BROKEN BUT BEAUTIFUL

In The Beginning...

It was October of 2001, the day had started out like any other day, but from the moment I woke up, I could feel this unexplained churning in my guts like my life would take a new twist.

I looked out the window of our one room apartment from the mat on the floor, where I slept with my four brothers and sisters, it was hard to tell the time because it was still very dark outside.

I couldn't make a sound for fear that I would wake Ette Idara; everybody knew he loved his sleep and it was an abomination for any of the children to disturb him.

I still recall an episode that occured with him and my my second brother, Udoh.

Nobody had any peace for many days, because ettte Idara wouldn't let us forget how his beauty sleep was cut short by an inconsiderate child. (Laughs)

It was in the middle of the night and we had all turned in for the night, then there were sudden movements in the children's sleeping area (floor). Initially, I felt it was a rat because the movements were intermittent until I heard Ette Idara's roar; l 'who's that?!!!

The movements stopped suddenly but the roar jerked all of us awake, we knew there will be no more sleep for anybody that night.

A visibly shaken Udoh replied in a shaky voice, 'na me sir'

You who! Ette Idara demanded, his eyes shot daggers at the direction the voice was coming from.

The light came on and the little room came alive, Ette Idara scanned the room, heaving like Sango, the god of thunder. The only thing remaining to complete the look was fire oozing out from the mouth.

Udoh, who was hurdled like a frightened rabbit in one corner of the room, repeated himself inaudibly. 'Dadada..dyy, na me Udoh.'

'So?!! Wetin you dey find this early morning? Ettte Idara bellowed out.

'Daddy, I wan go piii….'

But before he could complete the statement, Ette Idara roared again…'mafrend, better find somewhere sleep and stop disturbing me because if I stand up from this bed, I swear I'll slap you blind?

Ette Idara didn't flog, but you see his bark, hmm, that was much worse.

I shook myself back to the present.

No, no this wasn't the day to think such thoughts , I was excited and I needed to place a finger on exactly what was making me all giddy, that should be my focus right now.

As the darkness gave way to the clear bright morning, so did my mind. I got up with a start: Ahan! I do know why I was excited, Today was a very important day in my life, it was my first day of resumption as an intern at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Tejuosho!

I took my mind back to when we were handed the IT letters by our HOD, the pep talk urging us to be good ambassadors of the Jackson building and good representatives of those that went before us.

I also did a mind travel to how some of my course mates boasted about already having where to do their internships but sadly, I was one of those who didn't have an uncle who ran a media outfit or a godfather to give a call, it was really tough for me to get a placement.

I trekked from newspaper houses to television stations all over the metropolis until my shoes soles almost came off, before I was lucky enough to get a positive response at the NTA office; please tell me why I should not be excited…it only meant one thing for me; I was closer to attaining my dream of becoming the Ruth Benamaisia or Eugenia Abu, great female news anchors at the time.

Hmm! .. I hurried up from the floor, pushed my siblings awake and rolled up the mat. Nobody was going to make me late for this all important day in my day. I ran to the back of our eleven rooms compound where the bathroom was sitting pretty with my half bucket of water , luckily there were no queue this morning. In less than twenty minutes.I was ready.

Getting to Tejuosho, where the NTA premises was situated was another matter entirely. It was an herculean task walking from Okorogbo, where my house was to Boundary market which housed the makeshift motorpark .

On a good day , the walk took almost a twenty minutes walk but I got there in less than ten minutes. I could literally feel the spring in my feet that morning.

At the bus stop, I joined the queue of people heading to Ojuelegba,it was so surreal, you would think I was one of those all important business people. I didn't have any worries in the world at that instant. My only concern was NTA and the internship letter in my paperbag.

As soon as I arrived the premises of the television station, the security men drilled me , once they were satisfied, directed me to the office of the General Manager, I met a small group of people who obviously had appointments with the man.

His secretary pointed me to the end of the queue and went back to her typing.

Everyone was sitted quietly, I joined them afraid to even breath for fear of them asking me to go back home. I couldn't afford to miss this golden opportunity!

When it got to my turn, the general manager, a man who looked like he should have been in a university hall addressing a group of students on climate change and it's implications on the human race, asked for my mission there, I reechoed what I told the security men at the gate. 'errrr…Sir, I'm here for my IT, siiiirrr. I stammered slighty.

He asked for my letter, which I clumsily handed over to him, after perusing the document for a minute or two, he minuted on it and sent me back to his secretary…'young lady, take this letter back to my secretary in front, she'd know what to do'

At the secretary's table, she didn't waste time at all, she brought out another letter, collected the one I had , asked for the correct pronunciation of my names, inputted it into the old manual typewriter without taking her eyes off of me.

When the initial formalities were over, she pointed to the adjacent building and asked me to report to the Head of News.

The short walk to the office of the Head of News , I'd never forget. I kept peeping at the letter of acceptance in my hand.

It was too good to be true.

I gave a whooping shout of joy! I caught myself before it got too loud, looked around me to see if anyone was watching me but luckily, the whole place was quiet.

Once I got to the office of the Head of News, he was on the phone. His secretary asked me to wait by the side of the door, so he could see he had a visitor, so I perched at the edge of the open door to his office. Not too long afterwards, he dropped the phone and beckoned on me to come in.

Unlike the general manager who had this stern look, the head of news was very cordial.

He kept trying to make me in his words… 'feel at home' by making small talks like where I stayed and how long it took me to get there. The whole time smiling at me.

After that , he requested for my acceptance letter: looked at it critically and bellied a deep laugh.

I was taken aback …this was not at all the kind of reception I was expecting but at that point I had no choice but to wait him out.

After a few minutes, he drew his reading glasses down the bridge of his nose, did a quick sweep from my head to toe and asked, 'are you from Calabar?' in my confusion, I nodded. Then he laughed again.

At this point, I was a potpourri of emotions. Not knowing if to feel embarrassed, cry or just disappear into the nearest wall.

After he was done making me uncomfortable, he rang for his secretary, when she arrived, the head of news flung my letter in her face and said to her, 'omo calabar ni girl yi sha' (loose translation…this girl is from calabar) they both started another round of laughter.

Nobody said anything about why I was there. I waited, face down and almost on the verge of crying.

Then I heard the secretary say …. 'Emem ti ri iyawo niyen' (loose translation, Emem has eventually gotten a wife)

In my mind, I was like 'abeg, una say wetin? I look like who dey find husband for una face'??

Before I could summon enough courage to ask who was Emem, the secretary led me away and straight into the newsroom.

In the newsroom, it was a beehive of activities because it was almost news production time but everyone paused as soon as we came in.

Aunty secretary shouted again: 'hello newsroom, meet our new intern, she's calabar' (my name didn't matter)

It was like it was a pre-rehearsed script , there was screams from everywhere and the next thing I heard.. 'where's Emem? 'has he seen his calabar sister?', Emem will like this one' 'someone should call him' but someone else in the crowd responded, ' he's off duty today '!!!

My head was spinning, my mouth dry; I didn't know how to react. The only thought in my head 'who is this Emem?'

I made a mental note to stay very far away from him when he resumed the next day.

After all, I was only here for internship and not to get entangled in any workplace romance but little did I know that this was a volcanic eruption waiting to happen.