Sola Olubi: Clubs

Prompt:

March 3

No, thanks.

Is there a place in the world you never want to visit? Where, and why not?

Sorry for the space above… I just could not find a better way to relay how long it took Sola to answer this question. While I sat and waited for her to answer, I tried to figure out why she’d be so hesitant in answering the question. Was she looking for the perfect answer? Did she have too many places in mind that she just could not figure out where she’d never visit? Was the place a place in her past that she suddenly remembered and just lost her morale? Was there no place she’d never not visit? As I kept trying to come up with a reason for the long silence, she suddenly said, ‘Boro, Never?’. ‘Never’ I replied, tired. Then she said, ‘Okay, erm, I think a club’

Willing her to give more than that four letter word as a suitable reason for her taking so much time, I asked, ‘Why?’

‘Because I think it’s loud and I really do not like loud music’, she replied.

‘What if I reduced the volume of the music?’

‘Then, yes maybe I’d come’ she said. ‘Although another reason why I never want to go to a club is because people drink there and I do not want to drink. Someone might spike my drink…’

‘Why don’t you want to drink?’

‘I do not want to be high. I’ve been high on sugar before and it did not go down well. I was unnecessarily happy. I can only imagine what alcohol would do.’ By this I was taken aback. I thought happiness was something we all wanted in life. Is there such a thing as being ‘unnecessarily happy’? Being happy at the wrong time is something I can understand… but being happy without necessity? How horrible can that be?

So I asked her, ‘Is that not a good thing?’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘happiness ought to be related to and not influenced. It’s not right. And the aftermath of influenced happiness is a hangover. It’s not the best’

Curious about the way Sola’s mind and lifestyle work, I asked her what she does for fun. She said, ‘I read for fun. Although it’s not necessarily fun, it’s comfortable…’

Finally, I asked her to define a club (just so we’d be clear) and she said with a tone of finality, ‘A club is a place where the light is dim and people go to in the night and drinks are served’

As with my other interviewees, I do not agree with everything Sola said, but I learned a few things: I learned never to put a blanket description on a group of people (I mean, Sola is a UNILAG babe and she’s not interested in clubbing in any form. Isn’t that a wow?). I learned that it’s a little risky to hinge our happiness on external stuff (such as another human being), as influenced happiness leads to a hangover. And ‘hangovers are not the best‘.

And finally, I learned that a thing is impossible only if I define it to highlight its impossibilities – I mean, from Sola’s definition of a club, now it is not impossible for my room to become a club with little or no effort. Low light + Considerable amount of people + Drinks. Voila!