Mankhokwe...

If someone ever tells you that in chasing dreams then you need not rest, nor chase anything else, then you will have met a liar. Or a prophet. Or a fake motivational speaker. Most likely, two of these. For, there will be moments when those dreams become elusive and frustrating. In that, you will need something else – a distraction. Or, a detour – a longer route to the dreams. You do not give up on dreams. Not that easily. But you detour from them and return with a new energy. She never had to sit under a fake motivational speaker, so she knows all there is to chasing dreams. From an actual practice. “The thing is: I had my life planned.” She gave herself deadlines: marriage? Yes, I want that thing but not before getting my Master qualification. Children? Yes, those tiny little angels; I want them too, but only after I am properly married. Love? Yes, that too. Overflowing. I want it. Anytime. Anyhow. And, of those, love was the first one to come. It found her w...

The other option – the very last one – was death. It scared her. But she was told it can happen. Just like that. Or, a lengthy one: a cough this week, a fever the other week, then swollen feet as the sickness progresses, a loss of mind in the very last days – something like dementia, and eventually death. She could just choose one. He assured her it would happen. If she was to choose the quick one, it would even happen long before she left that place. She would arrive to the news of a death. Even for her, that option seemed evil. She said no. She was not going to settle for it. The first one? No, too. It seemed riskier. She would have healed someday and that would be chaotic. Also, she did not want to see that misery on the face of a mad woman knowing fully well she was behind that madness. She is a Christian and, sometimes, her religious inclination gets the better part of her. The second one? Yes, at least that one. It would hardly make her sad. Chances of it being tr...

Because, they never tell you that you will be hurt – these people.  When you add a year, gain some muscles (or hips), and start developing those broad shoulders, they tell everything there is to life but leave out that bit: life will hurt, humiliate and shock you.  The time they start seeing you with him – or her – they do not come and say:  “Hey, are you ready for the heartbreak that will come from there?” Instead, they talk of grown up people things. Like pregnancy. And, you stagger from there laughing. Just a chuckle really, a suppressed one. Pregnancy? These people, they already know you are acting like a married couple, who told them? And, you wonder why the person who told them did not also tell them that you know how to protect yourself from that pregnancy.  So, you dismiss them. And enjoy the ride. But, truth is: you will be hurt – mostly, by love.  Some things can hurt you, of course, and hurt you deeply but the hurt of love will be hug...