The Joy In Mania

 Being an introvert in a group of extroverts doesn’t sound fun, but Kojo made the most of it.After several persuasions from his friends, he finally gave in to join them at this year’s Chale Wote Festival, but on the condition that he would return home before 7PM. The Chale Wote street art festival is a popular annual street festival in Accra, Ghana. They went there in the morning, by which time most of the performances had already begun. They started off with the acrobatic performance, then got dazzled by cycling freestyles and tricks, and then made a stop at the various shops and thrift stands to get souvenirs. Most of the items were fascinating, but there was one particular item that seemed odd to him: a worn-out hat with a spoon, a cup, a coin, and other random items dangling from it. One of his friends saw him staring at it, so he immediately bought it for him and asked him to try it on. Kojo felt reluctant at first, but since it was going to be sunny later on, he gave in and put it on.

Almost an hour after donning the hat, he began to feel a rush of energy and excitement coursing through him. The urge to dance alongside the street performers and engage in every activity and with everyone he laid his eyes upon overwhelmed him. From his point of view, everyone seemed thrilled and in the spirit of having a good time. However, his friends and everyone present noticed his behavior was unruly. He was literally pushing people around, destroying pop-up stands, and almost injuring others. He became wild and aggressive with each passing moment. His friends couldn’t understand what had made his calm and quiet demeanor change all of a sudden. In the midst of the commotion, the hat on Kojo’s head remained perfectly still. No matter how aggressively he moved, the hat didn’t seem to fall off or twitch.

Kojo’s friends and other bystanders noticed the hat and decided to grab him and remove it before things got any worse. After several attempts, they succeeded, and when the hat was off, Kojo was puzzled as to why people were holding him down and others were watching him in shock. They explained to him what had happened, and to their surprise, he didn’t see it as such.

They rushed to the vendor from whom they got the hat, with some of the people who were at the scene, but to their surprise, they were informed that the man had packed up and left just minutes after their purchase.

//by Jzt.Sam