05/07/2024
THANK YOU JESUS...
My sad television experience in Biola's house.
One of the problems of mankind is that when we are in a bad state, we remember to pray always, asking God to take us out of the state. We pray so hard. We pray long prayers. We fast and do all manner of religious things. But once we are out of the problem, we just say thank you Lord. We push the situation behind us as if it was not the same pain that tormented us for a long time.
This picture reminds me of the early, middle and late 1970s, when black and white television was a sign of affluence. I remember how my friends and I, Amechi, Seye, Dele, Rasaki, Kayode, Sola, etc would go and line up behind the windows of Mama Biola to watch Baba Sala, Hotel le Jordan, Jaguar, (My belle o, my head o), Art Alade Show, Baba Mero, Village Headmaster, Winds against my Soul, Kootu Asipa, Festac '77, Sura de Tailor, The Bar Beach Show, Bode Wasimi, etc.
If you must watch any of the plays at 8pm tru Mama Biola's window, we would put stones on the floor outside the window to take space. Also, no one dared offend Biola during the day or else, you will be penalised at night. Biola could get angry and lock the window or pour you water from inside.
I knew how to befriend Biola. I would bribe her with a sweet called Epon Baba Sala or alewa, a kind of sweet common in the north. That night, Biola would invite me inside their parlour, where I would sit quietly because Baba Biola would be seated, also watching.
I remember one night when I entered their parlour without doing the normal during the day. Biola sent me out. The programe was Hotel le Jordan. I began to cry. Biola slammed the door behind me and the space outside was filled with Amechi, Seye, etc. I had no where to stand and peep. It was a red letter day for me. I cried home.
I met Mama, already sleeping in bed. She saw me in tears. What happened? I narrated how Biola ejected me because I didn't give her Epon Baba Sala during the day. Mama looked at me with pains in her eyes. She sat on the bed, her head bowed. With the power of hindsight now, I could imagine the pains a mother would have over the shame her son encountered because they could not afford television in their own house.
After a while, I remember Mama said, Segun, ni ola, ni ola, wa wo television ninu ile yi. (My son Segun, tomorrow, I say tomorrow, you will watch TV in this house). I can't remember where my dad was. But I remember Mama making that statement. You see, when some men remember their mothers before their fathers, don't blame them. I am in tears as I write this. Mama, I love you.
The following day, I came back from school, afternoon school, around 6pm. When I entered the parlour, I saw a brand new Sanyo television on the table. I went mad. Mama had done it. She went to borrow money, one hundred naira and bought the tv, to save her son, Segun, me, from the menace of bribing Biola with Epon Baba Sala.
Pronto, I ran out to tell my friends that my Mama has bought a TV. We were free from Biola. The following day, our parlour was filled that evening, starting with Sesame Street at 4pm. Those days, TV broadcast in Kaduna was only from 4pm to 10pm. Later, it shifted to 12 midnight. Later, the morning session 9am to 12 noon started. That time, there was no NTA. It was NTV and in Ibadan, it was WNTV, first in Africa. In Kaduna, it was RTK, Radio Television Kaduna.
Back to my gratitude: so television can become 100 for a penny in Nigeria? So my parents too could gather money and buy tv for us? Television! This magic box that terrorised so many people in the early 70s has now become nothing. I've not watched tv in the last three months. I have no time! Television is even dead in Nigeria.
I return the glory to you God that when you turn our captivity around, we were like them that dream. Thank you for the experience with Biola because it makes me appreciate you everyday of my life. Biola, wherever you are today, I owe no grudge against you. If you had not sent me out thay night, mama wouldn't have been pained to save her son from needless ignominy.
On behalf of the generations who stood behind windows of people who could afford tv in the 1970s, I thank you Lord! I thank you Lord. Today, we can look back with laughters, and hearts filled with gratitude, and say, we had a great time watching tv from behind the windows!
