Saturday, May 27, 2006
lagos.. again
"It was as i feared, a descent into imagined hell. All semblance of community had vanished. The noise, the frenzy, the disorder! This was a mere labyrinth of clogged alleys and overburdened streets, dark mounts of indeterminate sludge, tinsel imports on sales racks or inpedestrian motion, festering carrion, abused and abusive humanity that called itself a city"From "You Must Set Forth At Dawn" by the great Wole Soyinka
Funny I read that part during breakfast (eggs and coffee if you want to know) while i typed a first draft of this entry last night...
so...
when i first got here Uchenna kept asking me if Lagos was as chaotic as i imagined..
back then i confessed to be a little disapointed..
now after 3 weeks ?
hell yeah it is.
not because of nepa, not because it feels unsafe, not because nigerians are the loudest africans (and they're not), not because they're all crooks (419=Feymania ?) or whatever..
Lagos is an assault on my senses. eyes, nose, ears...
Constant.
The Soyinka quote could be about any african city if it was written by a non-african.. But these words, by someone who lived/lives (?) in Ibadan or MY feelings are a strong indication of the amplitude of Lagos's monstriousity. Lagos's residential areas have the density of Brazzaville's "busy" areas and the size of .. Brazzaville. and when i tried to do what i always do when i get to a new city: getting a mental picture of its general structure, well my brain failed me. Except for Lagos and Victoria Islands, there is no indication that you leave an area and get in another. And there's a serious lack of "orientation points".. you know, remarkable buildings, monuments, squares, parks.. And the crowds.. oh my the crowds.. May be i'm develloping my own version of my mom's fear of crowds (the thought of india or china makes her nauseous). And the lights.. too many lights, not too much, TOO MANY. And the contrast with the absence of street lights...
I was suffocating..
yet excited...
So yeah, i know that as soon as i get back to my dear and calm home country, i'll start complainning about its boring tranquility and dullness again but somewhere deep inside, a side of me will breathe and appreciate the calm days and nights.
aflakete the wunderkid at 11:54 AM