Matan Ko Mazan Part 1 Complete Hausa Novel

They were seated on chairs in the garden of Yahuza Suya, behind the Central Mosque. There were four men, all dressed in suits, though they had all taken off their jackets and hung them on the backs of their chairs, a clear sign that they were coming from work. In front of them were roasted chickens and tea, which they were enjoying while watching the big TV there, where a match between Manchester and Chelsea was being played.

One look at them and you could tell they were seriously enjoying the match, because they kept arguing and laughing loudly.

The phone of one of them rang. Because of that, he reached into the front pocket of his shirt without taking his eyes off the TV, brought out the phone, then finally turned his face away from the screen to look at it. Seeing that it was Madam calling, he clicked his tongue in annoyance, dropped the phone, and let it continue ringing. The other men sitting with him looked at him because of what he did. He then placed his hand on his chest and said, “It’s Madam, wallahi. The way she keeps calling me, she has denied me peace.” They all turned away from looking at him and, as if they had planned it together, simply continued watching the match.

At exactly 11:30, the match ended, with Manchester winning 4–2. The man whose phone had been ringing stood up, picked up the phone that was still ringing, and grabbed his jacket in his hand. He said, “Let me be on my way, otherwise Madam will kill my phone battery, wallahi. See you in the morning.”

One of the remaining three men also stood up quickly and said, “Me too, I’m following you, Engineer. I can’t deal with the troubles of these women tonight. They won’t let me sleep either.” As he said that, he picked up his jacket and car key and hurried after Engineer to where they had parked their cars. They exchanged farewells again, each entered his car, and they left.

One of the two men who were left sitting looked at the other and said, “What time are you leaving here, Nura?”

The one called Nura turned as though he had not been the one spoken to. He raised his hand and called one of the boys working at Yahuza. The boy hurried over, full of respect, and said, “Yes sir, I’m here.”

Nura turned and looked at the man sitting beside him and said, “Should I order for you too, or are you leaving as well?”

The man shook his head, meaning no. That made Nura turn to the boy and say, “Bring him Goruba tea with chicken and gizzard inside. Put the pepper separately, he doesn’t eat much pepper.”

The boy left. Nura picked up his phone and was about to start pressing it when Musa said, “So, up till now, you and Hadiza still haven’t settled? Come on, lower your pride and go to her so you both can make peace.”

Nura smacked his lips and said, “Wallahi, even if I die, I won’t go and beg that girl again because I’m tired. Every little misunderstanding starts from her side, but I’m always the one seeking reconciliation for one reason or another. She keeps taking advantage of the fact that I hate noise and conflict. Didn’t anyone tell her I also value my peace of mind?”

Quickly, Musa said, “Come on, my friend, you know women have fish brains. Just go along with her.”

Nura replied at once, “You won’t understand. No matter how I describe Hadiza to you, you still won’t get it. She’s so bossy. She has this feminism mentality. She sees us as equal, shoulder to shoulder. She feels that as long as you have your own money, there is nothing any man can offer you that you should value. You don’t need him for anything. She doesn’t care about me one bit, billahillazi, as if I’m not even the one she’s married to.”

Musa tapped him and said, “Chill please, at least for the sake of your children, make peace. Aman is only about four or five years old, and little Amal is just two. Please, I don’t want children to grow up seeing from an early age that their parents are never on good terms, do you hear me, Nura?”

Nura brushed Musa’s hand off his shoulder and said, “Enough, man. Talking to Hadiza is impossible. Let me just follow her example and become a fish too, but I won’t become a sardine like her, a brainless one that ends up trapped in a tin. Trust me, this her feminism mentality is taking her nowhere. Wallahi, the day she pushes me to the wall, I’ll really show her.” Then he poured out a stream of insults in Hausa.

Musa burst out laughing. Nura laughed too and then said, “And what about you? What happened that made you stay out this late too? Because it’s obvious you also have your own little problem.”

Musa clicked his tongue and stopped laughing. He said, “My wife. Look, Maman Shatu, I don’t even know whether she is really a woman, because at this point I’m beginning to wonder if she isn’t actually a man.”

Nura burst into laughter just as their order was being brought to them. The boy placed it before them and left. Musa poured tea for both of them, picked up his cup, took a sip, then paused like someone deep in thought and said, “Bro, imagine, I’m already 45 years old, but this woman wants to turn me into an old man by force. She hates anything intimate between us. The moment I come near, she starts saying I should reduce sleeping with her now, that I’m getting old, this and that. She says it’s high time we stop having children, that the children are grown now. Shatu is 16 and will enter university next month, so let’s just focus on our children. I was like, what the hell! Did someone tell her I’m made of wood, or does she want me to start drying up with old age?”

Nura laughed so hard that the meat in his mouth almost fell out while he tried to swallow it.

Musa said, “Stop laughing, this is a serious matter. You and I are different. Your pride and the way you bottle things up won’t let you go and meet Hadiza. I honestly don’t know how you are surviving, wallahi. As for me, I can’t do that. Every day I keep praying to Allah to soften these women before they finish us. With all my age and status, Maman Shatu has reduced me to someone who is always deprived. Yesterday she even lectured me with Suratul Alam Nashrah. These women, honestly, they keep telling us we have young girls outside, so we should stop.”

Nura’s laughter became so loud that people at nearby tables turned to look at them, so he quickly reduced the volume of his laughter. For many days now he had been troubled, but tonight Musa had really made him laugh. He was so funny, and his Hausa was just everything. You could not help but understand his pain because of the words he was using to express it.

He finally stopped laughing, picked up some meat, and said, “To be honest with you, Musa, it’s not that I don’t want peace. I really do. But her behavior is making me lose interest in her and lose love for her. I don’t even want to approach her and ask for intimacy, and she too doesn’t care. She doesn’t even send me.”

Filled with annoyance, Musa said, “I don’t know how women’s brains work. Imagine, they offend us, but when they gather among themselves, they’ll say, ‘My husband did this and that to me,’ then they take our matter online and say, ‘Please hide my ID.’ But they will never talk about the things they themselves do to their husbands. A bunch of hypocrites, double-faced people. Apart from dressing up and showing their friends that they are enjoying their husbands and marriages, they know nothing else. In fact, I already told her that if she doesn’t change, wallahi, she is on her own. I will bring her a useless co-wife. With my money and my business, wallahi, I don’t even need to go looking for a woman. I’ll just call my aunt in Kano to find me a young fresh girl there. Me, wallahi, I’m not old, I’m still very strong. By the way, those hemorrhoid medicines from Cotonou that were brought, won’t you take some?”

Nura shook his head and said, “You and these your addictions to hemorrhoid medicine.”

Musa laughed and said, “You too should take some, wallahi. It will clear your system properly. Fire for fire, wallahi, deal with Hadiza well.”

“No way, I won’t follow you in that. I don’t even know where I’d put myself. Let it be. Maybe if everything settles down, I’ll come and take it.”

Around 1:30 a.m., they got up. Nura paid for everything, and each of them entered his car to head home.

Musa said, “Will you come to the office tomorrow to inspect the cars? They have arrived.”

Nura nodded and said, “I have an important meeting tomorrow, but I’ll come as soon as I’m done.”

Musa said, “Alright then. Actually, I want to come and see that site. That terrace you built really impressed me.”

Nura replied, “You’re never tired of money, Kano man.”

Laughing hard and joking, Musa said, “And you Zamfara man, you’re never tired of wasting money. I’m following you so you can increase my car business capital a little.”

Both of them laughed, exchanged farewells, and each drove off, leaving the place.