Sitting at the office desk, mind so far, i must look like a Korean man at work,hands working,soul away…
When people in Abuja hear of my sudden job employment they are quick to celebrate for me and even say how much they envy me. On the other hand when Lagosians hear about my daily struggle to and from the office they ask if and how I keep up and for how much more time?
I have always been fascinated by the name Lagos,growing up in a small town like Minna in Niger state before leaving to Abuja, you must understand that Abuja was like a big dream to me and soon enough I had soared almost every width and was fed up. adventure and curiosity led me here, Lagos.
I am bad with stories for I skip from one to another and someone once said to me he thought women were very good ‘gossips’ so to speak,but I always just succeeded in confusing him skipping stories as I moved unto the very next…phew, I’m confused sef. regardless, I’d try to stick to one story before jumping so abruptly into another. Lagos isn't all rosy and I believe people have to pay their dues before getting above,everyone pays dues, and this is sadly but gratefully where I am now. Jumping buses,sitting with my small body between two big men who squash me and have my shoulders underneath their arms with sweat oozing out on me and damping my well ironed shirt for work(overtime i have stopped bothering myself ironing them). by the time I get to work I smell of all sorts and hate myself,the struggle to get on to the Bus,the annoying noises in it not to talk of the odor.
When I started frequenting Lagos, I had the privilege to transport via cabs with ridiculous price rates, by the time I made my mind fully to relocate here I knew I couldn't possibly pay such outrageous prices all the way from the mainland to the island to and fro on a daily, even if my father were Dangote. the first ‘alone-in-the-bus’ experience was going from Ojota to palm grove and back, the return trip wasn't a whole lot easy because it was late and I had to struggle to keep awake besides I was so nervous if I passed my bus stop I probably would have cried, no one here has joy.
Normal routine………………………………
Alarm goes off at 5:00am,I punch snooze and sleep an extra 20 minutes, get up, shower,brush,ransack my bag of rags before I can eventually pick what to wear and then head out with my bottle of water.
This little time I have I shall give the story about how I get transported, due to work load next time I might talk about other various stuff, one can never run out of things to say because one sees a lot here. I have many a times had to sit beside a man who by breathing offends nature,beside men who squash me and rest their arms over my shoulder and make me damp,I never wear a shirt after one time,how can I possibly do that with the stench? in the bus one comes across a lot, as a jjc I even have to ask conductors,lastma and police men for directions and perhaps its my puss-in-boots face or I-don’t-know-what that makes them so humbly reply me. Jeez, so this unfortunate night, I decided to catch up with these two silly girlfriends of mine, the night ended a disaster,not totally though. anyways they dropped me off somewhere they believed I could easily get a bus home, for there was traffic and they had other engagements. as soon as I dropped and they left,this old Police officer walks up to me asking fiercely why I alighted there,trust an Abuja babe nah,I was confused, I started to mumble I didn't know I wasn't suppose to alight there and blah blah….just as I thought that was the end of the questioning he started to ask where my ID card for alighting there was, and by then my friends had left, I didn't know if to cry or not for I was in total confusion, I never once thought he was joking, even though I admit I didn't think it was so serious till he grabbed me roughly by the arm and said,’you are coming with me to the station’,roughly pushing me towards their pick-up as I prefer to call their van. I kept on trying to explain how I didn't know there was a rule for I was new in Lagos and I had become teary eyed already, having no parent here I didn't know if to call my friends which would be impossible for them to return since they had turned around and were in traffic,my head was as fast as an abacus calculating who to call, and just then this mischievous police officer said to me, I’m just joking there is nothing like ID to stop anywhere, ahn han, police is your friend, was too shaken to even know what to do, i just gave a weak smile and he went on telling me how not to be intimidated here. He helped me cross to the other side of the road and got me into a bus, he must have known he had put me in a bad shape. When i got home, i showered and slept, never telling anyone this story until now.
Henceforth i shall share my Lagos experience with anyone who cares to listen,twitter is not suitable enough since i cannot be caught doing that during office hours,so sneaky me will use this medium…. but how does one survive leaving the simple,most stress free life of Abuja and gets into Lagos stressful,dirty,thuggish life? My boss said to me, working at operations you have to be a man, forget all these melons, act like they are balls and i must say i assumed i was tough up until now, i wake up feeling like giving up, is that how you all ROBOTIC/PROGRAMMED people feel at the break of a new dawn?
Gisting with ‘uncle’,Nis and the rest of the gang, we were all lamenting about how we couldn't live this life forever(Lagos Life), doing your own thing is the best,working for someone is in most cases almost hell, its like you live a programmed life,if i were married there would be no time for my husband,seriously. Big ups to all of you who go through the hustle to make it and come out stronger, bigger ups to all those who leave their peaceful towns because they heard of greener pastures in the city that never sleeps and thought to come make it and actually stay despite the struggle and make it,ko easy.
I am officially an Abuja Lagos babe.
PEACE!!!!!I am officially anAbujaLagos babe.
