Atika Balal: I should have continued the conversation

The next day, the same thing happened and I concluded that this lady must be either unfriendly or very rude. So, I ignored her and stopped making attempts to be friendly. I was to learn later that she loved to mind her business.But after about a week in the office, I think it was a […]

The next day, the same thing happened and I concluded that this lady must be either unfriendly or very rude. So, I ignored her and stopped making attempts to be friendly. I was to learn later that she loved to mind her business.
But after about a week in the office, I think it was a Thursday and I was happy that it was end of the week for me and I wouldn’t have to see some unfriendly people for the next two days, a great friendship was borne. Atika Balal had just arrived from a court session, being one of our judiciary correspondents. She walked up to me and officially introduced herself. Though, I already knew her name at that time, I played along and officially introduced myself as well.
The first thing I noticed was the way she spoke; her diction was profound and I was impressed by her use of the English Language. From that moment on, we started discussing like we had known each other for a very long time. She was an ardent reader and I am obsessed with books, so we kicked off like petrol on fire. From that day, our friendship grew and I got to understand the person behind the petite lady.
A good reporter among others to a news editor is often judged by his/her journalistic writing skills; doing the necessary background checks for a story and employing the most appropriate words to convey the message of the story. Atika could do that and much more and as such, her stories gave me no problems.
She paid her dues as a hard working judiciary reporter before moving to Katsina as the state correspondent.
Atika was quite misunderstood by some people. A lot of persons thought she was arrogant and quick tempered, but I knew better. As synonymous with most smallish people, Miss Balal, as I liked to call her until she got married and I shifted to Mrs Dodo or Madam, to tease her, never wanted to be taken for granted. She didn’t want you to grant her underserved favours but she always wanted to be recognised for her worth. She wanted to be given her dues as at and when necessary. So each time I met her having an issue with a colleague, who interpreted it to mean that she was troublesome, I would just smile because I always understood what the problem was. Many times, I would step in and try to make the person understand because if she was angry, she often lost the energy to explain herself.
I am from a close knitted family, but Atika gave that expression a whole new meaning. While I would call my siblings twice in a day, she would call them like five to six times each. And when I’m angry with a sibling and I threaten not to call, she would look at me and say “Toh, Stella, ai you have to be patient with them. They are all you have.” And I would smile and say “you are right.”
Nothing mattered more than family to her. Family was first, second and last to her. I always felt in my mind that though she lost her mum at a rather early age, she was very well brought up.
Atika was generous to a fault; she would easily give you the last money in her bag, if she knew you didn’t have any.  Any time she had money; you would know because she just sits down and starts writing down names and the appropriate allocation. In some instances, after she is done, there will be nothing left in her purse. I think that was why some people easily referred to her as Hajiya Atika.
Last week, she told me she was broke and we talked about it and expressed hope that some breakthrough would occur, but when a colleague of mine went to Katsina and was returning, she sent me and a couple of others Kilishi (dry meat). That was the Atika that I came to love as a sister. Though, I asked her why she had to stress herself, I knew that was the quintessential Atika, she couldn’t stop giving. It was her short-coming, if there is anything like that.
I usually do not like attending weddings, because I do not like crowd, but when Atika’s wedding came up, it was not an issue, I was going to attend it even if it took place in Timbuktu. As the day approached, I began to feel a sense of foreboding, I didn’t want her to leave Abuja, but then it was something that was bound to happen. When it was time for her to leave, as much as I was happy that she was getting into a new phase of her life, the selfish part of me wished I could still see her every day.
Her departure from Abuja didn’t do much damage to our friendship as I thought it would because it was almost as if she was here, we talked about everything and almost on a daily basis.
A few months after her marriage, I began to itch for news that she was pregnant, little wonder I was over the moon when she sent me a message that I was going to be an aunty. I was overjoyed and promised to be in Katsina for naming. I even told her I was already the unofficial God Mother in the waiting. Everything was moving on smoothly, until she told me she lost the pregnancy. But even that didn’t dampen her spirit as we both took it in good faith and decided to wait on God. After that episode, my friend went back to work and life returned to normal. Even when I got a call on Sunday that she was ill, I took it as a routine, because Atika always had asthma attacks which came and went. Yeah, they were times the attacks got a bit out of hand, but they were always managed.
When her niece picked up the phone because Atika could barely speak, I was not scared. I figured all she needed was rest. The next day when I called again, she couldn’t speak; I don’t want to imagine I was in denial, but I told myself once again that she needed rest. And the third day, she answered me and my heart was filled with joy. I even teased her about putting her siblings under pressure in fear when indeed she was okay. She wanted to keep talking and I stopped her because once again, I wanted her to rest. I didn’t know that was the last time I would talk to her. I should have talked more, to hear more of her soothing voice.
This is one death too many for me, but I am consoled in the fact that God gave me an opportunity to know such a beautiful soul. Her life, short as it may have been was well spent, valuing things that mattered the most; family and friends and above all God. Adieu my friend and sister. Rest well in the Almighty.