THE REAL NIGERIA 3

Its been a week since I arrived home. In that time, the light has not been out once and walking to where the generators are housed, I get the sense that this has been so for a while. That is, if the thick cobwebs I see all over our four generators is anything to go by. Dont ask me why we have four of them, we just do! There's the one we bought originally and which worked fine till a month after and we had to start fixing. There's the one I bought during the period the first one was being fixed becos I hate whatever stresses my daughters and not having television time does. There is the one I bought becos switching on that first one to get ready in the mornings was such a chore and a waste and there is our back up diesel generator becos sometimes, for some strange reason, there could be petrol scarcity and we needed an alternative. But none of them looked like they had gotten any use in a while. I believe that's a good thing but still find it puzzling that such change could have happened so fast!

I return to work today and even though I have been in contact with the office, I am a bit apprehensive. Reason is not far fetched, haven been away, I dont know what changes have occurred at the office like I have seen at home and everywhere else since I returned. I want these changes but unsure what they may mean. Ask me again in a week or two. So, here I am, power dressed for work as usual and loitering round my home so as to delay for the longest time, the drive to work. Now, that's one drive that I usually like to make. On my weekends on call, I can usually cover the distance in 15minutes, from my gate to the gate of the University. Even though I drive like a  maniac, I believe the real emphasis is on the first three letters of that word. I love driving, no, let me rephrase that, I lurve driving. It frees me up to give free rein to my wanderlust mind and I like going fast, the adrenaline rush is like no other. Most times, I go past drivers who look puzzled at what just zoomed past them and I look in my rear-view mirror and laugh.

Time to go to work! I love work and sometimes I infuriate people around me with the enthusiasm that I take to it but many do not see the days when I am frustrated by my inability to think enough to make work work becos on those days, I hide out. But not today, after a nine month hiatus, I am ready for work today. I had asked to drive myself today, so my husband had taken the driver and the kids when he left for work. I got in  the car and made my way onto the expressway to work. I smiled as I rolled in through the University gates 15minutes later, yep, still got it! Used to packing a lunch now, I parked and retrieved my lunch and bag and laptop and made for my office. The changes were evident from outside but nothing prepared me for the sight that met my eyes! As i walked up to the building fondly known as 'white house' to start my daily exercise regime, I stopped short. The exercise regime is me climbing up 4flights of stairs to my office on the 4th floor but the lobby was so different, it was hard to miss the shiny new elevator with the distinctive ping as students poured out of its belly and a new set attempted to get on. The students swarmed around me, oblivious to my confusion and soon the elevator left with me staring at it as it went. I decided it was best as I needed to stop on the first floor anyway. I have a posse in the Dean's office that it was my regular habit to stop and see on my way in to work. My feet were unused to a well-carpeted stairwell and I gasped when I reached the first floor. The corridor was lined with rows of photos of graduating classes and the entire perception was one of pride in the product!

I made it to my office eventually and when I opened the door, had to close it and look at the door label again to  ascertain I did not have the wrong office. It was still painted in that calming shade of grey that I liked but that was the only resemblance to the office I had left behind. The relic of an air conditioner that I had become accustomed to was gone and in its place was the state of the art smaller model that I had jocularly asked my Head of Department for at one of our meetings. He had looked at me with that look that said,'Why will it be you doing this to me?' and I had coughed to cover the embarrassment of being the one to reveal our lack of funding for basic needs and had never spoken of it again. My books were in a neat pile along my bookshelf but a stack of new books awaited me on my desk, and ah! even the desk was new! and so stylish, more like me! 

Before long, I was informed on my phone that I needed to come to the HOD's office to pick up some 'essentials' and even though I did not understand what the text meant, I went towards the office. To say my heart sang is an understatement, as I entered an office I could finally be proud of. The staff made my enjoyment of it all short-lived as they quickly welcomed me back and handed me my essentials, an iPad 3, a Blackberry phone and a pager, a schedule of classes  I was assigned to teach and the list of surgical operations for the week. I was also handed 2 sets of scrubs and a locker number for my items that I wanted to keep near the theatre and at this point, I was close to tears. 

Definitely, a fairy godmother was enjoying what I was going through somewhere, I reasoned. There was no way all of this just happened. I needed to clear my head and prepare myself for when this surreal scene would manifest as nothing other than a dream. I worried that if I started to believe this reality, I may be so devastated by the truth when it appeared as I was so sure it was lurking behind somewhere to reclaim my consciousness. I want to enjoy this, no one understands how much I want this but.................................................................