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LIFE WITH MY GRANDMA
LIFE WITH MY GRANDMA.
My grandma actually had her name tattooed on her chest, and on her inner and outer arms, It was very beautiful, against her smooth and very fair skin.
She was an alhaja, and that's what she was called by everyone.
I was given to my grandma when I was exactly age two years and seven months and I have several stories about my life and the times with her.
In the village; we were the few that had the TV, yes, that cute box that can show peoples inside It, ours was red.
I still remember now.
We were those children that got bathed, dressed in PJs at 7pm, then got fed dinner and taken to Bed, well Bed was on specially laid mats inside Iya Eleko's lounge, lolss😁
We had several Jeans trousers, with lovely tops and other party clothes.
We had cute luggage boxes that kept our stuff.
Our daddies were business travelers, you see.
Alhaja was the mother of some of the greatest mothers there in Agó village.
Who can compare to her in Agó village of Ota, In Ogun State.
I am still so proud of her personhood!
She will tell us ancient stories and some of them were scary & weird, while some of the stories make us all laugh out loud and true.
I remember asking her why she calls me Ibadi'aran.
She then brought out an original Aran material ( Velevet Fabric) and showed me, and then she said It Is a special cloth kept underneath the box, to be used only for special occasions.
She said I was very scarce and special, she said I was plenty in my father's hands.
You see, whenever I mess up and get her very angry, she will practically say that my scarceness is what is keeping her from strangling the life out of me right now.
I was so mischevious.
Back then, grandma had a cool shop where she sell groceries, she also sell beer and a lot of other soft drinks too,.
We use to get ready for school very fast just to be in time for the school Bus, but mainly to help her take some stuff to the shop.
Well, this was also to take some coins from the green coins plastic with a white cover, just by the back side, inside of the shop door.
This plastic was always almost filled to the brim with cute round and flat silverines and then we will take some and stupidly hide it in our white school sox.
One day, Alhaja told me that I was wearing a wrong sox, and she insisted that I should pull off the sox and change it to another one, see WAEC o!
Here In Nigeria, WAEC is the name of the very difficult exam we do when we are leaving the secondary school in those days.
I refused!
But then, she insisted stubbornly, at this point, I remember I could actually hear some noises In my head saying (gengen! you dor enter one chance today).
Well, lets just say the sound of plenty coins jingling all over the floor of a room don't lie!
Faintly now, but I remember that she still reminded me again, with all the emotions that acompanys frustration playing accross her face, she said she can just strangle me now, with her lips all tightened at the corners!
"Haaaarrrrrrr, hmmmmm, you this girl, If not that, If not that, haarrrr, hmmmm.
Alhaja must have studied me and noticed that I really loved to watch her cook, so instead of going to play outside with the other children; she then taught me all she could (including the Ofada
Stew and Egusi soup).
Then she started taking me round the other women who also cook one thing or the other for their daily sales.
Iya Shakiru (Makes fufu from scratch),
Iya Kudi (Sells Eba with different soups),
Iya Ganiu (Makes Garri from scratch),
Iya Amosha (sells groceries and also smokes fish from raw)
Iya Eleko (that happens to be Alhajas Stepmum too, she makes ogi÷pap and agidi).
Alhaja always come back to pick me up at 5pm sharp, well, lets just say, right now, I can fall sick, literally speaking, If I don't cook something within two days.
Alhaja was so sweet and nice to a fault, even with all that she experienced as a young wife from the stories she told us, she always help the needy (Lets underline always).
She will join us on our luxurious mat and stay awake all night when ever we will fall sick, I mean her eyes were always opened and you can feel the back of her palm going all over your body all night long, checking your temperature, you will also feel the cold towel water baths to regulate our temperature too.
Please note that we here indicates us, Taiwo, Kehinde & Bolaji.
Meanwhile, us three can fight!
Its always about the most absurd things.
We say things like, the last person in the house must be the one to lock the door.
We will then all manage to parallel the door and start looking for the last person, which can make us remain the door ajar.
See the beatings, when grandma finds out our nonsense.
In fact, for sometime, I actually thought my name follows right after any twins name until I met those guys with the legal Yoruba names that should follow the names of twins, Idowu.
In my culture, apparently, any child born after twins are called Idowu and not Bolaji.
Well, then I carefully respected my self, and gave up the position.
Alhaja used to give us fried meat, sugar and Garri Ijebu to add to any goodies we already have to take to our boarding school.
When the mobile phones became a thing, grandma will call me, even while I was serving in Gombe State. She even used to call me at work.to see how I am doing.
Her teachings, coaching, mentoring were golden, when I was getting married, and I went to inform her, she said;
"You must remember that, no one is actually bad or good based on where they originated from. Else who will marry us from Ota where they say our witches fly in the daylight. People are who they are and must be seen as individuals with distinct personalities outside their origin."
Some souls will leave you, even as you know that they were old and grey, yet you will never recover from their absence. They don't mean to, but they leave you helplessly broken.
My grandma was a sweetheart, so missing her Is involuntary.
She was a Beautiful soul, full of undiluted wisdom, native smartass and super
intelligence. She was my own special queen.Always permanent in my heart.
In loving memory of; Alhaja Sabitiu
Akankeola Akankeowo Akinde (Nee Dehinde) AKA Alhaja Oloyaya,Towotomo.
