By
Obododimma
Oha
Recently, I
wrote a blog article which I called "A Leta A Ghara " That article
partly presents an African highlife musician's theorization of tolerance.
Indeed, it has a lot in common with the present essay. Not only is the current
one derived from Oliver de Coque's highlife music, but is interestingly of the
same structure as the former one, both almost looking like siamese twins! But
unlike that which theorizes tolerance, "A Laba A Ghara" looks at the
acquisition of property and the wisdom of what goes with one and what is left
behind, with tenancy as just a scenario. The song could make an Igbo person
think of a sound plan to own a house and escape the discomforts of tenancy, but
a philosophical angle directs us to the endless beginning of habitation in
"houses" we can call our own and the futility of recovering
"what must be left behind."
The wonderful
chorus of the song that brings out the need to own a house says:
Ka a na-ayo ka a na-ayo!
Ka a na-ayo Olisa!
Ka Olisa nyere onye obula aka
Ka o rua ulo nke ya -o!
(Let us be
begging be begging
Let us keep
begging the Maker
That the
Maker may assist us
In building
our own houses!)
The musician
scolds and cautions against not thinking about owning a house, a space where
one is in charge. Obviously, such counsel would go down well, as indicated
earlier, with many Igbo who realize the advantages of the ideology of aku rue ulo (wealth that gets home) and
having a space of one's own, derived from one's wrestling with life. The
thoughtless tenancy that Oliver de Coque criticises is one that hardly thinks
about the inevitable eviction and its discomforts. The tenant then suddenly
goes in search of transportation for a lot of household property and also has
to look for adequate money. The unfortunate tenant, funny enough, also planted flowers! Flowers planted around the
rented apartment belong to or symbolize what
must be left behind (when the
occupant is leaving)!
When the
tenant is looking for money and transportation, the movement of the flower is
to be considered! So, here is the joke: when or if the person succeeds in
getting another place, the person would
start afresh to plant flowers! Does
that not provide enough proof about incurable naivety and lack of consideration
for building one's own house to escape such discomforts? A proof about not
thinking of what must be left behind one day!
The planting
of flowers anew (flowers of naivety and foolishness) summarizes Oliver de
Coque's argument.
"What is
left behind" is clearly a type of njakiri,
that discourse through which barbs are thrown. But in this interesting case, no
one is particularly the target. It is left for one to count one's teeth with
one's tongue, instead of leaving it to the dentist to do it. A humorous song,
it speaks to all but specifically to some that like the uncertainty of things
in life. One is not here to be planting flowers forever.
We sometimes
make the mistake of thinking that A Laba A Ghara only labels those aspects of
property that nobody wants or that cannot be taken as valuable but would go to
the trash bin. But A Laba A Ghara really includes every material thing, from
money to cars and houses and ....just name it!
A Laba A Ghara is a deep philosophical discourse
about existence really. It is not just
about the acquisition of property per
se, but about its meaning in our being here today but not being here tomorrow.
One might argue that there is also a
shallow understanding in it about property and its solution to our problems.
Answering a “landlord” or “landlady” instead of a tenant who could be evicted
is just a beginning. Is life itself not temporary and are we going out of it
with even with our numerous houses and cars? We can ask the Maker for duplexes and
bungalows and have these, but are we going anywhere with them? And what of
titles? Is anyone “Prof. X,” “Bishop Y” and “General Z” across the bridge? Are
the titles not merely distinctions for this human lifeworld? Who is ever known
as having even sex or any label once that person is out of this lifeworld? Is “excess
luggage” tolerated out there? Excess luggage and all its worries are of this
wretched lifeworld which we think is excellent!
Perhaps the
most surprising is that that personal house called the human body does not
leave. O nweghị ebe anyị ji azụ aga!
(We are going nowhere with backward movement, as the slang goes). It has to
struggle with the spirit for disentanglement (in what is known as “throes of
death”) and is freed at last and becomes cold as soon as it is uninhabited! It
is also A Laba A Ghara or what is
left behind for the undertakers! So,one must thank Oliver de Coque for
reminding us about this, which we do not want to think about.
One
configuration of A Laba A Ghara which
I like very much and which could be found in many cultures is the idea of coming
to life as market experience, going to the market to do some shopping. Who,
after doing the shopping forgets to go home and to do other things or asks for
more time, is not considered wise? In fact, anyone that remains in the market
after the market people have all gone is either a vulture or a mad person (who
is playfully identified in Nigerian public discourse as “gofment pickin”
obviously a funny euphemism for “government child”).
Humanity
needs to reconcile with the reality of living forever in the body and planting
flowers. Flowers must be left behind when the time comes, as even the late musician
has also noticed!
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