A SLIP OF THE MIND 1
BACK FROM A MENTAL HOLIDAY
You will have an opportunity to read this article, “A slip of the mind.” I am sorry for eating a lot of chopped yams in form of kagoto (ballast) and forgot that I had readers who eagerly want to read from me. We enjoyed boiled yams on MASHUJAA day instead of imported worms you call rice or the roasted or boiled red remains of a dead animal.
On this side of the globe we advocate for the rights of the animals and mass killings slipped our minds. My grandfather is one of those people who call themselves protectors of animals who can’t entertain anybody who jokes around with the preserved deer you call goats. The draught is not yet over but he can’t part with his skinny animals for money. Even when some neighbouring cattle rustlers threaten to flee with the whole herd.
Maybe we have few or we don’t have the endangered type of birds you call chicken and we can easily mistake a dog for a goat so the mountain of kagoto did better in our stomachs and climbing it from the top made us sing with joy and satisfaction. We are not the type who enjoyed taking fermented water of River Distiller. This type of water makes some of us behave as if they are victims of swine flu. When they tell you that they will chop your hand for you, you find it on the ground.
Therefore I beg your pardon for not communicating through this forum. I have been digesting all this stuff from the slopes. you know we are ruminant animals. We keep on chewing the cud nonstop. We are of the philosophy to chew and chew and when we get tired of it we chew again. I read from somewhere that a man can’t think and chew at the same time. Therefore, first things first.
Being a product of the slopes I have discovered that I am growing taller and taller. May be I am not a type of breed you call cross-breed or hybrid because I was planted in the slopes and I have never been transplanted elsewhere. Grafting or cloning has never been done on my body. I might be one of those indigenous type you call zebu although my height leaves me with suspicion.
My friends tell me that those zebus which are grown near the waters flourish and gain a lot of weight and never wither. For if the sower of the seeds had found it wise not to throw me near the lake or river. I have no objection of him throwing me on those spotted rocks of the slopes. The sower was aware that my roots would penetrate the snowy rocks with a lot of ease. Some people think that those people from the slopes who have planted the precious tree they call miraa are very tall like giraffes to be able to pick and chew the twigs while standing. If so corrections will be in order.
If my mind doesn’t slip on this issue I cannot exhaust it without referring to the little science that I can recall. You know that it is rare to see the sun over the slopes? Therefore, when I started to germinate I found myself rushing upwards to see if I could visit the sun one day. In the chilling cold of the slopes you have an advantage of reaching to the sun if you had no defects. I thought that if I reach somewhere it will get hotter to strip me of the chilling cold. Unfortunately I have lately learnt a startling geographical discovery that it will get cooler if I got higher. I knew that if you get nearer to the fire you will find it hotter and our great grandparent said that God is protected by the sun and those who are on the mountains are nearer to God. I don’t know who is right. Some prayed facing Mount Kenya and others Kirimaara.
Due to geography my head is cooler than my legs and that is why my head has grown some vegetation which seems to cover even my face resisting those strong attacks from the cold. I know you don’t admire my countenance and height but that is how things are. I like being tall for I receive a soothing brand of air that only a few have polluted. Please don’t hate this article.
© Tabu Bin Tabu 2009
A SLIP OF THE MIND 2
TOO YOUNG OR TOO OLD