#continuetorestinpeacegrandma
©Ibadi'aran Omo Akinde
©All Rights Reserved
My grandma actually had her name tattooed on her chest, and on her inner and outer arms, It was very beautiful, against her smooth and very fair skin.
She was an alhaja, and that's what she was called by everyone.
I was given to my grandma when I was exactly age two years and seven months and I have several stories about my life and the times with her.
In the village; we were the few that had the TV, yes, that cute box that can show peoples inside It, ours was red.
I still remember now.
We were those children that got bathed, dressed in PJs at 7pm, then got fed dinner and taken to Bed, well Bed was on specially laid mats inside Iya Eleko's lounge, lolss😁
We had several Jeans trousers, with lovely tops and other party clothes.
We had cute luggage boxes that kept our stuff.
Our daddies were business travelers, you see.
Alhaja was the mother of some of the greatest mothers there in Agó village.
Who can compare to her in Agó village of Ota, In Ogun State.
I am still so proud of her personhood!
She will tell us ancient stories and some of them were scary & weird, while some of the stories make us all laugh out loud and true.
I remember asking her why she calls me Ibadi'aran.
She then brought out an original Aran material ( Velevet Fabric) and showed me, and then she said It Is a special cloth kept underneath the box, to be used only for special occasions.
She said I was very scarce and special, she said I was plenty in my father's hands.
You see, whenever I mess up and get her very angry, she will practically say that my scarceness is what is keeping her from strangling the life out of me right now.
I was so mischevious.
Back then, grandma had a cool shop where she sell groceries, she also sell beer and a lot of other soft drinks too,.
We use to get ready for school very fast just to be in time for the school Bus, but mainly to help her take some stuff to the shop.
Well, this was also to take some coins from the green coins plastic with a white cover, just by the back side, inside of the shop door.
This plastic was always almost filled to the brim with cute round and flat silverines and then we will take some and stupidly hide it in our white school sox.
One day, Alhaja told me that I was wearing a wrong sox, and she insisted that I should pull off the sox and change it to another one, see WAEC o!
Here In Nigeria, WAEC is the name of the very difficult exam we do when we are leaving the secondary school in those days.
I refused!
But then, she insisted stubbornly, at this point, I remember I could actually hear some noises In my head saying (gengen! you dor enter one chance today).
Well, lets just say the sound of plenty coins jingling all over the floor of a room don't lie!
Faintly now, but I remember that she still reminded me again, with all the emotions that acompanys frustration playing accross her face, she said she can just strangle me now, with her lips all tightened at the corners!
"Haaaarrrrrrr, hmmmmm, you this girl, If not that, If not that, haarrrr, hmmmm.
Alhaja must have studied me and noticed that I really loved to watch her cook, so instead of going to play outside with the other children; she then taught me all she could (including the Ofada
Stew and Egusi soup).
Then she started taking me round the other women who also cook one thing or the other for their daily sales.
Iya Shakiru (Makes fufu from scratch),
Iya Kudi (Sells Eba with different soups),
Iya Ganiu (Makes Garri from scratch),
Iya Amosha (sells groceries and also smokes fish from raw)
Iya Eleko (that happens to be Alhajas Stepmum too, she makes ogi÷pap and agidi).
Alhaja always come back to pick me up at 5pm sharp, well, lets just say, right now, I can fall sick, literally speaking, If I don't cook something within two days.
Alhaja was so sweet and nice to a fault, even with all that she experienced as a young wife from the stories she told us, she always help the needy (Lets underline always).
She will join us on our luxurious mat and stay awake all night when ever we will fall sick, I mean her eyes were always opened and you can feel the back of her palm going all over your body all night long, checking your temperature, you will also feel the cold towel water baths to regulate our temperature too.
Please note that we here indicates us, Taiwo, Kehinde & Bolaji.
Meanwhile, us three can fight!
Its always about the most absurd things.
We say things like, the last person in the house must be the one to lock the door.
We will then all manage to parallel the door and start looking for the last person, which can make us remain the door ajar.
See the beatings, when grandma finds out our nonsense.
In fact, for sometime, I actually thought my name follows right after any twins name until I met those guys with the legal Yoruba names that should follow the names of twins, Idowu.
In my culture, apparently, any child born after twins are called Idowu and not Bolaji.
Well, then I carefully respected my self, and gave up the position.
Alhaja used to give us fried meat, sugar and Garri Ijebu to add to any goodies we already have to take to our boarding school.
When the mobile phones became a thing, grandma will call me, even while I was serving in Gombe State. She even used to call me at work.to see how I am doing.
Her teachings, coaching, mentoring were golden, when I was getting married, and I went to inform her, she said;
"You must remember that, no one is actually bad or good based on where they originated from. Else who will marry us from Ota where they say our witches fly in the daylight. People are who they are and must be seen as individuals with distinct personalities outside their origin."
Some souls will leave you, even as you know that they were old and grey, yet you will never recover from their absence. They don't mean to, but they leave you helplessly broken.
My grandma was a sweetheart, so missing her Is involuntary.
She was a Beautiful soul, full of undiluted wisdom, native smartass and super
intelligence. She was my own special queen.Always permanent in my heart.
In loving memory of; Alhaja Sabitiu
Akankeola Akankeowo Akinde (Nee Dehinde) AKA Alhaja Oloyaya,Towotomo.
#continuetorestinpeacegrandma
©Ibadi'aran Omo Akinde
©All Rights Reserved
