N U R A
That’s his name.
…my first boyfriend. I can’t remember his face. Weirdly though for a while even after many years, I would catch a whiff of his fragrance even when no one was around.
‘Twas 28 years ago, in junior high school. The relationship did not last up to a month because the CRK(Christian Religious Knowledge) teacher snitched on me to my parents and I had to end it.
You see, he was Muslim, and me Christian, and also, I am from the East of Nigeria and he from the North of Nigeria.
In those days, it was unheard of and such relationships were sort of, like, a taboo, which could get you disowned by your family. And the religious riots that happened often in the North with the fanatic Muslims gruesomely killing Christians, the targeted Christians, were from my tribe and my family (my mum and dad’s business) was terribly affected in the last riot that happened around the time Nura asked me to be his girlfriend.
Saying yes to be his girlfriend was my first rebellious act as a teenager. I don’t remember how crushed I was when it ended because not too long after that, he dropped out of school to join his fathers business and we also moved from the North to another city in the West.
But this I remember – for a long time after we moved, at odd times or places, I’d catch a whiff of his fragrance and I would look sharply around me, frantically scanning the faces in the crowd looking for him. The fact that that happened so often used to weird me out… Now thinking about it, I hope it didn’t mean that he died and was haunting me?/\?
I also remember the ring he gave me but I don’t remember what happened to it.
I have reconnected with most of my classmates (thank God for Facebook) except him and nobody among my high school friends seem to know where he is.
NURA Yusuf.
…still remember his name, but sadly, his face has been completely erased from my memory.
Description:
- Digital Art on Canvas (Stretched and Ready-to-Hang)
- Turban print: (Headwrap) Namaqua Field, (Face wrap) Namaqua Flowers. Print-Pattern,(from the Out of Africa pattern design collection), inspired by the Namaqualand Flower Route, Northern Cape, South Africa
- From a limited edition of 35
- Size: L 59.4cm x H 84.1cm x D 2.3cm
- Canvas Wrap Option: Pixel Extend
- Signed and numbered (includes certificate of authenticity)
SHIPPING (Door-to-Door Courier)
Local (Cape Town) – R390
Regional – R530
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