Travelling, to me, has been a kind of muse I can hardly explain.
My degree of retarded-ness still gives a room for an ample curiosity. My mind
will imaginingly crawl into co-commuters' minds, trying to discern the thoughts
that crease into every minuscule smile, accidental frown, angry jolt and
retort, battle-ready poise inside commercial buses. They are extension of
Nigerian stories. This only happens inside public transport because in my
personal automobile, I am always busy trying to survive the hazard of highways.
Since, I find myself in a job that demands most handsome hours of the day. My
curiosity seems to be dying a good death but alas it often re-incarnates when I
sit hours in a commercial bus travelling to a compulsory destination.
One boring weekend, I happened to witness a memorable but not
unusual altercation inside the bus. On boarding the bus, I subconsciously
declined to take the seat at the back as my Aunt has insistently warned against
seating at the far-back or the driver’s side. With the warning flashing like a
compulsory led-light, I chose the seat in the middle beside an obviously
clumsy, around-early-grand-ma-age woman who was trying to exude all these
elitist preferences inside a "commonalizing" four-on-a-seat bus. I
let the argument of where-she's supposed-to-sit-or-where-not pass. Thank God,
her dalliance was complemented by another elderly
close-to-the-natural-farmer-age man who supplied timely responses to her
watered argument. The rickety bus started ricketily, and peace seemed to descend
and travel with us. Until the altercation.
"E joo e mu handkerchief yin mo ra. E joor aye gbege"
(please hold your handkerchief to yourself. It's dangerous.)The pretentious
woman said with an air of suspicion stemming from stories of diabolical
abduction where culprit simply wielded handkerchief to mysteriously steal body
parts or the whole victim. Personally I have wondered how scientists would
attempt to explain such without caving into mysticism or spiritualism.
The woman she addressed was donning a beret like a christian
devotee. My attention was caught. Interestingly, the beret woman was also
boisterous enough to engage her in verbal battle. She retorted "ti eyin ba
ni Jesus ni, e o ni foya. A wa o kin se Eni ika O. E di opo Jesus mu. O Maa to
funyin." (If you truly believe in Jesus Christ, you won't have any fear. I
am not of the evil. Hold firm to Jesus and you will be fortified)
Anyway, after heated exchanges, the altercation was resolved.
But my concern is how we arrogate to ourselves empathy without any regards to
others while we expect them to feel a justification of our selfish perspectives
.The first woman accused the beret woman with all the underlying suspicion of
the spurious tales she heard without any benefit of doubt. The beret lady also never
attempted to allay the suspicious fear of the other woman. She (the beret
woman) retorted without understanding her bus mate's need for safety resulting
from the fearful diabolical tales that every Nigerian bandies.
We all got to our destinations safe with that altercation added
to our stories.
--toonday
Comments
Post a Comment