I walked...

I went to read 'Kunle's FB notes again and for some reason I enjoyed reading this one in particular so I decided to post it here... I hope you enjoy it too

Yesterday I walked. I took a long walk. A walk not planned but achieved. 

“So, when did walking become such a big thing”? I hear you asking. Anyways you might not know but in my ever so funny country “taking a walk” is a preserve of the elite. It is a thing of pride simply because you will only walk when you don’t have to bother about power, traffic, robbery and other silly things that make us live in the fear of living itself. How do you walk when there are no parks, walkways and time is ever so effervescent because we spend too much of it on mundane things.

Anyways, at the close of business yesterday - after the usual long day of a young upwardly mobile working class dude in Lagos of Nigeria - for the same old irrepressible reasons there was heavy traffic. At the gate of my office complex it was a logjam. It was simply nauseating. How else will you feel? Facing this nightmare again at 7:45pm after putting in 12 hours of your life for your daily bread.

Then it occurred to me that I could escape…at least for a day. I stepped out of the car. “The car” is the name you give your car when it is becoming old or out of date. It is no longer “my car” for obvious reasons. I left everything, everything except my comb and phones. Note the phones. Today, our phones are the reasons why we live and not the other way round. The more you have, the longer you live or is it vice versa, and my comb has suddenly become very important since I decided to have a feel of a bigger cover on my head.

With nothing to bother about I walked home. I walked over three kilometres from office to my home. No music. No company. No hassles. I just walked.

I love to walk. I have walked before. I have walked several times….sometimes out of lack or need. I have not walked in over 36 months; I have not walked since I started this race up the corporate ladder. Walking helps me to think. It helps me to reflect. It opens me up for new ideas. However, I must confess that I didn’t set out with the mind to walk all the way home. I only wanted to get to the nearest bus stop or get a bike. No bike or bus and then the next bus stop and then the next. At the 3rd bus stop, I found one but I had changed my mind. I wanted to walk. In fact there was no traffic from the 3rd bus stop till I got home. That is Lagos for you.

Yesterday’s walk was unique because it helped me to see things in a different way. I appreciated life and living a little more. I saw my city as a part of my life a little more. I felt the pain of others a little more. I saw the need to make things work a little more. I also knew that things are not so bad a little more. I saw Fashola’s work a little more and why we need a little more. Above all it is helping me tell a story a little more.

Whilst walking I saw blocked drains and also saw debris flying out of cars without caution. I saw callous drivers and at least 6 incidents of “bumper to bumper” car crashes. I saw many bikes meandering and manoeuvring between vehicles at their own peril. I saw potholes, craters and boulders on our roads and I realised what led to my walk. Yet I saw lovebirds – arms hanging around necks and chatting away without bothering about the world around them. I saw kids playing away happily, I saw many people eating by the roadside. 

Happy people! For them….Life may not be fair but they are faring through.

What do you love doing? Eating? Eating the way you like it…maybe with your hands. Sleeping? Sleep the way you like…maybe on the floor/mat sometimes. Walking, eating, writing, drinking? Do it the way you love to do it. You will be surprised at the joy that comes with the anonymity. 

I am back in the office, ready to face today. There will be traffic again. Will I be walking? Yes…in my mind.