The masque of africa: glimpses of african belief by V. S. Naipaul

Author:V. S. Naipaul [V. S. Naipaul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Roman
ISBN: 9780307270733
Published: 2010-10-19T10:00:00+00:00

4

IT WAS hard to believe that Pa-boh, who spoke with such passion about the traditional religion, was formally a Christian, with a Christian grandfather who ran a church in a village. Sixty years before, this grandfather had had his house and church burned down by the villagers whom he wished to serve (he wanted them to repent, to leave their African gods and lesser spirits and come to Christ), and he had been pushed with his family into the bush. His sister had been assaulted, her head split open.

Strangely, Pa-boh spoke of this with passion too. Probably he was a man of passion; perhaps he needed to live at a certain pitch.

He said, “I cried when I saw how my grandfather and my father had suffered.”

And then, to complete the cycle of passion, he said, “But this cannot happen today even if people feel angry or outraged because there is a law, and they cannot go beyond a certain level.” Moving now with almost equal fervour from religion to something quite apart: the virtues of civil society.

When he was a child Pa-boh lost his parents (he didn’t say how), and he had to shift for himself. He did odd jobs; and, in order to work in the school office, he learned to type. He also became an electrician, picking up the skill from older men who in the beginning saw their eager boy helper only as a joke. He joined a musical band and by the time he was sixteen he was a vocalist for them. He was rowdy and wild, a big fighter.

On a day in May 1970 his life changed. He became possessed by the Holy Spirit. It happened like this. He was singing with his band that day, and at midnight they had a break. He went to the midnight service and his behaviour was strange. He became noisy and disruptive. When the minister asked the congregation to pray for the betterment of their lives, Pa-boh insulted him. After the service Pa-boh went to see the minister. He wasn’t at all sorry for what he had done, but he began to cry, and his crying didn’t stop. He went to his dormitory but he felt very guilty and he couldn’t sleep.

He felt a hand on his wrist. The hand led him to the dining room. There he saw a flashing signboard in the air, lit up with episodes from his life. A voice told him to go outside to the school ground. He said he couldn’t do that because he was afraid of snakes. The voice then told him to go to the dormitory. He did so, and found some seniors who said he was late and wanted to punish him. They asked him to kneel to receive his punishment. Normally he would have knocked these boys down and given them a good thrashing, but now he fell on his knees and waited for his punishment. The boys were bewildered. They thought Pa-boh must have been affected by something the minister had said.

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