There is a breed which, while it should have joined the dinosaurs, is still alive and kicking, and kicking hard too. That breed which enjoys belittling everything local, from good old injera to the export standard pair of shoes. “I never touch anything local.” Oh, yes do. You do touch something local to every single cell; how about that pretty work of nature minding the firm’s payroll! Caught red-handed, weren’t you? Yes, she’s ‘local’ unless the human hair wig puts her in a separate category.
Really, one of the things that really put your nerves to test these days is this ‘bashing everything local’ game many seem to be enjoying.
Did you listen to the new single released a couple of days back?”
“Are you asking me about local music?
“Yes I am.”
“I hate local music!”
“Oh is that so!”
“Yes, that’s so. I never listen to local music. It’s so boring”
“How on earth could anyone know something is boring unless they experience it!”
In just a couple of days the long fasting season starts; that brings a humorous story to mind. The guy and his girlfriend were in his apartment and she was in the mood for no-questions-asked amorous escapade. She not only gives him the signs, she tells him in as many words. But, he, maybe worried about his CV for the afterlife tells her it was a fasting day. (Look, some no-compromise religious people ‘do it’ on fasting days claiming it has nothing to do with fasting. Others don’t do it on claiming humans or no humans flesh is flesh! Hmm…Are we missing something here?)
Getting back to the story, the girl leaves a little gloomy. After half an hour or so she realizes she has forgotten some item in the guy’s apartment and returns to collect it. Alas! Her boyfriend was ‘doing it’ with another girl! What! She couldn’t believe her eyes, and what she said deserves its rightful place in the annals of famous quotes.
“When I asked you, you said it was fasting day. Now you’re doing it with her. Is she made of vegetables?” The first time I heard this, it really made my day!
So when you here people who would find it hard to make a convincing defense of their very existence denigrating everything local you wonder how low ignorance could pull you. One thing many of us are tired of hearing in official vocabulary is about one thing having been copied ‘from such and such a country’, another thing being taken form the books of another country. On the surface there is nothing wrong or ‘sinful’ about that. The question is if we have exhausted our own indigenous choices before looking over the wall for solutions others custom- made for the particular societies. Even in politics this country of thousands of years could have set examples to many had it dug deeper in its own age old merits. No, that isn’t how things work around here. It is about this ‘ism,’ that ‘ism.’ Just ask all those people going on holidays to Dubai which local historical wonders or geographical sensations they have and the answer would chase you into the watering halls you thought you were done with.
“There is a new movie playing. You should see it.”
“What movie! You call all that child stuff in this country movie!”
“How many have you seen?”
“Not a single one! I haven’t seen a single one and don’t intend to do so anytime soon. Why should I waste my time!” Mind you, this is a guy who sits for four hours in one café having ordered a single cup of tea, and another three hours in another café with half a liter of bottled water. And he talks about wasting time!
“How do you know they are worthless when you haven’t seen even a single one?”
Believe me, in times when everybody is claiming the Gold Medal for everything this is a conversation which will go nowhere.
“There is a new five-hundred-page Amharic novel. It’s worth reading.”
“Amharic novel! Did you say Amharic novel?”
“That’s what I said. What is all that Frankenstein look for!”
“You should talk to a psychiatrist. If you appreciate Amharic novels that what you should do, talk to a psychiatrist.”
“Ok tell me which ones you’ve read.”
“What is the matter with you! Aren’t you listening? I never even picked one!”
There you’ve it! Look, if you try to pump some sense into such people make sure you a few liters of fresh water nearby; the dehydration would be painful! I understand those who read or even tried to read a few and threw one book or another out the window. But someone who claims to have never even handled a single book acting like the editor who returned a famous author’s manuscript fifteen times is too much to take.
Vilifying without understanding; that’s the mindset of many never-touch-local breed; a breed which seems to have overstayed its welcome by decades.
The Ethiopian Herald Friday, February 21/2020
Ephrem Endale
