NOODLES PALAVA

As a little boy I loved NOODLES. Well, we all loved noodles... My favourite brand was INDOMIE. I loved slopping up long strands of noodle into my mouth. I loved the way it felt.

I wasn't born with a silver spoon. We didn't always have the luxury of eating noodles in my house at all times. As such, whenever mom came back home with a cartoon full of noodles, I would be extremely excited.

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Then one day something happened that killed that excitement. Mom was particular about the number of packs we were supposed to prepare so as not to waste "her noodles".

(Yes exactly, "her noodles". Mums believe that everything in the kitchen belongs to them. Lol)

She would allocate two medium size packs to me and three medium packs to my three big sisters.

"Mummy! Abeg you fit add me two extra packs to this one?" I wailed into her ears in pidgin English.

(We were not really the sophisticated type, so we communicated mostly in Pidgin English or Yoruba)

"No, the two don do you. You nor go fit finish three or four", she replied sternly.

"I go fit o! Abeg add me two more now", I broke into a fake cry just to manipulate her to give me those extra packs, being the renowned Olojukokoro (Oliver Twist) of the house back then.

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Yes! It worked. She added the extra packs of noodles to the one's I already had, making it four packs in total. Boy! I was excited. Parts of the benefits of being the last child; you get to always have your way anytime, anyway and any day you want.

I turned on the stove and started to cook. In minutes the noodles was ready for munching.

When I brought the pot down and saw how big the noodles was, I became scared. Oh boy, I was damn scared!

Why was I scared?

Because I had had a deal with mom. Prior to giving me the two extra packs, she had warned that if I couldn't finish it, then she would give me 12 sound strokes of her KOBOKO. Typical African mom; they hate wasting resources.

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So, there was mom sitting calmly with her KOBOKO by the side waiting for me.

Here was I looking at the pot of noodles and coming to terms with the fact that I won't be able to finish it just like mother had predicted.

Slash! Warp! The KOBOKO landed on my back, accompanied by a left hand slap. Oh, I learnt my lesson that day.

The rest is history.

MORAL
It is WISDOM, when you learn to control your impulse. Acting out of impulse or excitement is FOOLISH. Spend time analyzing and evaluating a decision before you step out on it.

Understand the end from the beginning. Have a plan B, C, D through to Z.

Acting based on impulse will block your mind from seeing what could go wrong. And once you can't see this, you can't prepare a contingence plan.

Always look and count the cost before you LEAP.


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