It was a sunny Saturday in 2009. I had a meeting to attend at
the Onikan city mall. It was the meeting of the “Infotech Excos”. Now, Infotech
Group is one of the Lagos State NYSC community development groups. According to
history, the group was started by Gbenga Sesan and the purpose is mainly to
bring ICT knowledge to secondary school students.
I was the Vice president of the
group in my set and sincerely, I will confess that the group served its
purpose. I was able to know vibrant girls who have grown to be ladies of
purpose. One of them is Mojisola.
After our passing out parade, we
decided to meet and discuss on how to map out a long-lasting career plan by starting
our own ICT Company. We had people who were futuristic and daring. We decided
to meet at a popular eatery located inside the city mall.
This very day, I had no
premonition of the aesthetics inside the mall. I have not even been to the mall
before so I had no idea I was going to face my fear. I had on one of my
favourite jeans, a yellow top and a heel to finish the look. Applied my makeup
and set out to meet the other team members. I was actually a bit late so I needed
to hurry up but being one who will not trade her fashion sense for anything, I chose
to catwalk into the mall.
On entering, I saw my fear. There
is an escalator to be used in other to get to the eatery. Now, don’t get me wrong.
I have had opportunity to use the escalator before but most times; I always see
an alternative which is a stair so I have perfected the act of boycotting the escalator.
I don’t know how to use it, I have never used one prior to that time.
Now, before you start shaking
your head and saying “Oh my Gosh, this girl is so local”, just post the picture
of the escalator in your living room and show me the one you grew up with. Escalators
are not our thing here and most of us have terrible stories about our first
time experimenting with it
I got inside, looked right, left and
center and there was no alternative. Oh my God. How on earth? Who designed this
place for Pete sake? You see, if not that I had entered the mall with a lot of
bang and all the guys downstairs felt my entrance, it would have been better.
But the way I entered self didn’t give me the courage to turn around and ask
anybody how to use it.
So I braced up. Studied two
people used it and I told myself, you can do it. I repeated it to myself. You
are brilliant, intelligent, smart, brave and knowledgeable so using this mere
metal is not a problem. More so when I saw a little girl of about 10 years took
a stride toward it and ran up it.
I walked with all the efizzy in
the world to the escalator, and placed one of my legs on the first step while the
other was right on the floor. Then, I balanced my hands separately on the handrails.
Not knowing that one of the handrails was for people going up while the other
was for people coming down. I thought I had done the right thing by placing my
hands on the two hand rest. That was where my problem started from.
Some people were laughing, some
were telling me what to do. One guy was shouting “take your hands off the
rails. Take your hands off. Free your hands.” For where? I didn’t answer him.
Take my hands off and fall down. God forbid. I was just there screaming and
shouting until the guy came to my rescue by forcefully releasing my hands and
the escalator took me up. By then, it was already a full
cinema house. Like I care? I just took one bold glance at all the spectators,
took a deep breathe in and walked away.
By the time we finished the
meeting, my mates were already laughing and making a scene out of it so I told
them, if you people don’t want another drama again, just hold my hand and lets use
it together. I eventually used it with another male friend who held my hand and
tutored me on how to use it.
It’s been almost seven years and I
still cannot forget that day. Now, I can use it with all authority. However, I
learnt my lessons. Some of them I have penned down here.
- There are some things that books won’t teach you only experience will.
- Don’t run away from your fears, face it. Most times, they are like tissue papers
- Be courageous. Don’t be ashamed of your little incapacity. Nobody is born to know how to do things. We all learn.
And before you say that babe sef no tush at all, drop your own escalator story. We will love it
|Mide Pearl|
