I
remember the first time I met T-boss. It
was in 1998 I think, at a mutual friends house.
I hated her, gawd, I hated her.
She was beautiful, with skin so tanned and dark eyes that bore into my
mind reminding me that she was indeed beautiful. I didn’t want to be reminded so I stopped
looking into her eyes. Her hair was in
place, every strand neatly pressed and smacked down with gel (I’m sure it was
one of those black gels that were in the markets that period) and nails trimmed
to absolute obedience. She was perfecto.
I didn’t like that this small town Calabar Chick made me feel so
inadequate. It wasn’t her fault that my
over processed hair was wild and untamable or that my nails were screaming ‘ I
dig soil for fun’, nope that didn’t help.
She smiled at me that day and I froze, I must have scowled back because
the smile disappeared. We didn’t speak
to each other that day but the next time we met, she smiled and said to me ‘Can
I count your braids?’. From that moment
on, we became friends.
I began
to get a glimpse into the soul of a young girl everyone thought was aloof,
proud, snobbish. It’s easy to miss-understand
Tboss, she carries herself with a certain air of elegance that can be
translated into snobbery but over the years I have come to realize this is her
way of hiding her own feeling of inadequacy or of not belonging, never fully
belonging to a clique, a people, a tribe.
She’s human, even more so than the good people I know – me
included. She will give her last meal to
a starving friend, take the cloth off her back to cover the nakedness of a
total stranger. She has given money to a
little girl on the streets selling oranges, who was afraid to go home because
she’d lost all the money she had. That
doesn’t make her awesome, it just makes her human.
We used
to hang out on the balcony of the Idowu house a lot and so it was, on that same
balcony, 2 broke girls decided to start an NGO where we would cater to youths
and women in homes of domestic violence.
Life got in the way of that dream…for me at least, but not for
Tboss. She currently is working to
empower youths as the head, marketing of Dark Knights Motor Sports. Her desire to empower youths has
led her into the corridors of power in
a bid to get government attention to the gains of engaging young Nigerian youths through competitive events involving the use of motorized vehicles.
The thing is, Tboss might come off as being proud, but her friends are everyday people, people she is comfortable with, people like Ekene the cook, the fabric seller in Wuse Market, Rufus the Cab driver, Tonye who works in a bank, all of them ordinary people. They have seen past the beautiful face and the bougie clothes, to them, Tboss is soul. Then there is her family, to them, Tboss is everything.
https://www.instagram.com/officialtboss_/
https://www.facebook.com/TBossofficialTB/
https://www.instagram.com/officialtboss_/
https://www.facebook.com/TBossofficialTB/
Our ability to look into other the way we would liked to be seen is what makes the world a better place..Funny I can attest to some of the things said here. It is really painful to be judged as a stuck up self centred person when actually all you want is to help the one next to you.. Thank you for this
ReplyDeleteThis is d sweetest thing I v read about tboss so far. Just d right word to describe her, MISUNDERSTOOD. I haven't met her in person but I always knew dere was a different tboss on d inside more beautiful than d tboss on d outside, she's one of d few miss perfectos around dat want people to notice dem cos of wat dey carry on d inside and not cos of d physical beauty. Even in uriel's beefin, she admitted once dat she belivs tboss fell for meyonse cos he's one of d few dat saw beyond her appearance and just loves her for who she is. No one is perfect but tboss just does it for me! Her class and carriage makes me rest assured dat naija babes stil gat packagin mehn. She shld really chase d dream she told Falz she has, which is being a TV personality, I for one wld b glad to v her come on screen more often even afta bbn. I just love tboss, she may not win but she wld definitely attain more than wat d winner wld get frm d show, she remains my no1, I lose sleep just to watch her sleep, I wish her well and I hope she retains d admiration I have for her. I look forward to meetin her someday soon tho
ReplyDeleteI agree with ever word said here, the first thing people ask me when they see pictures of us together or meet her is how are you friends? she seems so stuck up and unapproachable , first thing I say is never judge a book by its cover, she is the sweetest person I know..go on and say hi..or make conversation and after they do people are blown away by how nice she is. She will put you in your place if offended..but it takes a lot to offend her, more recently she has withdrawn into her shell from bad experiences with people. People tend to take advantage of people who are too simple and sweet.that is a known fact. She is the most misunderstood person I know..but I must say one of the best friends I have..selfless to a fault.she is a child at heart and sometimes we yell at her to stop being so gullible.but I think I never want her to change.she is perfect just the way she is.
ReplyDelete