As crazy as the app called X, I met Bankole on the X app formerly called Twitter.
It was on a random post asking: what’s one thing you will never stop doing?
And weirdly for someone like me who was most of the time an ardent scroller – look, retweet and pass, the extrovert in me took over that day and I dropped a comment.
Dipping bread inside tea.
In quick succession, backlash followed.
In this age and time, you are still dipping bread inside tea.
Grow up!
Inyamma!
I was tempted and close to deleting it until I saw his comment.
Me too! It was to me like a flick of water in a desert.
“For a moment I thought I was alone.” I replied back.
“You are not abeg! We have about 7000 people like us who still do that like God said to Elijah in the Bible. These ones are just following peer pressure like they didn’t enjoy it growing up.”
We continued our conversations in our DMS on the backlash he had received so far from friends and family but he wasn’t going to bulge.
Many other conversations followed after and It’s been endless conversations from that day. It was in those conversations I realised he lived close by.
Through him I was able to meet and know people in my neighborhood that I had just moved to. Bankole was a good man. Forget the banter he drops regularly on Twitter. The constant check ups, jokes and prayers in my DM.
It was through his referral, I was also able to get a better paying job after being laid off in my former place of work.
He was my first online friend turned physical friend and for him, I am grateful I dropped a comment that day.
*****************************
I met Kelvin at my favourite Sharwama spot. Quick Hi’s and Hello’s here and there and everyone to what brought them there until the day his bank decided to show him shege.
He had taken a big chunk of the Sharwama in his mouth when he realised his bank wasn’t allowing him to transfer. He was also cashless.
Our Sharwama plug wasn’t having it. Months of being a regular buyer didn’t score him a point. He had to find a way to pay, so I decided to come through for him. Paying for one extra Sharwama shouldn’t hurt my bank account.
He thanked me profusely. He said I had saved him from his village people who wanted to disgrace him.
Food became our bonding point.
The Sharwama spot became not just our regular spot when we found out we were both foodies, different restaurants became our thing.
Him being a tech guy who frequents cafe shops with snacks, I tagged along as long there is something to munch on. And me, his regular go to for recommendations when it comes to restaurants with good food.
Till now, his name is still saved as Sharwama spot.
YOU HAVEN’T MET ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO LOVE YOU YET. NEVER FORGET THAT! This is a little evidence from my end.
The worried girl in me during my university days would have wondered if this was possible.I think I can stop now. I click send on the message button. I watched as the button roll in response to deliver this long epistle that I had just written to my younger sister.
She had called at the early hours of today crying of how she doesn’t have friends and feels so alone and wonder how I did it and have so many people around me.
This should calm her nerves.
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