March 6, 2013: Lola
March 6, 2013: Lola
Tick…Tock .. goes the clock, as they say.
I woke up late and extra tired — late for my exercises, and the highlight of my new exercise regime, my early morning swim.
It’s a tired line, pun intended, but I would blame the heat. And PHCN, quite literally the Power (with) Holding Company of Nigeria. Perhaps better known by its acronym in its previous incarnation, NEPA; more adept at withholding power than actually providing it.
The excruciating heat had forced me into making a change to my swimming routine — useful on days like today on which the sun in all its brute force was already out — swimming on the left-hand side of the pool where the nearby building cast its shadow over the pool. Looming large at the back of my mind as I leisurely treaded water was that today was also my market day, the day when I had to beat the heat induced lethargy and be out and about.
Swimming done, I armed myself with a hat, a basket and a list and went out. A week ago at this very market I had stumbled on a treasure. All through the week as I made pit stops at other markets and various holes-in-the-walls I kept hoping to find it but failed each time. As it turned out, no other place around me offered this sweet, unique Nigerian treasure. I knew I had to go back there and get the Agbalumo,
Its sour flesh, sweet creamish liquid and the chewy skin that covered its black seeds had always been a favourite of mine. Memories of high school and break times spent trying to knock them out of trees came flooding back.
Madam! You need more? The hawker in the market snapped me back to present time. I knew I had enough, but could not resist the lure of more.
Agablumo in a sense is a gift of the heat as it is only available during this season.. As I wiped off the sweat from my brow, I was reminded that even bitter, sour, hot seasons have something sweet and desirable in them; just like the sweet and sour fruit I was munching on.
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Lola is an incurable optimist with a passion for writing, love and people and an inordinate obsession with agbalumo. She believes Nigeria is her land of opportunities and lives each day with a desire to impact people. Lola blogs at the aptly named Lola’s Notes