My earliest memories were of landscapes, or put in a better
perspective, hillscapes: beautiful
scenery of hills and valleys; the freshest green foliage infused with flowers
of diverse make amongst the tallest palm trees imaginable, all swaying gently
or violently, as the elements will have it, in a land that could rival any ever
seen by man.
Both my maternal home and my father’s hometown are situated in the
hills of Anike. While my ancestral home sits atop a windswept plateau, my
maternal home was situated in a valley—my use of the word ‘was’ is acceptable
here because as a result of the tragic influence of modernity, the people of my
maternal homeland have moved en masse to a barren hill a few miles from the
land that was their ancestors abode. Their new abode’s only importance is the
fact that an asphalt road dissects its white soiled length.
