Big splash for Sallah

It cost me a small fortune to implement Maikahon Karo’s plan, but I think it paid off handsomely. We procured 8 horses, each one of them immaculate white with flowing neck hair and a bushy tail. The horses were dressed to kill. I rode on the lead horse and my top aides rode on the […]

It cost me a small fortune to implement Maikahon Karo’s plan, but I think it paid off handsomely. We procured 8 horses, each one of them immaculate white with flowing neck hair and a bushy tail. The horses were dressed to kill. I rode on the lead horse and my top aides rode on the other seven. Preceding the horses were two trumpeters who loudly blew their long trumpets as we went. On either side of the horses were kalangu drummers and a male dancing troupe.
Tsinin Kusa made some last minute additions to the plan, saying it will hold everybody spellbound. At the head of the train he placed a man with a hyena. I was the one who insisted that the hyena must be gagged; how can you take an open-mouthed hyena to a crowded place like the Eid prayer ground? The hyena’s owner himself had assured Tsinin Kusa that nothing will happen, that he had bewitched the hyena not to bite anyone on Sallah day but I refused to allow that. In the civil service, whenever we were confronted with a dangerous situation like that we used to say, “Take the path of least resistance.” Tsinin Kusa also invited the Sarkin Gardi from his hometown. The man arrived at my house with a huge wooden box full of snakes. He wanted to do a small demonstration before we left for the prayer ground but I told him to wait until we came back. So he pulled out a large python from the box and made a turban with it. He also pulled out a large cobra and wrapped it around his hand, saying when the Eid prayer is over, he will use the snake as his prayer bead.
Haba! Come and see stampede at the Eid prayer ground that day. Maikaho headed for one shady spot in the center of the prayer ground and spread a big carpet for me. The man with the hyena came and stood to my left while the snake charmer stood to my right. Immediately, two rows of worshippers in front and behind us dissolved, with people rolling up their mats and scampering away. When the short Eid prayer ended, I lingered on for another ten minutes doing the tazbih, and when I raised my head I saw that hundreds of people had formed a circle around me and my special guards. I finally rose to leave and we again mounted our horses. This time Sarkin Gardi danced in front of my horse and suddenly pulled out two more snakes from the pocket of his large gown. People scattered, and as they did so the hyena man removed the gag from the hyena’s mouth. He then pulled out half the head of a goat from his pocket. He threw it into the air and the hyena grabbed it and munched it like biscuit.
Hundreds of children followed our train as we headed back home. By the time we got to my house, 30 huge dishes of tuwo, with soup and different types of fried and roasted meat had been laid out on large carpets in the garden. I invited everybody to dismount and eat his fill of Sallah food. Drinks were everywhere. A’agh! We were in the middle of the feast when we saw a police patrol car park in front of my house. An officer came out, escorted by four mobile policemen. From across the fence, Maikaho recognized him. “That’s the DPO,” he said. When he entered the yard, Maikaho walked over to him and said, “DPO! You have come to collect your Sallah kola nut! Join us to eat first…”
I sensed there was trouble because the man’s face remained grim and he said he wanted to have a word with me. So we entered the living room. He said the Governor received a security report that I wanted to cause a breakdown of law and order at the Eid ground because I went there with many different kinds of animals including snakes and hyenas. He said the Police Commissioner had ordered him to take me to the police station and record my statement, but that in view of the large crowd of people around my house who could go wild if he walks out with me, he will allow me to continue with my feast and come to the station later. So I said, “Ok DPO, I will come as soon as these people disperse. Meanwhile, here is your Sallah kola nut.” He accepted the wad of notes and shoved them down his khaki pockets, saying “Thank you sir! May Allah show us next year’s Sallah!”
As soon as the DPO left, a man walked in with a huge turban on his head and two court guards walking behind him. Again Maikaho recognized him. He said, “This is the Wakilin Gangare. He is an important councilor in the Emir’s palace.” We all rose to greet him and he also asked to see me privately. When we were alone in the living room, he said, “Alhaji, I came here today without even going to my own house in order to tell you how unhappy His Royal Highness was because of what you and your people did today. You went to Eid ground on eight white horses. Are you the Emir in this town? Do you even have a traditional title? Where did you get those trumpets that you were blowing? Do you think anybody can just wake up and blow a trumpet? In case you don’t know, every sound of the trumpet in this emirate has a particular reason. All the trumpets there in the Emir’s palace were all captured in war time. We blow each one to send a particular message. And you even brought a hyena to the Eid ground. You must go and apologise to His Highness for what you did.”
Even as the Wakili was leaving my house, the huge crowd of people in the yard and all around my house burst into a chant when they saw me, “Sai kayi! [You must become]. 2015 Sai Baba!” I told Maikaho what the DPO and the Wakili said. Trust Maikaho not to be intimidated by anybody. He said, “Leave them! It is the Majority Leader’s evil machination! He is envious of your Sallah outing! What he saw today is even small! Wait until Eid el-Kabir!”