Haidar's Corner

I finished reading In Dependence by Sarah Ladipo Mayinka and my was it a read! In a very long while I've not been sucked into a story like this one. Emotionally, it was superb in evoking feelings, the characters were excellent and the plot was so real that I kept reminding myself it's actually fiction evwn as I wondered whether it happened in real life. Set across the decades from Nigeria's independence to the 2000s it takes one on a journey of a young man's sojourn abroad, finding love, return to Nigeria, his losses, twists of fate, dreams of better future and the several tragedies in his life all interspersed within the fabric of Nigeria's turbulent history since independence with a theme rich in culture and art. I will definitely be looking for another of the author’s publications: Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun. Haidarwali 20170510

So this long weekend-break (Democracy Day) I treated myself to the pleasures of  my favorite genre: Crime mystery. 'Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi' by Jorge Luis Borges (translated by Norman Thomas Di Giovanni) was delightful even though I suffered to adapt to its winding style, plus, strange combination of wordings sprinkled all over ranging from Latin, French, Spanish and some 'stubborn' English. Yet, despite being prose, I found the writing so 'poetic' (which totally made up for the previous 'suffering') especially the author’s excellent use of descriptive language. Set in Argentina,  it tells of the tales of a former detective - Don Isidro - wrongfully jailed who is consulted to solve the six cases from within the confines of his cell. And to make it even better, embedded within each story are carefully concealed 'satires', 'caricatures' and other nuggets ingeniously woven into the characters and plots. For this reason, I intend...

Paradigm shift, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary is: "... an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way." . Change is usually a slow process due to vested interest(s) that resist any attempt to break the status quo because those who determine the meaning of our collective reality fear to lose their legitimacy - which was never built on merit. Thus, so long as narratives remain the same and are skewed in favor of perpetuating the current state of affairs, so long will things remain the same. . To succeed in displacing bondage with freedom,  there must be a new way of thinking that empowers the voiceless to speak - for silence in bondage is one of the most hopeless fates that a human being can be resigned to. . But the oppressors know this and thus they use all manner of subterfuge to keep the shackles in place. That is why education is made a luxury and the path to its attainment is ...