Ovanika

By

Obododimma Oha

I had written briefly about Ọvanika in another blog essay. I hope the spelling is right. Ọvanika is a tiny island on the Atlantic Ocean but in this essay it is simply a place of exile, a place of escape and a desire to be anonymous. It is based on a narrative of discovery made by my late father and others that there was a man from their area in that isolated, distant place!

An ocean surrounds Ovanika. It has water and talks with water. I am sure its discourses are mainly about water or relate to water.

One could see then, that the real Ọvanika existed, though it is merely imaginary in my own reflection. So, existent and non-existent. Real and imaginary. A physical place and a non-place. Both place and time. Both near and far. Yes, Ọvanika of dream and reality. 

Ọvanika is isolation, seeking to be cut off. But, as chance takes over sometimes, the place that the back has been turned to does not give up easily. It comes looking for Ovanika. It comes looking for isolation. Surprise, that is what it finds.

People would debate in our village about escape from "home," saying finally that "Ewi anaghị asọ ala ike" (The bush-rat does not avoid hard soil when it is making holes in the ground). Which means that it is foolish and cowardly to run away from "home" just because some people are bad. It is better to stay and wait for their conversion or defeat. Yes, analogically, "Ewi anaghị asọ ala ike!" In that case, the escapee is just looking for excuses! Even if "home" is hard or tough soil, the bush rat has to stay on the task and learn how to deal with such obstacles! 

It is true that woman features again in this isolation, but is not the main issue. She has only been used in actualizing something and in cloaking the narrative. But he and Ọvanika remain in focus.

He wants a different self and thinks that Ovanika would help.

I can imagine beautiful Ọvanika that could turn any man's head devilishly leaning on that pole as sailors drank and told stories to impress her. The sea around her also tries to impress her, hoping she would declare for the water. She hates company and wants to be distant but they hardly know. 

Did I hear "Mmadụ ka a na-arịa?" at the Ụmụnna meeting? Yes, that is a bomb! The human being is the pandemic and needs to be distanced. "Mmadụ the human, mmadụ the virus, mmadụ the exterminator! 

Because mmadụ ka a na-arịa, they just have to try to  escape. They have to run away, far far away. They have to run and keep running. Mmadụ is terrible. 

But can one run away from oneself? I doubt it. 

Escape to Ọvanika started long ago. People just got tired of people and escaped to Ọvanikas. These days young people just escape to other distant countries, to places they hope to survive. "Na mbụ ka ọ bidoro."  It started earlier, not today. They just got tired of playing masquerades or being flogged by one. And said: "Ọvanika, over to you. Here I come. Chee aka ghọrọ m. I don't want to die here." And Ọvanika opened its hands and received them.

Today, Ọvanika answers China, Dubai, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, South, etc. But has remained a place of escape. Since staying at home means to die in the streets easily, without a corpse to bury. Even if New Ọvanika means another type of distant death, it is not good for the one to hold one's funeral to become one's killer!

There is always the woman of Ọvanika standing aside, giggling seductively. The escapee may even want to marry her, to perform the tortoise he knows very well. But she is brutal and clever. The Ọvanika escapee is just taking a great risk. Let him try leaving her and die.

Nobody sane should trifle with Ọvanika when Ọvanika becomes female. I have used the pronoun "It" but Ọvanika can choose not to be just a thing but a very beautiful lady. Maybe this is an old narrative in culture and a warning. But why a beautiful lady? Why  a "she"? You see. Your "it" could be my "she." 

Is it to praise the place of exile, to promote it? Or to derogate it? Is it to ask us to avoid the lure? I think that "it" has eventually become a "she" to show that the Berlin Wall could collapse when we find the courage to demolish it. 

Ọvanika has ego oyibo, especially dollars, to weave its attractiveness. Ọvanika wears the smell of dollars. Ọvanika of money and for money. For money speaks that distant tongue.

Ọvanika of the past and of the present and the future. Ọvanika beyond time, beyond place. Ọvanika here but there.