My Life In These Parts Then come Sunday evenings. Uniform wearing Girls Guild meetings dot the landscape. Usually they stay by the side streets and road corners. I wonder why they dont stay indoors. They have groups : for the unmarried, married and the elderly. Youd know the difference by the way they dress. The unmarried dress giddy in flamboyant mix of colors and styles. The elderly make me remember the clothes in the big metallic box, painted with floral designs, handed down to my mum by my grandmum. That box never gets rusty. It has occupied a grand position in a corner of my mums room. Been there since I grew to be curious. The box is filled with clothes - wrappers, blouses and gowns - of archaic designs. But my mum never throws them away. Theyre her prized possessions. I wonder if my sister will accept such from her if she thinks of perpetuating the tradition of hand down. I guess not. My sister is a contemporary tush babe. She cant be bugged down by such stuff. But yet, culture has a way of nosing itself up our veins. It is pervasive, something many of us deny. The clothes live with moth balls. So I always wonder if those elderly women smell of camphor. Wearing the uniforms is a sign of belonging. It shows you belong. Bottles of Hennessey and 701 adorn the tables. Big ones at that. The Bigger Babes pop Moet and Don Perignon. The meetings could get rowdy if they pop too many shots of the liquid. They get loud anyway, trust women. They collect weekly or monthly levies and discuss maternal issues - child dedication, burials and weddings. As a lady in these parts, you have to belong to because of the many benefits of their isusu contribution. One day I foresee it as a passport for acceptance in the society for women. When you do child dedication or child naming ceremony, theyll come in legions, stomping their feet in frenzied dance steps while donating sums to you.That could help you offset the bills. So as a man, you look the other way. Those crispy notes spread at her feet could muzzle a mans objection to the meetings. Thats my city where it happens. In Port Harcourt. [Culled from my memoir : MY LIFE IN THESE PARTS] EMEKA NOBIS Best Life Strategist & Author BBM PIN 2A15C52B
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 10:29:59 +0000
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