........"The journey is far nwa m. Kpee chaplet gi ofuma" she said. I said yes mama while also nodding in obedience as if she was right in front of me to observe the body language.
My big brother was talking with his friend Ekene who was right behind us when the bus left the park. They were constantly laughing intermittently. But I wasn't to be distracted at all in this my first major voyage of my life. The farthest I have ever travelled in my life was between Onitsha and my hometown Ukpor. It's about 50mins journey from Onitsha to my secondary school which happened to also be in my hometown. So I was determined to savour every minute of this journey. I was fully awake, fully observant to see URBANIZATION. Maybe he is a magician who would swipe a wand and my rural life would be made urban.
Once we passed Bridge Head market Onitsha, I realized that the places and landmarks I have always known have ended. The appearance of a highly complicated bridge atop the River Niger brought goose pimples all over me. Or did the goose bumps appear on account of the freezing breeze oozing out from the tiny outlets above head? Yes I have never really been inside a car or bus with its side windows wound up to the finish. My papa's Peugeot, the one we popularly called 'Pick Up' with a tarpaulin back always had its side windows down except for Christmas period when the harmattan dust becomes too dusty. I was however in great awe of the mighty iron bridge as we drew closer. The bridge was made of thick iron that were tightly crosslinked. It looked like a giant rectangular iron hole that opened on both sides. When we got onto it, my awe suddenly transformed into fear. The thought of being right above the dreaded river Niger with just a man-made bridge as a barrier got me nervous. The recollection of what our Physics teacher told us about bridge being built with gaps left to allow for thermal expansion, instead of confidence rather made me more uneasy to know that this bridge has 'holes' on it. However when I confidently looked over my brother's shoulders to clearly see the River Niger that took one of my childhood friends' life, my brother 'Captain' noticed the little fear hidden in my eyes. He smiled and started telling me the little he knew about the Bridge. He was an art student in his schools days and his stories about the Bridge made me regret for a moment while I chose the boring science in our SS1.
"The Niger bridge was built even before the war of 1967. It was built by a French construction company just under one year. During the war, Ojukwu ordered the Biafran soldiers to destroy the bridge to avoid the Hausas from invading Onitsha". "where they able to bring it down?" I asked. My brother replied with a confident and arrogant YES that left me unsure of my own reactions. First I was concerned that the bridge has been brought down before, so it is not almighty. But then i was quite glad that our soldiers were strong enough to bring down this mighty landmark. In about 60 seconds we were out of the bridge and in a few seconds i looked through the Window and beheld a signpost which read: WELCOME TO DELTA STATE.
My brother said to me: "This is Asaba". Before he could go on, I added: "Asaba, the capital of Delta state. He smiled and I was proud. Although 36 states and capitals is elementary knowledge seeing the states was geographical.
TO BE CONTINUED
photo credit: za.pinterest.com
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