Free Lunches End up in the Dustbin

Call me a cynic if you like, but I've learnt to take certain statements by our politicians and government officials with a jar of salt, not just a pinch! Statements like "We will diversify from a mono-product economy" or "It's time to go back to agriculture!" and "SMEs are the way forward for economic development" are all empty promises. You won't blame me for not believing any of it because, years after saying these things, nothing changes.

For instance, weeks after my state governor's inaugural address in which he promised to revamp farming in the southwestern state, I saw about thirty new tractors driving into the state capital. I was very excited at the sight and praised our new 'action' governor. Unfortunately, three years into his tenure, farming largely remains subsistential and manual in the rural areas; with the new tractors broken down and covered up in dust at the various local government secretariats. Why can't we ever get it right?

Making Your Business Attractive

My lookalike in the university, Gabriel, and I were very close. We were like man and shadow, for everywhere he went I followed and vice versa. But, there was something quite disturbing about our regular strolls along the long walkways of the school. If a passerby needs to get directions or obtain some other information he/she would always ask Gabriel. In some instances, the passerby will walk right past me and approach him for the help. Each time, I would ask if he had seen them somewhere before but the answer was no, he didn’t know them from Adam.

By the second semester, I couldn’t stomach it any longer so I asked why strangers always sought him out and ignored me. In his pleasant but blunt manner he asked, “Why will anyone ask you for help? You never wear a smile and when you do it is always plastic!” His remarks cut deeply but, after a minute or so of sulking, I decided to put his analysis to the test. I spent the next few days practising a smile in the mirror. The first samples came out as sheepish grins, but as I pressed on they became more real and more comfortable. The next time we were on the walkway I pasted on my best smile and, as providence would have it, the next stranger who came along asked for directions from me. I was very happy inside but, for fear of jinxing it, I didn’t say a word.

Two Hands and Twenty-Four Hours

There was once a herdsman, who traded in goat’s cheese. He took it to a village where the people couldn’t get enough of the delicacy. Every evening, the horde of customers, in front of his shop, was so large that it was impossible to keep up with the demand. Even though he left with a bulging bag of coins as he returned home, he wasn’t a happy man. He was saddened because many customers left unserved, after waiting for hours for just one ounce of cheese. Hard as he tried, he couldn’t make enough of it and on the days that he had a good showing, nightfall still caught him struggling to satisfy the impatient villagers.

The situation was so frustrating that, one day, he decided to seek help. He went to the temple and prayed for two sweat-pouring hours before a medium appeared to him. “Mortal, what do you seek?” she asked. Straight to the point, he replied, “O benevolent one, I wish you could give me more hands so that I can quickly milk the goats, cut the cheese, wrap it in leaves and sell to customers.” The medium, who felt that his request was vague asked, “You mean like the octopus?” Excitedly he replied, “Yes”. The next morning, when he awoke, he had grown three more pairs of hands. He went to the pen and, like lightning, he was milking, boiling, stirring and wrapping at the same time. By noon, his baskets were full and he opened the doors to serve the eager buyers. But, he was met with screams and fainting spells of frenzied villagers. “There’s a monster in the cheese-shop!” they cried, and none ventured near for another week.

Cactus

Sahara is the largest desert in the world. If a chopper were to drop you in the middle of this desert, all around you, as far as the eye can see, will be miles and miles of nothing but rolling sand. The only other companions you’d find are the hot unforgiving sun, above your head, and the whistling dry winds, blowing dust into your nose and sand into your eyes. But from the Beginning, it was not so. Sahara was once a green belt full of trees and shrubs, and nectar-seeking butterflies and bees. There were prancing goats across its plains and calving cows in its valleys. Many civilizations rose and fell in the expanse that is now forgotten by everyone and forsaken by all. 

In one word, what happened to the Sahara is change. As the unfortunate wind of change blew away the rain-bearing clouds, Sahara’s destiny never remained the same again.