syringe might tore the vein of his buttock. All he wanted to do was to see Churchill, his father, get well and leave Moribodo College for the yet - unknown school in Ondo but fate was not having any of that. And he came, in his white garment. Kunle saw in his father's eyes; uncertainties and fears, and for reasons unknown, he kept mute.
It was Kunle who, would later read about the educational practice in ancient Greece, unimpressed with the Spartans educational policy centred on contribution towards military efficiency as well as a high sense of comradeship, and impressed by the Athenian education whose goal was to produce an all round cultured man who would be physically, mentally and spiritually fit. It was Kunle who would argued against the necessity of the fellowship period on his school timetable on Fridays. He would also criticize the essence of having a Mosque building domiciled in a secondary school. It was Kunle, whose back would be left an indelible mark by the principal's whip for celebrating with Ife Agesin, a friend on his birthday. It was Kunle who would nurse a deep scorn for his physics teacher for years for arranging extra classes on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. It was Kunle who would do same five years later.
It was Kunle who after leaving secondary school, would teach at St Michael's Nursery and Primary School a missionary elementary school established by a Celestial Church of Christ's prophet in Ilutitun-Osooro, where Ilemobayo, a primary four pupil beaten by a snake was treated the African way, and this would cause him to make a clear link between trado-medicine and Christianity.
It was Kunle who, after listening to Chimamanda Adichie, would in conversations with friends argue against the essence of IWO festival, a yearly event in Ilutitun-Osooro, his hometown, where a day was left for the gods and goddesses of the land, where it is against tradition to have footwear on and women go out, climaxing in such arguments that "culture doesn't make people rather people make culture", and also citing Mary Slessors' efforts in ending the killing of twins in Igbo land.
It was Kunle who would cry for hours in his hostel in Unilag after learning about the demise of a 16-year old family friend with SS genotype. Kunle would ponder this catastrophic disorder for a long time, with great sadness, and it would cause him to question God on why marriages topmost prerequisite should be genotypical compatibility of both sexes rather than the love between them.
It was Kunle who would feel uncomfortable going to Celestial Church of Christ owing to the church insistence on a different path when innovation, futuristic creativity and modernism are being discussed. He would still be a wanderer till today searching for truth elsewhere.
It was Kunle who after reading about how Sidi, Sadiku and Baroka were held spell-bond by Lakunle's grammatical prowess in Soyinka's Lion and The Jewel would make the dictionary his second friend. He would also fall in love with the way Patrick Obahiagbon, an Edo state politician puff out big grammars like the rattle of a gun. This would later affect him as shown in the unnecessary way he laced his writings with lines of nebulous esoterics where simple and lucid expressions would have been appropriate.
It was Kunle who after reading 'Why Men Love Bitches' by Sherry Argov, a book recommended by Seyi Boya, would have aversion for nice girls who need men to validate, complete and complement them. He would wait to fall in love with a B-I-T-C-H - - - Babe In Total Control of Herself.
But on that day as he lie on the clinic's bed, Kunle wasn't contemplating his futures. He simply looked into his dad's eyes, the only place he could draw hope of an education that will change him forever.
An excerpt from my autobiography, "Unilag Cresol; A Derivative Of A Congenial Isomer
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