HOW many people remember the comic strip, ‘Modesty Blaise’? It was about a beautiful woman who was also a thief most of the time along with her cockney sidekick, Willie Garvin. I believe Peter O’Donnell created the characters and the strip syndicated in newspapers across the world.

In Nigeria, it featured on the back page of the New Nigerian, which I had access to because my father’s job ensured 17 newspapers were delivered to him daily. The Daily Times had another ‘bad guy’, ‘Garth’ on its back page, a fellow with muscles that would have made Mr. Universe sick with envy.

Sometime later, I came across a Modesty Blaise novel that had a real picture of what she was meant to look like in real life, on its cover.

The Impossible Virgin was the title but that provocative title actually referred to some remote location Modesty was bent on reaching which was inaccessible to most people and not what the wandering minds reading this might be thinking.

MODESTY was a crush I had through the obviously traumatised years of childhood and was my idea of the perfect woman. She was beautiful and sexy (and those two things do not always go hand in hand) and knew how to use a gun. She was not afraid of anyone and had a platonic relationship with her sidekick, Willie.

Many men say that as adults, they realise ‘bad girls’ are trouble and should not be trifled with.

According to them, you can never be sure what you will get out of an entanglement with a member of that tribe (actually you can be sure of one thing; it will be a very interesting ride) the bad girl looks out for herself first and the good of everyone else becomes incidental.

As a male teenager, this type is the epitome of all that is fascinating about a female — a girl who doesn’t care a hoot about anyone else apart from number one. Maybe when some men grow up, such perspective becomes tiring and even downright annoying. Still, I remember the bumper sticker from many years ago — ‘Good girls go to heaven and bad girls go everywhere.’

WHAT is it about ‘bad girls’ (and boys) that makes them so interesting? I suppose it is the fascination that all have with people who walk that fine line and do not respect laid down rules and norms.

The Whisperer, in his own time (maybe even now), has been called ‘bad’ by some but what they might consider overboard may be normal in another social circle. For the sake of this piece, I shall walk away from the path that might take me into the philosophical debate on what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’

Why would some men or women see a Modesty Blaise or a Willie Garvin and choose them over ‘regular and down to earth’ people? Can you make a Ms. Blaise change her ways if those ways are already set in stone? And is there a danger in loving this type of people with all your heart?

There is a type of person who is not moved by the fear of the monotony that being with one person for the rest of your life, can invoke in the strongest heart. This person is a truly blessed person, content with the day-to-day routine that the future holds ad infinitum.

There are others though, who instinctively gravitate towards the ‘bad’ person, equating the dangers that are fraught in the relationship as the excitement that can keep a relationship going. The argument here would be that, if you can predict what the rest of your life would be like, could you be considered a truly happy person?

THE adrenalin junkies might appear to be the only ones who need the thrill of the chase but as Funmi Iyanda once told me, ‘if you have to eat rice every day, you had better garnish it in different ways.’

No one wants to live a predictable life, except maybe accountants and those who need that staid quality in their lives. The rest of us spend our lives going to cinemas and the theatre looking to add an extra spark that will remove us from living like the Pope.

You sleep, wake up, brush your teeth, go to work, come back home, eat supper, watch television, go to bed, sleep, then another day. It can be mind-numbing, and for those who haven’t taught their minds to misbehave, troubling, after a while.

I would like to get on a train sometime to Madrid, from another part of Europe, ride on the Orient Express with those I care about, walk across the African desert (if I can escape the bandits that skulk and hide along its borders), go far.

I don’t want to live the rest of my life land-locked. I want to see Araby and the things that inspired the Arabian nights, walk along the shores of the oceans of the Indies and reflect on how many people were carted away from the African continent and sold into slavery as a result of the conspiracy between white and black slave dealers.

It’s interesting to read about the history of Lagos, for instance. The history books tell us how the ‘heathen’ King Kosoko, was a slave dealer, allowing Lagos as a port for many of those that were sold abroad.

What they fail to say is that his predecessor and later, successor, Akitoye, was as much a slave dealer as Kosoko ever was and himself allowed Lagos as a port for slaves to be taken to Europe and the Americas.

The beautiful city of Lagos also had a ritual in which a young female (I am not certain if a virgin was required or not) was sacrificed regularly to the goddess of fertility so the land would yield fruit.

Yes, human sacrifice; we’ve come a long way, baby. But I digress, as the issue is whether there are benefits to having relationships with ‘bad’ boys/girls. 

MY advice will be that we all need to add a certain edge to our relationships. If people need to marry priests, they know where to look. Make your own relationship much more interesting, surprise your partner with a trip, go sightseeing, visit the Yankari Games Reserves (if there are any animals left in it), the Ikogosi warm springs, the Obudu Cattle ranch, go to the theatre and see a play or a movie (directed by The Whisperer). Life is beautiful; let’s highlight its beauty as much as we can. The Whisperer wishes you love in the new week.