Mankhokwe...

TADALA TEMBO says it is garrulous, meaning difficult if not almost impossible, to distinguish them. They look alike. They share traits. They appear the same. One is called love and the other, infatuation. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (7th edition) defines them differently and, that is what they are: different things. Infatuation, according to the dictionary, is a very strong feeling of love or attraction for somebody, especially feelings that are unreasonable and do not last long. There is a problem, however, with this definition (like all definitions); for instance, what does ‘long’ mean here – one night, one week, one year, one decade or what? What qualifies feelings as those that have lasted long? Is not ‘long’ subjective? And love, says the dictionary, is a strong feeling of affection for somebody that one is sexually attracted to. This is romantic love, the one we are discussing. But love, like poverty, is complicated and not easy to define. We define it differently. W...

POLYGAMY, claims the Malawi government, must be outlawed. Reason? To protect children, women and even men in polygamous relationships. There might be some element of truth in that and also some element of lies, little doubt about that – if any! Sudi Sulaimana, PhD., that man whom both the Muluzi and Kamuzu government troubled for the very same issue (or crime?) of treason, was at Chancellor College a few weeks ago. He was commenting on recent government decisions that they (the government) want to translate into bills. There was also the issue of polygamy. He was against the government; he was (and still is) in favor of polygamy. He says polygamy should not be outlawed. Why? There are just no convincing reasons for outlawing polygamy, that he said. After all, he went on, a lot of Malawian men are in polygamous relationships only that a good number are in ‘unofficial polygamy’. True it might be; that Malawian men are in polygamous relationships, they have concubines – some small chi...

TRADITION is more often than not broken, and violated. But then, there always are consequences, sometimes dire, when the tradition is broken. It, not all times, invites wrath – the breaking of tradition. And nothing could stop the consequences from unveiling themselves on Thursday, 25th March 2010, when tradition was broken, pardon, abused and ‘raped’, yes defiled! One of the few open secrets that exist at Chancellor College, and even outside there, is that room B is a room with an arrogant corner that always hinders people from seeing what is happening on the other side. It is the same room also that is used by the Writers’ workshop each and every Thursday night when school is in session for their weekly meetings. And, as usual, on the aforementioned Thursday, the room was to be filled to capacity, to even overflow, by Writers, readers, aspirers and even sympathisers. Why? Because it is a tradition, a well known indubitable fact, that the room is used by Writers of the College...