Coded Tunes

"As little as the salt is in a pot of stew, its absence renders the other ingredients practically useless". In a harsh tone, my grand uncle spake these words while pointing his wrinkled finger at me as if he was trying to place a curse on me. In anger, I stormed out of his presence; How could my own blood wish me ill? I couldn't understand why someone would claim to be helping yet be so forceful.

 Everyone in our extended family knew him for his wise sayings, many of which were in our local dialect (yoruba). Truth be told, he was a man of substance and immense wisdom but his garrulous nature overshadowed the little virtue he had to hang onto. To his wife, Pa James was a vindictive person, family members kept him at an arms length because of his reputation of being cantankerous. Even strangers were afraid to hold conversations with him because of his fierce looks. All these never bothered him though; he simply refused to change.

 Armed with basic primary education, he clearly wasn't a man of vocabulary. His sentences were always in yoruba or pidgin except the times he quoted his famous saying "As little as salt is in a pot of stew, its absence renders the other ingredients practically useless". Asides that, my grand uncle was an illiterate. He was so clueless, he couldn't draw a circle with the base of a coke bottle.

 I don't mean to insult him or berate him due to his level of education and exposure, I'm merely describing my grand uncle without prejudice. Even as he was, I was never ashamed of the man. We had our disagreements every now and then but whenever I returned to the village with my wife and kids, it always ended in a cacophony; 2 men, shattered bones of bush meat, several empty gourds of palm-wine and a reprobate mind.

 In other words, my grand uncle and I were buddies; buddies fight a lot you know? He treated me like the son he never had, always willing to offer me advice. Familiarity they say brings contempt, I think I became too familiar with pa James that I began to disregard his words. He kept hammering his advice and sometimes resorted to screaming at me. I recall yelling back at him on one occasion, he shook his head vigorously and sighed.

 This time like other times, I failed to listen to my grand uncle. He bellowed his over flogged proverb at me and I took it with levity. Reasons being, Pa James used that same proverb for every situation. Some people naively believed the proverb was so deep that it applied to every situation, in turn I felt my uncle loved to amuse himself by speaking the only sentence of english language he ever knew.

 I'm in a mess now and I don't think there is a solution available. With my own hands, I put myself in harms way without being aware. I hurriedly signed the terms and conditions of a contract out of excitement and now I'm paying the price.

 If only I took time out to read the tiny-print, would i be in such a precarious situation? Ignorance is no defence in the face of the law, they say. I had to bear the grave consequences for violating a contract I duly signed.

 During these trying times, I wished my grand uncle gave me his advice Nollywood style; the type good old people usually say with a shaky voice on their death bed as typified in many Nigerian movies. Maybe I would have taken him more serious, just maybe...

In the end, I learnt that:
• Don Perignon even though served in a stainless cup remains Don Perignon. The container is just aesthetics, the content however remains the same with its quality uncompromised.

 •If you want to help someone, never shove it down their throats. You could be doing the antonym of help.

 •Its only wise to pay attention to detail. Something seemingly redundant as a tittle might hinder greatness. Muse on it!