|
It was hectic getting a visa to come to the United Kingdom this summer of 2008.
It all started in the UK Borders office in Abuja where it took as much as four weeks to get a visa to enable me enter the United Kingdom.
Inspite of the presentation of a valid letter of invitation, all manner of documents (including land certificates, marriage certificates etc) which were requested by the Embassy it took 32days for me to secure a visa.
The fact that this is not my first visit and the letter from my employers were of no consequence; the British and their agents don’t have any regard for such things in my country.
After the interview and biometrics (the second in a row for me) on the 8th of July, a collection date of 25th July was given to us. This was later extended by two weeks and telephone enquiries to the UK embassy in Abuja were unpleasant experiences; the embassy “customer” relations officers were just rude, discourteous and sometimes talk down on us reminding us of the colonial days.. Can you really blame them?
At a point I had to ask myself the same question that my boss had earlier asked me: what are you looking for in London when you have the opportunity to visit other countries of the world?
We had to wait for the almighty British Embassy to issue our visas and on three occasions we visited the UK Borders office in the expectation that we will be lucky. It was a wonderful and worthwhile experience.
Nigerians in their hundreds throng to this office on a daily basis as early as 6.00am. Indeed the office was jam-packed when the Portharcourt and Lagos offices were temporarily shut in July.
The waiting room is a big hallway with no facility for sitting, toilets and other simple conveniences. Our men, women and children stand on their feet for several hours while our colonial masters bark orders intermittently; even in their own country Nigerians are not respected. They are hounded, harassed all through the day and herded like cows from one line to the other.
In the confusion, which is a regular occurrence all manner of atrocities are carried out by thieves and pickpockets. On two different occasions, I watched as two different women wept uncontrollably after they were dispossessed of their wallets and vital documents. It is a pitiable sight. I often wondered why any Nigerian, for whatever reason will easily condescend to the level of encouraging others to humiliate him/her. Some of us have long lost their dignity and self respect!
I have been there and I can tell you that there is nothing in the United Kingdom that should make anyone lose his/her dignity in order to secure a visa. Britain may be the name of our colonial masters but the world has since moved on and new emerging countries are offering new opportunities and fun.
Why would you want to go to a country whose agents show little or no respect for you in your own country; a country in which it appears that it is a crime to be black and every black man, whatever is his station in life is first viewed as a risk and later as a criminal.
I was in this frame of mind when I landed at Heathrow airport. There was a glint of hope and satisfaction when I got to Terminal 5. The place is beautiful but for a first time visitor it is a maze of some sort as we had to take several turns and elevators to get to the Immigration desk. Even there we experienced delays because the staff there appeared not to understand their jobs and so we had to pay for their inefficiency. By the time my passport was stamped the beauty of Terminal 5 had been replaced with disappointment and disenchantment.
I arrived safely at my hotel and almost immediately I felt like going back home. The weather too didn’t help matters as the cold that evening of “summer” was a sad reminder of the weather in winter.
As I mentioned in my articles titled Is This Their London (1-3) published last year, London is a multi-cultural country with the Asians, Arabs and other Europeans jostling for he control of her economy and political space.
Sometimes one wonders if it is indeed the English man’s country as you struggle to make the hotel attendant, shop keeper, bar tenders etc communicate with you in English language. This is especially the case in such areas as Wembley, Ealing, Hangerlane, etc. There is a noticeable presence of other non-English speaking European countries like Romania, Poland, Russia etc.
As I mentioned earlier, the weather was harsh. One expected sunshine and warmth in summer but in 2008 it was a wet summer for almost the entire period that I spent in London.
I have traveled to a few places outside Nigeria but honestly I have not seen a race and class conscious city as London.
My daily trips in the underground were filled with nostalgia of home. The melancholy on the faces of people that one encounters in the trains to and from almost everywhere was frightening. It is as if the world is about “everyone to himself”. A book or a copy of the free Metro newspaper appears to be a better friend/company than human beings. Human beings are locked in their various cells. And the train is another lesson in man’s inhumanity to man.
Some people are in the habit of clustering at the entrance thereby denying others the opportunity to board the trains during rush hours. On one occasion (to make matters worse I was in my African attire with cap to match) I had to shout that those obstructing the entrance should move in for others. It was at Queens Park during evening rush hour. There was no response from those zombies and when the train eventually moved the young white boy said we should simply wave those on the platform outside “bye bye”. One of the passengers left on the platform kicked the train in annoyance but what else can he do in a society that even the poor have no respect and love for each other; a dog eat dog society.
Everywhere I went from Marylebone, Stanmore, Wembley Park, Ealing, Liverpool etc the story was almost the same. It was frightening but human beings hardly communicate here. Pehaps their fears are well founded given the increasing incidence of violence and mindless killings that take place here on a daily basis (as reported in the papers the latest weapon of destruction is the knife).
Now I appreciate the usual banters and hot exchanges that one encounters in Molue (public buses) and planes in Nigeria when people, who just a few minutes ago were strangers will chat and debate such issues as Premier League, religion, government, corruption American politics, etc. All manner of contributions flow and the bus rides are usually a tonic of some sort. Even some discussants provide free counseling and solutions to problems without realizing it.
What about the gospel preachers? I saw one too on the Marylebone-Wembley central route but she wasn’t as loud as our people. I also saw the Pentecostal singers at their best close to Alperton station dishing out the best of rock and roll and soulful tunes. It is a matter of time, they will soon take over London because that city really needs them to put some electrifying gyrations in place through their guitars and drums.
With gratitude to the daily free newspaper from Metro which concentrates more on sex, social events, celebrities and booze, a first time visitor would have thought that this is a country devoid of any form of fun or social activity.
I also witnessed another form of social interaction in my hotel; the creaky sounds from the wooden ceiling of my room and the chatter from drunkards every night. My night’s sleep was always rudely interrupted by wild orgies from different “couples” as they engage in wild bouts almost every night, indeed on one of such occasions I had to tap the ceiling several times to call one such “couple” to order. That they could be so noisy and unruly can only be attributed to drunkenness or drugs or both.
A lot was going through my mind and I decided to just accept the fact that I couldn’t change anything. In order to “kill” time, I spent most of my spare time shopping and on the internet.
However, something unusual happened during the second week of my stay in London.
I met Tatania.
Thanks for having read this article.
Taslim O. Anibaba (FCA) 25th August, 2008
tanibaba@yahoo.com
|
Authors 
Posted by Robot| 27.08.2008 23:23