Life in the City!

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When Diba completed his secondary education, he had no choice but to relocate to the city. His uncle who had been responsible for his education threw in the towel. His Uncle's children were of age and getting ready for secondary education,so his uncle wouldn't be able to combine the expenses of Diba's education, with that of his biological children. This development led to his stay in the city for sometimes for the first time. Hitherto, he had lived all his life in the village. Now, many things he had been told verbally became a reality, he saw them with naked eyes.

To have a panoramic view of the city, he moved from one place to another. One day, Diba visited the magnificent Liberty Stadium. He opened wide his mouth wondering how much was expended on the gigantic edifice. Should such a huge amount be spent on mere sports and not in human capital development. Back in the village, an ordinary school field was enough to play a football match and it was free unlike the city where the rich and the poor pay to watch a football match.

Back home Diba had heard of window-shopping ,that is browsing the windows of shops with no intention of buying anything. He saw many items on display through the windows of the shops of some expatriates. He only had a good look at the items without any intention of buying and in fact the money was not there. Diba saw mannequins for the first time in his life used for displaying and fitting of clothes. He mistakenly wanted to shake hands with one of them thinking they were human beings.

They were fascinating to him and many times he appreciated the ingenuity of these salesmen. While Diba was still wondering how life in the village could really make one look awkward in the city he visited a popular 5 star hotel and had the opportunity to use a lift or elevator which transported him vertically from the ground floors to the topmost ones in a split second; "this is magnificent",he said. Transport was free here because the operator did not ask for money. He felt the elevator was a good device for enjoying free ride. Surprisingly, he saw a swimming pool from the top floor. At home, they swam in rivers only during raining season and the quality of the water was appalling.

Diba saw some europeans almost naked (with just pants and bra) jumping in and out of the swimming pool and some of them having a tan in the sun. He was amazed to see them darkening their skin by prolonged exposure to sunlight.

In the village, no one dared exposed his or herself like this he imagined. Now here are women stripping themselves almost naked in the name of fun? "Hasn't civilization gone awry, aww that's bad.... The last straw that broke the camel's back happened unexpectedly. Diba had always watched a group of young ladies in front of some rooms along a particular street. "These ladies had no jobs?",he asked. They were always neatly dressed with their lips painted red and also having artificial nails comparable to the claws of their village dog called 'tiger'. Further enquiry about these amazing ladies shocked him. "They are commercial sex workers, that is their work place, they dress like this to attract their customers" a passer by told him.

Whaoh! Such things are done in the secret and in the dark in the village.

City dwellers seem shameless, he surmised. With this last encounter, Diba felt he should leave for home because other weird practices like smoking marijuana, drinking to stupor etc had already weakened his moral fibre. Before he gets entangled in the web of many social vices in the city,and be unable to extricate himself as a teenager, retracing his step back home was inevitable and a better option. This he did without wasting time.