LamikayTy

This is not meant to sound like a righteous and holy post  but haven said that let me sound like that. I have never believed in living beyond my means. If  I cannot afford a particular shoe I’ve been eyeing…, I simply close my eyes until I can afford it or never. Emmm…it helps that I cannot be considered a fashion freak.

Reading Guerrilla Basements post on Spending inspired this post.

I know a certain gentleman who runs through money like he is drinking water. His lifestyle is certainly termed extravagant by the likes of us who abhor designer labels and I really cannot fathom why anyone would go hire a Taxi for the whole day regardless of whether he can afford it or not. None of these hurt as much as the fact that it is quite obvious to all around him that he is living beyond his means. Gbese po! (he is heavily indebted) and widely spread too. I have concluded that anyone who lends him any amount of money is simply bidding such cash a swift bye-bye.

The Lagos life (for some) depending on what circles you run in seem to extract from people certain debts that only foolish people pay. Those who think that it is unheard of to conduct a wedding ceremony and limit numbers. Ah, Ki la won eyan ma ro (What will people think? ) they ask. Yet the Bokoto*, Eja osan* and 5Alife*(sic)  you are killing yourself to obtain will be gone down the throats of invited and uninvited guests, well-wishers and doom-sayers in what?30minutes! Gone never to come back again. And then, drinking garri begins…

The wedding ceremony full of the trappings of the Nouveau-riche leave the families and sadly the new couples with enough debt for 2,3 years. At a salon yesterday my ears were almost ‘burnt’ with the ‘news’ of a forthcoming funeral. The amount of money to be spent was mind-boggling. Costs of flying the corpse down alone from the UK was enough to conduct funerals for 5 people not to talk of how many aso-ebi’s have been bought….(A booming business for our country of traders)

I turn a deaf ear to any beggars at work. However, I’ve been conned a few times with sweet tales and sweeter tongues but never again. The people coming to borrow are so well dressed you wonder why they cannot sell a few of their items to raise the much needed cash. I mean if you can afford that gold chain hanging down your neck as opposed to my bare necked one, why come borrow from me?  The same rule applies, chew only what your mouth can hold.

I agree I’m standing on a moral high horse but I’m just  a bit bewildered at why people have eyes larger than their heads. Why do you buy a car you cannot afford to maintain? I mean there has to be another reason apart from wanting the ‘world’ to hail you as a rich person. I cannot imagine living in fear of the ‘Osomalo’*

Credit societies like the US have seen first-hand what that kind of lifestyle can bring and for humans I daresay such cravings start small and can grow out of proportion if not properly managed. The bottomline though is that the ‘Onigbese’s** will always be with us the same way Jesus said the Poor will always be around. No amount of talk will change this and I think I’ll just go about calmly in the knowledge that our world will be spiced by people like me and people like them and we are just that ‘Human!’

*Osomalo – Typical Ijesa traders who sold goods on hire purchase terms. They were very pleasant when selling but discarded this gentle mask when it was time for the debtor to pay up.

**Onigbeses – Debtors

Bokoto* – Meat innards considered a delicacy

Eja osan* – Fresh fish straight from the Sea

5Alife* – 5 Alive – a juice drink packaged by CocaCola!

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