I refuse to become old

“Mtoto ni mtoto” this was one of the famous phrase among others used by the old man whenever he was pissed off with students. “Students, you cannot just see me with my white hair and assume that I didn’t pass through campus!” he would lament.

The old man, sir Fayol, mostly remembered from the unit Principles and Practice of Management (PPM) ushered first years to the Course. At first we were shocked that the title of the course we were admitted to the university was missing in the departments list of courses. Sir Fayol, then starts to explain the difference between Information Studies and Information Science and it is after a two hour orientation is when the “quacks” (a name he used to associate to a first year who knows nothing) would understand the importance of the course to be taken through the four years.

It was after three to four lectures that we understood why the old man could always say “mtoto ni mtoto”. He said that to condemn those students who would want to be caned, in this case to be pushed around, so that they could attend lectures on time. Be late for a minute and you could curse your alarm for not waking you up early. Most of his lectures were at seven in the morning and no matter the location nor the means you take to campus, he would not entertain being late for a minute, and I mean 7:01 am. This could be the reason he never gets old, but let’s still get over some details.

Let your phone ring during lecture time and be surprised he would take and throw it out of the window, most of us took that as a big insult but you never know, that would be the reason we completed the course besides those who were sent away in the midst. As old as he was, he had a Nokia 1200 and would mock if your smartphone rings and you were in the list of the late comers.

He would then tell stories about his campus experience with the old mzungu, who was so mindful with time. The love life he went through dating four girls of which none had qualities of being a wife. Contrary to that, the old man would say, it is too sad for a man to have more than one girl only to marry one and I would ask myself, how about the four he dated and too far from it, he never married even one.

Let’s get to some other lifestyle stories and be shocked that the old man hates luxury, he is contented with the natural things put in place. Tell him about pizza and get a tough question like; is that found in oxford dictionary? Let him explain to you why eating a Ndazi that costs five shillings is enough as compared to  spending 250 shillings only to consume a lot of cholesterol in your body system.

Guys lets learn something from that, actually he was right. The effect of this was what it led to most of college mates taking a “beast”, (a new name for ndazi after the coming of POTUS) for breakfast and survive till the end of lessons in the late afternoon. Simple living higher thinking.

When it came to academic trips, my friend, make an effort of missing the time set for departure and he would simply say, “After all the place we are visiting isn’t America”. He was the father of every child and would advise on being discipline all-through and would remind students that, the people they would meet were the same who would employ them after campus. When time to rest came, the old man simply requested a student to thank God for the safety and grace and lastly put across a short notice on the time to assemble on the following day.

This now comes from experience that I went through, while at the coast, I was late for five seconds; one, two, three, Four…five seconds! That was the day I faced the wrath of the old man. I had to spend more than I had planned to catch the bus that was already on the move. I thank him though because if not of the wrath, I would not have known why time is so precious.

The entire period of the final year, the old man would advise on how to behave well when introduced to the real world where employers would look for simple things to consider placement. In conjunction with this, he reminded us about the principles of management and urged most of us to be good information experts and managers. For sure old is gold.

Free advice that I learned from the old man, Sir Fayol; time is so precious and a minute can cost your life; “mtoto ni mtoto” and most of it all, simple living higher thinking. For the employers, consider the students who have passed through the blessed hands of the old man who seemed not to be getting old.