The Day I Lost My ‘Heart’ and ‘Kidney’
By Balogun Muhammed Jamiu
However, it is amazing to figure out that heart comes before kidney just as the letter “H” comes before the letter “K.” I could not think of a better caption for this piece, and to express the glorious catastrophic and mind-blowing event that leads to the loss of my heart and kidney.I am still trying to fathom why the “heart” is named heart and the “kidney” is named kidney.
It was indeed a saga of losing one’s indispensable and cogent organs in a day.
Everyone is looking out for Sallah day, (Muslim’s festival characterised with the slaughtering of ram). The market is booming as children and their parents are in the market to buy clothes and adornment. It was the last Friday before Sallah, and obviously the end of the week as banks and offices will not open until Wednesday. The queue at the bank was enormous and there were hisses coming front and end.
One man was complaining bitterly having spent three hours at the bank; he is yet to procure his sacrificial ram. As if that was not enough, the stress that comes their way from ram seller was threatening. There was a hike in the price of ram and most people cannot go home with a ram they would have loved to go home with. Those that could not afford ram settled for chicken and fish respectively.
People are travelling in and out as the D-day is slated for Sunday. Muslim faithful are enjoined to fast for the first ten days of the last month of lunar calendar (Zul-hijja) and also to be steadfast in remembrance of almighty Allah (SWT).
Those that cannot afford to fast due to myriad factors for the whopping ten days are however enjoined to fast on Arafat day. Fasting on that day erased sins committed for that year and the year after. I could not start the prayer and fasting on the first day of the lunar month, I started my prayer and fasting on the sixth day.
I decided to use the August opportunity to engage in a three days prayer. The prayer ended on Friday and extended to midnight. It was the morning of the Arafat day.
Before then, I was basking in the euphoria of its expectation and decided to shower encomium of praise on the holy prophet Mohammad (SAW). It, however, turned a quiet day for me, a day that I could neither cry nor smile. To the glory of almighty, I was done with the prayer at about 2am.
I was supposed to fast that day and also intended to apply for Acumen fellowship; I have downloaded the application’s details on my phone but needed to put it on my laptop for a wider view. I thus connected my Infinix hot X to my Hp Probook laptop via a cord. Both I got during my service year; they both are the only things that savour my heart whenever I think about my dedication and the suffering I went through during the service year. I was not fortunate to choose from four state options where one will eventually be posted to one of them. Three of the options are not available during my registration; it was only Delta State that was available and mandated on me. I had already made up my mind that I was going to be posted to the oil-rich state.
To my amazement, I was deployed to Enugu State. Travelling to the eastern part of the country for the first time came with a mix feeling. Enugu as the hub of eastern states comes with challenges that ranges from expensive house rent, unavailability of drinking water. My background does not, however, provide the luxury of going with enough money to even take care of some fundamental need. I had already lost my laptop when I was writing my final year project.
I was posted to a media and advertising company and I was then taken to their creative department. It was imperative to get a laptop owing to the task and responsibility in my place of primary assignment. The money I had planned to use to secure accommodation in partnership with a colleague was what I used to secure the laptop for N50,000.
I was left with no option than to move to corper’s lodge where I was faced with series of restriction. It was more like an advanced secondary school and we were about nine in a room. I was coping so well with my new home while I took solace in the sight of the laptop. When what I referred to as lion bedbug took over our room, I wept and even had to vacate my bed to sleep on the bare floor. The bug has been picked on my clothes several times en route to work and I was often embarrassed. None of it can be compared to the day one young lady scream on the top of her voice when she sighted a bug on me. She alerted the whole passenger as a result.
My Itel tab that I have been using for close to two years was by then malfunctioning, and as the head of the marketing department (I was later moved to marketing department owing to my dexterity and communication prowess) I was missing a lot of calls from prospective and clients.
My boss frowned at that without batting an eyelid. In the line of our job, people size you up with the outfit on you and the yardstick they used to determine if you are really worth their time. It was imperative to look good and use a better and sophisticated phone. I made up my mind to purchase a new phone and that aspiration was met with my last double “allawe”.
I bought the phone for N43,000. I was practically left with nothing except for the fare that took me home for Xmas and the one that took me home when I finished with the service. I was supposed to retain my position after service and I was not bothered with the spending of my last penny. It was after I finished my service that I realised I could not continue in my role due to discrepancy in my supposed salary.
There is no how I could possibly secure accommodation from the money he wanted to pay me as salary. I could work with a certain amount of salary but I could not continue to keep staying at the lodge and continue with suffering 2.0.
I intended to fast on Arafat day and I quickly dashed out to the kitchen to get the food I had earlier prepared for dinner. I then thought of using the opportunity to catch up on a television program while I also enjoy my meal. After about thirty minutes I returned to the room with the sole aim of continuing with acumen registration.
I was mad for a while when I entered and could not find the duo of my phone and laptop. I saw my laptop charger dangling, I muttered to myself “I did not take my laptop to the sitting room na!” I could not stop my heel from turning back to the sitting room to have a check.
This better be a nightmare I said. It was after I sprinkled some water and gave myself a body slap that I realised that it was a reality. I walked toward the window and figured that it was via the window that they made away with it. I was encapsulated with confusion and obviously wasn’t thinking right. It was still funny to me and I have not started to be feeling the impact. I opened the door and went to wake up my brother.
How does one cope when one loses a heart and kidney in just a day? This is cruelty in totality; I could now understand why some people will not hesitate to lynch a thief. It is however not a justification but the pain lost of one’s properties inflict comes little by little and it lingers on. As a budding writer, novelist, poet, blogger and lover of knowledge, I imagined how impossible it is to come across my document in both my phone and laptop. It was that moment that I remembered the novel I was writing which was already in chapter four, my articles and other important and necessary documents that I have gathered for years. I could not even retrieve my SIM cards not to talk of buying a phone. I could not boast of a thousand Naira to myself. When the incident happened everything came to halt! My heart stops walking and so is my kidney. I begged practically in order for a guy to let me use his phone to finish the acumen registration. I could not give the application necessary attention it deserved as the owner of the phone took the place of my jugular vein. I was supposed to send my CV with a cover letter, a memory like that took me on a memory lane. Where do I start from was the question that took over my mind? How do I get CV and a copy of the cover letter sent?
Do I have an idea of how many calls I would have missed since I lost my phone and laptop a week ago? It was then I realised what the greatest havoc the thief who made away with my property has done. It is catastrophic and unfortunate. I will appreciate him and even praise him vehemently if he could be magnanimous to return my PC’s hard disk along with my SIM and memory card. It was indeed a loss of heart and kidney.
