"Naka bokya?" "nyunga fa" This was my visa to enter the village that was fuming in the sahelian plain.As the golden plate of the king of the solar system was descending,sparrows,eagles,parrots spread their wings up above and intercepted my vision. My legs were dangling from he village "péncha",really there was nothing related to technology around me."Wai-nak"Life was ripe for me as a seed store clerk,without a Toshiba. I learnt,i discussed and i graduated as a proud son of the Nyaiye that brother "jéléféng" called a nomad in this cyber-guillotine. Origin can produce "useful" pride if origin delivers a productive baby,"alee batu dé!" origin can help us "slide" down the slope and be soaked in the muddy pool of empty arrogance,if origin was carved to pump in "des histoires soignées" to guard certain lineages. Koto Sana became my source of laughter,this koto's identity was his remarks and his "rismaa naafo".Koto was illiterate but he appreciated and understood truth as truth. For every wonderful thing he heard from the truth-loving IMAMO of the village,koto objectively said:"alikoo!maasira wuléng!".This "wuléng" means "tonyaa wuléng"-(the red truth). Yes sir! i agree with my mandinka folks! Truth can be considered red! Red burns,red endangers the feeble,red honours the honourable,red raids,therefore,the mandingo was wise to send us this cultural perfume. The cohabitation that "lubricated" the existence between the "naka bokyas","hono m'bahdons", "albé kai ratos" "kasuméképs","alinkira jams" "naafiyos" etc in that nyaiye was so marvellous and educative. Als!the syllabus of unity,understanding,"les va et viens" that was produced by the traditional lessons was unfortunately absent where i was posted from as a seed store clerk. My mind saw the faces of carricaturing 'nib-pals',no discussion was possible! no understanding was possible! and yet we are men of books! As Mark Anthony said to Brutus after he was "lured" by the evil plans of Cassius and gang to kill his friend Caesar! Mark said repetively in his speech of triumph-"Yet he is an honourable man!". Thats the honour this seed store clerk learnt to refuse from the acrid smoke he inhaled as a nomad!!! A wise african brain once told me; "Yero Takko,jangu wota nyonyu"- this is a virtue that kept on telling me:"Please brood through the texts do not loot the minds through them". Yes i am a nomad from the gutter of truth! Paul. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------