ONCE MINT, NOW MUTILATED

Someone told me the value is still N1000 Naira, “but in this Nigeria of ours, it will be rejected, couple of times, back to the holder before he finally gets to spend it”, I responded.

Everyone I know prefers mint notes to the readily available just-fit notes and the seriously-used, fragile mutilated ones. Bring out a fresh packet and people will be willing to exchange some and up their wallet’s game.  A colleague once said mints even make some fools go hungry; they blatantly refuse to spend the ones they have got in their wallets. Even a toddler, when offered an “untouched” note (like folks around here call it) and a dying one, will quickly smile and leap towards the shinning one. Someone said the beggars too have started refusing bad notes.

The intelligent Nigerian money-hawkers are not oblivious of this.  That’s why they always have mints readily available for sale at a particular percentage. It is what they sell day in day out.  Even when all the banks in Nigeria including the CBN itself claim there are no mints at hand, these guys have it. They are everywhere ranging from markets to churches and all around event centers. I wonder what they say when they want to advertise their goods “e ra owo e nawo o (buy money to spend o!)”, maybe.

I am not a freak for mint though. Give me all the mutilated notes u have and I will collect them from you. I’m even thinking of starting a business up in that line. I’ll call it MutiSweep. I’ll help change all the money being rejected in the circulation to ones that you can still spend, for a token too. Mine is different cos I won’t be offering mints in return.  Be that as it may, I also will prefer to have mints flashing in my wallet as against the “konde” collections I currently got. Mint rules.

Not to deviate, I am not trying to promote the locations where you’ll readily get mints to spend this Sallah. It was one of the bad notes that was dispensed to me by my bank’s machine that prompted this. I held that note with disdain and wondered if “this note too was once mint”. On the thousand note, Alhaji Aliyu Mai-Bornu looked as sad as sadness itself, like someone being blackmailed, with stretch-marks all over him. If you do not look closely, you will not know it is the picture of the first indigenous governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. Dr. Clement Isong on the other hand seemed to be crying. The look on his face was that of a prisoner who has just been denied parole. I imagined the number of different places it has been tucked, the number of pockets it has been squeezed. You know what I am saying. I turned it both ways to reconsider it; it was really in a pitiable state.

There was a time, long ago, or not too long, depending on the experience that particular note had, when it was mint too. Everybody wanted it, it was pampered and spared until say, one day, the holder got very broke and eventually spent it.  Maybe he bought roasted plantain and groundnut. As soon as mama plantain confirms it was not fake, slips it into the you-know-where, not minding its mint state. Later in the day, the farmer shows up with new supplies of unripe bunch of plantains as usual, and after checking it out, mama dips her hand, stained with sap, wax and charcoal, into the “foreign reserves”, sorts the money there-in and hands it over to the farmer who folds it thoroughly before tucking it into his inner pocket. Just maybe. The rest they say is history.

Pal, are you in a mint state right now and you are feeling fly? Have you got the tendency to look down on others because of their lowly state? Or you just believe outright that you are simply the best and no one compares? This short write up is for you. Take a cue from it.  No one knows tomorrow. No condition is permanent. Time and chance may just happen to you and things may just fall apart. Remember also that someone got it better. A $100 bill, as at today is 16 times minter than a N1000 note, so calm down.

For those out there who know deep down they are not there yet, I have good news for you: unlike in the currency story, where states simply deteriorates, human state can move from bad to good. In our world, no law reaches it that it must always get worse. You can consciously work your way to the top too. Work smart, pray harder, do things differently and try to break the habits.  On a lighter mode, drink a lot of Peak Milk cos greatness is in you.

I'll need a glass of milk myself to start with. 

Have a great day.

Derek Redmond's still Inspires [ VIDEO ]

I saw this video a couple of days ago and it really hit me hard. Happened some 21 years ago, but if you have not seen it, it is still news.

Derek Redmond was at Barcelona '92 with high hopes. Ready to take the world by storm. He was determined to win a medal in the 400 meters, irrespective of the color. He had previously shattered the British 400-meter record at age 19. All eyes on him. He was not going to let anything take the shine off him this time, like it happened in the 1988 games in Seoul.

