Life, or something like it

Whoa! You will never ever complain of banality in Nigeria, at least not in Lagos. There is dynamism, too much of it. Not a day passes by when something extraordinary does not happen. Most of it, though, you would rather do without. It is interesting, nonetheless.

My second day at work. I was getting back to office from a meeting around mid-day when I had my first brush with the naked-man-bathing-publicly phenomenon. Men-bathing-publicly is quite common in India, more so in the northern parts of the country. However, they do wear loin cloths, or some other such garment to guard their modesty.

This was, frankly, quite shocking to me. Different strokes for different folks, I know. Cultural differences too, I realise. But I don't quite like the sight of schlongs dangling outrageously, more so when they are grouped. Oh yes, this is quite a community activity. May be I am not quite bi yet, though I sometimes like to think I could be. Bummer!

On the bright side, it is not life-threatening. Unless the group suddenly decides to make me a part of a big orgy. Ouch, even the thought hurts. Let's not think about it, and move on. There are more romantic events taking place, more fantastic. An armed robbery, for instance.

It happenned yesterday on the ride back home from work. Night had fallen. There was a very heavy go-slow on the expressway. Expressway. How oxymoronic can it get? Anyway. There was this gang of armed robbers on the prowl. I didn't see them at first. Thankfully, the driver did. How he managed to steer us away from them is the stuff James Bond chase sequences are made of. And exciting as Bond makes them appear, you would not really want to be a part of them.

Now this other thing I cannot refute or accept. My housemate, as he was getting home from work the day I spoke of previously, witnessed a man being stabbed by the roadside. Scary and thrilling at the same time. But only if you have not seen it unfold before your eyes. I hope I never see such a thing. I can live with dangling schlongs. Not this.

Otherwise, it is not a bad place. It even shows you what you might only have heard of and never seen. Experientially, it rocks! Doesn't it?