{"id":76719,"date":"2019-04-12T09:57:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T07:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=76719"},"modified":"2019-04-12T09:57:04","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T07:57:04","slug":"coss-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/04\/12\/coss-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Coss\u2019 moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Richard Chirombo:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Life has a way of sneaking success into what would, otherwise, be failed attempts. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That is why\u2014 in the music industry, for instance\u2014 some cry wolf over piracy and other ills while others find a moment of relief. Of course, in the same industry. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is like a fella who, picking a coin from the back-pocket on the way home, drops some coins and another fella, down-trodden and taking to the same path, \u2018discovers\u2019 the \u2018loot\u2019 and goes all the way home smiling. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The constellation of challenges and opportunities seems to be the shape of nature\u2014 which is life\u2014 itself. To abhor one and embrace another is to deny life itself. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, there is no way we can prefer one \u2013 say, opportunities\u2014 to another; in this case challenges. Life, in its \u2018wisdom\u2019, throws both at us. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Those who are strong find a way, always, to travel back to something close to normal behaviour; the normal behaviour in question being success. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For example, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ, the man we call Judas Iscariot, was wise enough to know this. To him, \u2018normal behaviour\u2019 was not about <\/span><\/span>kubudula njere za mbewu monga tirigu ndi chimanga <\/span><\/span>[picking some heads of grain]! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For him, normal behaviour was buying food with real money. So, while other disciples were fasting, picking some heads of grain and what have you, Judas became a monster of deceit, perhaps aware that conformity has an effect on wellbeing, and started stealing from the kitty. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What a \u2018bright\u2019 man! <\/span><\/span>Ha! Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha !Ha!Ha!Ha! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am talking about Matthew 12:1. It goes, according to different versions of the Bible: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I have gone biblical today, not so? It is because of what Coss Chiwalo did recently when he met with Pope Francis during one of Alleluya Band\u2019s trips to Italy. He carried a drum and proffered it to the Pope for, perhaps, a beating session. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the picture I have seen, the Pope seems ready to \u2018pounce\u2019 on the drum, with Coss smiling. Maybe the Pope beat the drum but, in the picture showing Coss and the Pope, he [the Pope] is not seen beating it; he is seen in the attempt of beating it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But, then, I doubt if the Pope can beat an African drum the way a Gule Wamkulu [mask dance] drummer does it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, I can only guess that Coss offered to teach the Pope how to beat the drum the-Malawian-way; the Gule Wamkulu way actually, knowing that there is Sinodi ya ku Africa buzz, a church initiative that promotes culture among parishioners. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By the way, the way Coss stands in that picture! He is trying to keep his distance while praying that the Pope beats the drum five, a dozen times. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But it seems the Pope beat it only once! <\/span><\/span>Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps, as Coss was about to say, <\/span><\/span>timayimba motere, <\/span><\/span>before remembering that the Pope does not understand Chichewa but latin, the Pope had long disappeared! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Next time, Coss, be quick to volunteer to teach him how to play the drum the-Malawian-way. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Just say: <\/span><\/span>Sic nos ludere ad tympanum! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Richard Chirombo: Life has a way of sneaking success into what would, otherwise, be failed attempts. That is why\u2014 in the music industry, for instance\u2014 some cry wolf over piracy and other ills while others find a moment of relief. Of course, in the same industry. It is like a fella who, picking a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76724,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76719\/revisions\/76724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}