He had made it to the semifinal heats, he only needs to be amongst the first 4 in this heat to qualify for the finals. He couldn't have had it better. This was his moment, the one he will be relishing for a long time.

In front of a crowd of 65,000 the race started. Derek broke from the pack in no time and took the lead. In his mind he'll be like "na me be this?".  Then something dramatic happened 175 meters away from the finishing line.

Check out the video and learn there are different ways of winning. 

 

click here if the YouTube plugin doesn't work on you device. 

Have a fabulous day.
follow @bimbolanko for more engagements.

CONTENTMENT: a refresher course from my Indomie aboki.

I closed late at work, as usual, with stacks of customers’ complaints left unattended. This is another unfulfilled day in summary. Famished as I was, the only other thing that got my attention was the little boil forcing its way out of my eyelid. It was drizzly, so it wasn’t hard to decide what I was to have for dinner: hot aboki Indomie it is.

He was in the middle of a package when I got there. "Shall I go for a package too, or the total package", I thought.  The last time I went for a total package, I wasted a ton of it. I will rather settle for a bite I can chew. As I peeped to see how far along the sizzling pack on fire is, he caught my gaze and regarded me with a warm salutation “Oga welcome”. The smile was the only other smile I remembered after the few ones I gave when we just opened to customers earlier in the day. Wait, did I even smile at anyone today? Maybe the other day.  I have been gloomy at work of late, zobo-red eye worn around most of the time.

“Which one you want”, he interjected. “Gimme one medium-sized Indomie and two eggs”, I replied. “Tonight, I am not a man”, I thought, “neither am I as hungry to consume and contain the hungry man size package”. He smiled, got a cup and started the ritual.  He is always fun to watch, but not tonight. The smoke, stirred up by the soft weather was drifted everywhere and wouldn’t lemme enjoy how he does his thing. With a pack soaked up in hot water in a cup, he got another cup to mix the eggs and the sauce. While doing all this, he chatted me up about work, asking if it was good. The traditional “fine, thank you” came by reflex. This abokis can be nice sha! Then I remembered another of my bachelor servicing mama-puts. That one go just bone like say somebody die. She no dey even get change. This aboki is far better than mama Sunday, walahi.

Instant noodle is the name; it wasn’t long before I was served.  I paid.  He deserved a tip, but the penny-wise being dwelling inside me inclined me to collect my change. I was now set for where I packed my car. Then the thoughts came: what motivates him? What makes him and keeps him happy at this job? He seems to have it all. I went further to analyse how much interest he could have made on my package. Maybe 50 Naira or a little bit more, or less. If he is able to sell 10 of that, he could have made N500. 50 of that and he would have made N2500? I get tips fatter than this on a very good day! Now that’s crazy. How does he sustain his family? How much does he save? Does he even own a car? Does his hajia wear Brazilian hair? Strings of questions queued in my mind unanswered.

I concluded it is not about how much the money is, it is about been happy with what have, what you do at a point in time. It is not about driving the latest car, or using the latest technology. With time and chance, you can attain whatever you desire, but you gotta be content with what you have now! I mean, if some of us are asked to trade places with him, we’ll just nag ourselves into extinction or something close.  He may as well over-flex his muscles assuming he is a god, if endowed with that “riches you are not content with”. There is always someone who has it better and someone who has it worse. Some of my readers out there are already earning the armed-robber salary, so to say, and we are never contented. Don’t get me wrong, I am not clamouring for you to be complacent, or that you should not aspire for greater heights, but, hey, while you are doing that, something tells me you ought to live a healthy life. Be satisfied with what you’ve already got. A bird in hand, whether dead or alive, is worth more than ten thousands in the bush (except, of course, you own a poultry farm somewhere in the bush). Being content is a neurophysiological experience, whatever that means. *smiles*

Uncle Lao Tzu was at our place the other day and said “be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.  When you realise there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”  You don’t need more to be thankful, you just need to be more thankful. I have learnt a new lesson, and I will be applying it a long time. The meal, by the way, was good as always, you need to try it out sometimes too.

Great day awaits you!

You can engage me on twitter @bimbolanko