My unexpected win in a Market.
One time my Mum and I had to make a quick and unexpected visit to Ilorin, (the capital of Kwara state, located in the central axis of Nigeria). Ilorin should be a 4-5 hours drive from Lagos. Notice the "should be". However, the bad roads, having to circumvent trucks moving at 56 km/hr on the express and intermittent traffic would leave you arriving whenever God says so.
We were out of our home by 8am and didnt arrive Ilorin till around 3pm. A particular turn left us at a road block where we had to navigate through a farm like area. I kept looking out my window to make sure it was all grass or weed and not crops. Thankfully it was the latter.
Our business was done by evening. This left us (my Mum and I) thinking what could we do to enjoy our one day trip? The typical Nigerian Woman qualities arose in my Mum. She asked if we could buy food stuff that evening ahead of our trip back to Lagos. I was like "say what? Go into the tomatoes, onions and yam market at 6pm? Why ma? ". I told her, we were only going back home so no hurry, we can do all the buying in the morning. We parted ways at this point and I fled to meet with a few friends of mine.
Ilorin is a cool place. The kind of town you watch grow in admiration, like a child that everytime you see you feel like they've grown taller since the last time you met. I had my University education in Ilorin and I had since added it to the list of the places I "come" from. (I have about 5 places I come from in Nigeria). I have also been often told that my yoruba intonation is that of the village Ilorin indigene; yep! village girl and proud. I was glad to be with my friends and didnt meet with my Mum at the hotel until a few minutes to midnight.
Morning came and were ready to hit the market. All of the time I was in Ilorin, my food stuff shopping did not go beyond Yoruba road. This is a market where you can basically get everything in a proper market, but on a smaller scale. My Mum's intentions were to stock up till her next trip to Ilorin or if this wasn't possible then a like market in Lagos. You see, food stuff is majorly produced in the Central and Northern parts of Nigeria. The best thing would have been to buy directly from the farmers in these areas, because as these goods trickle down South (where I reside) they get expensive. So the wise thing to do is, whatever opportunity you get to travel up north, you restock. Which my Mum was planning to do like a pro!
I rarely had the chance to go to big and proper food stuff markets while growing up. When I say big and proper, I mean the dirty-muddy-over crowded markets e.g Mile 12 in Lagos; which feeds the semi-decent, crow-thronging markets e.g Iddo also in Lagos. I grew up with big sisters, aunts, cousins, so the errands that fell on me were vegetable picking or dish washing and belieeeve me, I was fine with this. The art of negotiating and drama of "I'm leaving wont you call me back" was one I never learnt because it annoyed me greatly, still annoys me. What's the point? If you're a seller say one price and stick to it. If you're the buyer, make up your mind and stick to it. That can't be so hard right? But I digress, lol.
As we made our way into the market, I started to sneeze, my mum laughed and said " You have started". Its not me ma, its my ever sensitive, boujee nasal cavity. (Someday I'd give you the gist of how my mum thought I was faking it whenever I carried a broom). Things were going well in the market till my mum would move around in circles negotiating on the same produce; bags of tomatoes or sacs of onions with a difference of say N200 or less (groan). The farther we went the muddier it got. My pair of slippers must of have been cursing me out, asking why I had to put them through all that.
We were almost done (or so I thought) when my mum remembered she had to buy a local specie of pepper called Shogun. According to her this pepper gives flavour and aroma to soups. Since I was just following her around, I decided to go purchase this pepper so that we would leave in time. I went in the direction she pointed out. On getting there, I found out I couldnt just buy whatever quantity I needed as things were done differently there.
I was schooled that, a sac of Shogun costs N13,000 and unless one is involved in the sale of food as in a restuarant, you wouldnt need to buy the whole sac. So, people would come together as a group to contribute the N13,000, purchase and then share the whole bag because the seller wouldnt sell individually. On this note, we would have to wait till enough people had gathered with the funds totalling N13,000 for the sac of Shogun.
It was a long wait. I was riddled with multiple and accelerated sneezing as I was right in the middle of the pepper stalls. After four or five times of my symathisers telling me sorry, they soon got the gist that I was on a roll. I was even told to leave and get some air, but I refused. I'd hate to return and the bag was sold, meaning I'd have to join the wait for another bag. No tenks! The seller would intermitently call out - "the money for this shogun sac is not yet complete o". In my head I thought, so what? Is that why you are shouting like so? Lol! But hey, it was effective o, because someone would come along asking what's left to make it N13,000? They either joined in the wait or left.
Finaly, we were complete; all 15 of us. And the Seller began the sharing with the help of a bucket worth a maximum of N1,000. What this meant was that, all those who wanted to buy below a thousand naira were grouped with others of similar purchase. So if you're buying N200 or N500 worth, you would be grouped with others to make a complete N1,000 and then you will share the pepper amongst yourselves. I was grateful I was buying exactly a thousand naira worth. I couldnt imagine having to stay back after all the stress, to share with 2 or 3 others again. As if on cue, the chants of, "I'm next, pour in my sac" began. This was not drowned by the shouts of "No way madam, that bucket isn't filled, pack in more pepper!" I soon joined the " Pour in my sac" group. Have in mind that we were not on a queue, neither were we in any particular order, in fact, we formed a ring around the seller and the valley of pepper! The pushing and shoving was on another level. If it wasn't a bum it was someone stepping on you with wet slippers, aarrgghh! And to crown it all, there was no sorry or if they decided to apologise, you would have your body carressed by the culprit (usually an Older woman) to show how sorry they were. Sigh!
As soon as the seller poured mine, I started to make my way out of the ring, to fresh air, to freedom to... a woman pulled me and asked where I was going? I told her that I had received my share and was done. She said, we still had to wait for the second round. That, it was very possible we had left over and the remainder would be reshared amongst everyone all over again. I was screaming and stumping my foot in my head like "Noooooo!" I was tired from all the bending and holding forte so I didnt topple into the heap of pepper. My nose was runny, I was sweaty, you name it! I thanked her and still got out of the ring and found a point where I could look into the sharing business without being too deep; while also waiting for the next round. I was determined to finish what I had started, even if I sort of knew the second sharing may end up being so small, I could literaly count the pepper crops; I waited still. My Mum met me like so, her first word was "pele" followed by laughter. She also pointed out that my face was red. I was like, what did you expect ma! Lol. I told her I was waiting for the second round (Pun intended, *wink wink* I couldn't help myself lol! :D). So she went ahead to buy something else I didnt think she needed but because I wasn't done; she went back to her play ground. rme. As soon as I got the second share, I made my way quickly through the crowd like a worm. Dodging this and that, clutching my bag of shogun pepper like a trophy. Lool! I made it!
Notice my indeed red face, also, my nose is naturally big, so don’t think its the stress I went through. Lool.
My mum kept saying, pele, and I was like no it's fine. I did it, thats all that mattered, plus it was worth it. We soon left the market but not before I got myself amala, ewedu, gbegiri, ponmo, shaki and goat meat for the pain. That was the second highlight for me. :D.
So, there you have it, my unexpected win in a market and how I didnt let circumstances force me to throw in the bag; literaly. :)
