By OMOSEYE BOLAJI
Another year is petering to an end; it seems incredible that almost 12 months (of 2012) have been completed. But that is life. From “mewling…puking infants” as Shakespeare put it, we progress in disparate fashion towards the grave, as it were.
It is now about three years that that I began to write this on-line column; a column I am very proud of, by the way. Sometimes I have produced fine, sublime work, other times I believe I have descended so low as far as bathos is concerned, inflicting half-baked or wooly opinions on the readers. But life is like that.
I have been uplifted by countless positive comments from many readers out there, from inside Nigeria, from South Africa and in the wide Diaspora as they say. To be honest, a lot of the time such fine comments have prodded me to keep going. I am also pleased that so many of my columns have been reproduced in other websites, journals, books, world-wide.
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to state that my approach, my credo, essentially is light-hearted. I have never relished the “heavy stuff”, the pretentiously difficult, or obscurantism. What I write most of the time reflects my fiction – churned out to entertain more often than not, but also sometimes informative in its predilection.
I grew up more or less “worshipping” the great creative, imaginative Nigerian writers – Chinua Achebe, John Munonye, Elechi Amadi, Wole Soyinka, Chukwuemeka Ike, Victor Thorpe, TM Aluko etc. As a kid, I dreamt of publishing my own works of fiction too, and I have been thrilled to have published over ten works of fiction too. I do not compete with anybody (any other writer) and I believe I have my own style, even if some dub it a bit zany!
Like other writers, I have my own readers; people who enjoy what I write (now I am mainly thinking of my works of fiction). To my delight many intelligent readers, including academics have appreciated what I have published to the extent that at least ten different books (studies) have been published on my work. Some awards have come in plus a film documentary on me; and to be honest, these things can not be quantified in monetary terms.
In life one will always have some “detractors” or “critics” of course. That is the way it should be; the best “critics” are of course those who try to be open-minded and still give some praise where it is due. Alas, a very small minority - more or less like sick cranks probably motivated by other maleficent factors, will try to pull every writer down. But in the end as an “artist”, the view of the majority is what buoys one; keeps one focused and creative.
This year – purely from a literary perspective, so to speak – has been another memorable one for me. The recent glittering Mbali Awards that took place in Clocolan (South Africa) was easily one of the highlights. It was an occasion when I was honoured with another Lifetime Achievement Award, and it was thrilling to see the phalanx of intelligent people, Black, White and “coloured” gracing the event. There were traditional Zulu and Sesotho praise-songs, or rather poems rendered in my honour. And Zulu regalia in particular can be picturesque!
Ah, the festive season…the period all of us look forward to painstakingly with some relish. The time to unwind, rest, let our hair down; at least in theory! Psychologically it is a boost and fillip to us all time to re-connect properly with loved ones etc.
Seriously though, here in South Africa the festive season is already in the air…hordes of people, including myself, are preparing for long journeys during this period. In the major shops, uplifting melodious Christmas music can be heard, complemented by a phalanx of Xmas trees and Father Xmases. The young ones are particularly in celebratory mood, with School holidays commencing. On my own part, let me wish everybody out there a wonderful, fulfilling, jocose, festive season!
PIX ABOVE: Bolaji (left) with South African writer, K.A Motheane at the Mbali Awards
