CALABAR: THE SWEET - BITTER MEMORY - Iniobong Leroi Umoh

I saw CALABAR yesterday. She is a tall lady with cute dimples. She has always taken pride in her beauty. She walks around with a graceful air. She is a great cook and had learned at an early age how to prepare Edikang ikong, Afia efere ebot, efere afang ye ndek iyak and her favorite otor mboro delicacy.

Calabar is reserved but when you get close to her, she would open up to you. She could be crazy at times. Her major character flaw is that of inadequacy. Right from the onset, she always had a feeling that she lacks something, a feeling that she wasn’t living up to her potentialities. She envied Uyo, her sister. Calabar always felt that her sister was overtaking her and she needed to do something to assert her self.

As a fun loving girl, Calabar would attend music concerts in the evenings. She would dance and sway sideways to the energetic beats of Chief Peter Effiom’s highlife band. She would sing along to the solemn tune, appealing to her creator not to forsake her;

“Obot mi, obot mi, obot mi 

Obot mbok mbok mbok kap nsioro mi uyio”

Her creator seemed to have answered her prayers when a handsome young man walked up to her on a Friday evening. 

He introduced himself with a cheerful smile on his face, 

“Ediye nkaifere, I am Duke, I want to be your friend”

Duke wanted to be more than friends, he wanted to marry her. 

“Marry me and I will change your life for the better” He appealed to her.

Calabar accepted his proposal. The young man was rich and looked promising. 

The marriage was blissful. The young man loved her and went all the way to prove his love. He changed her life. He talked endlessly in glowing terms about his wife anywhere he went to. He had lots of friends from far and wide. He invited them to come and visit his home to meet his beautiful wife.

Calabar was delighted as her fame spread the world over. She never had it so good. Her dreams had finally come true. People congregated at her