The Learner

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com @muhsin234 (Twitter) “It looks foreign”, my Indian friends so often tell me while describing how scenic and highly-developed a particular place is. It happened first while my wife and I were touring the capital, New Delhi last winter. We were entering the subway system called the 'metro' when my friend guiding us said we would feel as if in a foreign country down there. It didn’t dawn on me then until I heard the same expressions time and again from more friends. They obviously forget that everywhere is foreign to me as I am a foreigner , a Nigerian. My country is thousands of miles away. However, each time the incident occurs, it reminds me of a similar preconceived notion of foreign superiority back in Nigeria . In the same vein, Nigerians would quickly brag that their particular possession was made in a foreign country, not in Nigeria ! Pragmatically speaking, the whole concept of “Ƙasar Waje” as we call a foreign c...