THE STORY THAT TOUCHES, EPISODE 1.

THE FIRST MEET

I have heard people‟s dialogue on love, read different articles
and seen but a few. The young would say “love is good and behold
how new it is every morning”. Spinsters would say “The moments of
love remembers no more all pains and past hurts”. Bachelors would
say “to an extent, love covers all faults and wrongs”. Married
couples would also say that “of all moments in ones‟ life, love
creates the safest and most interesting atmosphere,” but guess
what? To the old, having seen lots of breakups, renewals and
maintenance, would say “Love is Perfection,” it blindfolds all wrongs
not only that, it shuts ones‟ ear at hypocrisy nevertheless
maintained with patience, etc. Then I wondered in my little mind
“what then would my love story be” whether it would entail
perfection or otherwise.

On one sunny afternoon, I got a phone call from a good friend of
mine. Only to hear Ayanfe, “you‟ve been offered admission” I
laughed it off. “You can‟t be serious”. Hmmm, that was the happiest
day of my life. I couldn‟t imagine myself studying Linguistics at
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
Let me give you a brief history about my university of best
choice. A.B.U. is a federal government research university located in
Zaria, Kaduna State. It was founded on 4th October 1962, as the
University of Northern Nigeria. The university is named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, the first premier of
Northern Nigeria. The university runs a wide variety of
undergraduate and graduate programs (and offers associate degrees
and vocational and remedial programs). The university has a large
medical program with its own A.B.U. Teaching Hospital, one of the
largest teaching hospitals in Nigeria and Africa.

After much preparation, I finally arrived school to resume the pursuit for
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree.
With much of foretold stories of stress and exhaustion, I started
with the screening exercise, and then I knew university life was the
best as they say though stressful. Embedded in it were lots of
exposures. no one to yell at me, to order my steps but the warning
songs which kept sounding like a proverb in my ears were audibly
clear to guide my path. The screening was meant to last for three
days and submission of files afterwards. I made new friends easily
afterall, I‟m no introvert!!! The first day of screening gave me a sign
of strength and courage in my little mind.
On entering the Multipurpose Hall, (Faculty of Social Sciences)
trying to sequentially arrange my documents with a friend whom I
just met. A guy in the midst of hundreds of people mistakenly hit
me resulting from the anxiety and tensed state of everyone. All the
necessary documents flew uphill. Then I heard a solemn and quite
apologetic voice saying “I’M SORRY”.
With venom in my voice and with a pout face, I starred at the
person in the midst of hundreds of people. Guess what? it turned out to be a handsome, gentle looking guy with an eyeball as white
as snow, gorgeously dressed, with old school hair style and round
teddy hovering the corners of his face. Medics would describe it as
aggregation of hairs extending from just below his external auditory
meatus on each side to the mental protuberance (hair from the
sides of the face to the chin). These facial characteristics waved the
stirred anger in me. Whao! It was as though I was dreaming. Within
this dramatic period, wide range of thoughts flipped through my
naive mind. He was really attractive; I thought within myself.
Then I remembered my manners; he needed a reply. So I
thought of a pleasant response that could portray the good lady I
really am. “Oh, no problem, it‟s okay”; I replied. He picked up the
documents and we parted ways. I later completed my registration
and submitted my files at the necessary points. It was time to check
for hostels around but I had to also consider the distance from
school so as not to be tagged a late comer for lectures. I met a young
lady whose name was Hamina, a 400level student of English
language. She volunteered to take me round hostels so I don‟t get
lost. We saw Suleiman Hostel 775 meters away from school,
Danfodio Hostel 8.3 just 9 meters away, Queen Amina hostel
Samaru 1091 meters away, DAC hostel samaru,1200 meters away,
Danfodio Hostel 6 .5 just112 meters away, Ramat Hostel 6.9 about
831 meters away. Almost all were eye-catching; Hausa indigenes
were really kind as we journeyed through. I opted in to Danfodio hostel 8.3 which was just 9meters from
school. Having gone to all the Hausa dominating hostels mentioned,
I got exhausted and stressed out with lots of Cortisol (stress
hormone) secreted into my circulatory system. I then got all my
things to the hostel, arranged them to suit my desired taste as I
anticipated the First lecture..... To be continued in the next episode