#THE CULTURE OF WASTE# I enjoyed Yoruba language as a subject back in my secondary school days most especially the reading of differing and different forms of novel. The dynamic style of writing and the use of proverbs and word formations always make it highly interesting. They spice up and garnish the novel with literary works that keeps you smiling as you open it in between your two palms. Hardly will i not have the required yoruba novels that were recommended for each term,not because i was raised in yoruba land but for the interest i so much have in reading it. I know of a day i purchased one and never borthered to have my food until i emptied the book. The use of language that the writer would bombard you with will be the potent force driving you take a step further even when you want to stop at a page. Such was the beauty of reading then. I know i still have some of those books with me and undoubtedly ive passed some to the present generation if it would be of use. Of a good memory is the book titled Ijapa Tiroko Oko yannibo Youve to see funny tales about tortoise vis-a-vis other animals. As funny and personified the stories are,they speak volume,teaching moral and as well sounding a note of warning of what greediness may amount to. You learn more about the animal called tortoise,how he cunningly deceived and tamed the king of the forest and almost snuffed life out of him. You will indeer appreciate the philosophical truism that Ijapa is cunny in nature and at the same time greedy. Part of his greediness and ingrate attitude was when he over-stepped his boundary as at the time he was hired as a palm wine seller to the heavenly beings (Ara Orun)-beings that exist in part i.e head on its own,eyes on its own,hand on its own et al still each body part can drink palm wine. That is yoruba tale for you. The job of Ijapa is to drop the calabash at a definite location and wait not to see how they will take and drink the palm wine. However,on one fateful day,Ijapa decided to see it all and couldnt control his laughter when he saw them drinking palm wine in an unusual manner. This barbaric action of Ijapa infuriated these beings and they make a frantic effort to make him a scape goat,but who can win Ijapa in the game of the brain Alas,he escaped,but his action was a great trouble to the one that employed him. Thank God that the man was able to make his way out being a brave hunter,if not,the heavenly beings would have killed him after a long time of war. It was after the war that the man was able to convinced them that he was not the man but the handiwork of Ijapa Thats just a bit taste of the book. I need to drive home my point now,but before i do that,this book jumped out from the corner of my heart. The book written by D.O Fagunwa,titled Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumole ( The brave hunter in the forest of thousand demons). The title looks scary but teaches lessons. I can go on to tell you about this book but dont let me bore you with this cos the lesson i want to bring out from all these stories must not diffuse away. As i love those days and atleast put this down,i discovered that our society is not giving much attention to yoruba language again. That is why it wont surprise you to see the growing up ones speaking english language like parrot but find it difficult to speak their mothers tongue,not to talk of writing it down or apply the appropriate yoruba signs on the written words. Bringing them up in this manner is not bad,but it shouldnt lead to the burial of the language they ought to know. After all,some of us were never raised speaking english language,eventhough we suffered ridicule from those that were,yet it doesnt stop us from speaking and understanding the language. I dont rule out the fact that this is 21st century,but i think that there is still a great need to hold our language in high esteem. It always sound absurd when you mention a proverb and wait for its completion,you will not be surprised seeing laughable answers that are clearly far from the required answer. In fact,some dont even know the number countings in yoruba.not to talk of knowing that of currency. It is a shame on our part that we no longer find our language interesting,it is more of nonsense to us than the sense in it and that is why we speak english language in the gathering of the illiterates. What message are we then passing? It is just a labour of fetching water into a basket.Does speaking english language in the sight of those that understood it not make us a super man? This is indeed the right time to stop this culture of wasting the integrity of our language and this should start from home and the school playing active key role as well before we completely burn down our cultural heritage and virtures. This is a Culture of Waste @isaacsogo on twitter
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 15:34:59 +0000
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