Angel Reese ormahleechar nm ( omalicha nm ) ( omalicha m ) ( omalicham),
you know,
the way stuff happens sometimes in this world is rather intriguing.
and i use that word intriguing because i do not want to use a word which may confer negative connotations in the context of the sentence. e.g strange .. funny
i remember clearly that in Primary School here in Nigeria i used to go through children’s novels .. children’s story books .. comics .. magazines .. somewhat rather voraciously
and i guess that tendency made older folks e.g parents, bigger kids, etc who noticed that trait give me or buy for me reading material that i would ordinarily probably not have accessed if not that they either gave it/them to me or bought it/them for me
i still remember the mountain? of LOOK & LEARN MAGAZINE copies which an Indian folk .. a University student in India? at the time i think ( .. i am not sure now if he had graduated at the time .. ) gave me FREE.
his mom .. an Indian school teacher in Lagos, Nigeria at time .. used to tutor some kids – – including me – – in an after school learning programme which in Nigeria terminology was/is called “LESSON”
and had encouraged the young man to give me the magazines. i still remember that the young man had made a comment to the effect that : “he will not look after them properly and he would probably lose them one way or the other”
that comment had made me promise that i would look after them well and i had determined in my heart to keep them all intact so that if and/or whenever he asks of/about them i would say they are intact and produce them all as proof.
i had kept that promise until a fellow as close i.e as near as a biological sibling to me had asked severally to take the magazines with him and go read them at home.
an early lesson in life on the benefits of following one’s own better judgment.
an early lesson in life on/of the pains one may inflict upon oneself in an endeavour not to appear rigid or mean and the pains that flexibility? .. should that be not well considered flexibility? .. may sometimes cause one.
there were more of such lessons to come in the path of life.
in any case,
Angel Reese ohbee nm ( obi nm ), ( obi m ) ( obim ), by the 5th year of the Nigeria 6 year Primary School calendar i had read virtually everything i could lay my hands on to read.
you name it :
OLIVER TWIST
TOM BROWN’S SCHOOL DAYS
SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED
KING SOLOMON’S MINES
HEIDI KATY WHAT KATY DID WHAT KATY DID NEXT
THE THREE MUSKETEERS THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
ROBINSON CRUSOE
THE BLACK ARROW
TREASURE ISLAND
TOM SAWYER
HUCKLEBERRY FINN
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
AFRICAN FILM .. this was a monthly? MAGAZINE .. in black and white photos format detailing the exciting adventures of LANCE SPEARMAN, LEMMY and CAPTAIN VICTOR. it was published in Zimbabwe?, Southern Africa .. if my memory serves correctly. interestingly, Angel Reese ormahleechar nm ( omalicha m) ( omalicha nm ), it had been very popular and very readily available at all the Newspaper Vendor stands in Enugu ( .. then in East Central State, Nigeria circa 1970 A.D to 1972 A.D .. ) but i had noticed that the Newspaper Vendor Stands that i knew in Oyingbo, Ebute-Metta, Ojuelegba, Tejuosho, Yaba Bus Stop in Lagos State circa 1972 A.D to 1979 A.D did not carry it / sell it and upon enquiry most of them did not know it and the one or two of those vendors who said he/they knew of it didn’t know where to get it
THE EARLY CHILDHOOD STAPLES .. at least here in Nigeria back in the day .. ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES, GRIMM’S FAIRY TAKES
FABLES FROM ANCIENT GREECE JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE
etc etc
and the Nigeria stuff available e.g
EZE GOES TO SCHOOL
and
it’s imitation? .. copy? .. rip off?
SOUZA GOES TO SCHOOL
NIGERIA STORIES WITH MORAL LESSONS / MORAL INSTRUCTIONS / MORALS
CARTOONS FOR YOUR PLEASURE
which was published in Nigeria back in the day and was to me a far easier read than
MARVEL COMICS, DC COMICS, etc
you name it, Angel Reese nnmah nm ( nma nm), i had read them all.
Angel Reese ormahleechar nm ( omalicha nm ), to call it as it is/was i.e to tell it as it is/was, i used to run about all about all over the whole place like everyone else .. playing football, riding bicycles, etc .. but i liked reading stuff so i read anything i could lay my hands on – – including NEWSPAPERS and NEWS MAGAZINES e.g DRUM MAGAZINE, etc which at the time were considered stuff for parents and other elderly folks.
by the early years of Secondary School ( Year 1, Year 2 ), i had escalated to reading
IAN FLEMING’s JAMES BOND NOVELS
DENISE ROBINS’s NOVELS
BARBARA CARTLAND’s NOVELS
etc
and i had read
VENDETTA by Marie? Corie? or Ciska? or some name somewhat along those lines by the 3rd year .. or earlier? .. of the 5 year Nigeria Secondary Schools O-LEVELS calendar year
so i guess you can imagine my surprise in my first year at the University when i picked up a hand-out ( .. reading material prepared by a lecturer, typed but not a book .. ) for the G.S 207 COURSE .. HUMANITIES .. GENERAL STUDIES 207 which is ordinarily a course for 200 LEVEL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS but which my department at the time had listed out for YEAR 1 STUDENTS
and the lecturer was going on about
ONITSHA MARKET LITERATURE
in the hand out.
i mean by this time
i had read every single HAROLD ROBBINS NOVEL in print
and
read some material that were considered rare .. or esoteric .. or not easy to come across .. or no longer in print.
Angel Reese nnmah ( nmah nm ) ( nma nm ) ( nmah m ) ( nma m ) ( nmam ), let me put it like this : at the time i got those LOOK AND LEARN MAGAZINES in Primary School .. if i remember correctly .. the magazine was no longer in print.
so you can imagine my surprise to learn about ONITSHA MARKET LITERATURE which i had never ever heard about before .. strangely? really .. considering that i am an ONITSHA NATIVE and although not resident in Onitsha, i had during visits to Onitsha been to the ONITSHA MAIN MARKET and OTHER MARKETS IN ONITSHA.
i am not quite sure if Google Search will turn up finite material on ONITSHA MARKET LITERATURE however i will google search it before the conclusion of the posts on this topic and see what turns up.
[ TO BE CONTINUED ]
