Sometimes they double up as mobile clinics where traditional doctors consult, examine and dispense medication all in one trip! Other times they double up as mini crusades; it has all the qualities of a church service only the duration matters depending on where you are alighting. The only thing that doesn’t happen is praise and worship, I guess because after a long day everyone just wants to get home. So, a couple of verses and interpretations later he announces that it’s time to offer sacrifice and proceeds to wriggle his way to the back of the bus and back to the front, coins and an occasional note safely in a clenched fist. He then gives a sort of vote of thanks to the driver and the conductor and he takes a seat or alights before anyone changes their mind about their offering. For some of us who live alittle, alright! a great distance from the city center the dust-filled journey continues.
By now the driver has pumped up the volume and the bus is now filled with sounds of some overly ambitious singers who need a couple of lessons in voice management. Not to downplay their talent, it’s just that in the evening when am going home the last thing I want to hear is some lovesick guy screaming his lungs out about some girl who supposedly doesn’t love him half as much!
I love traveling…in comfort! Sometimes it’s not possible unless you are paying more or it’s your personal car. I don’t particularly enjoy using those buses, but my physique does not allow me to even think about not to! So as I work my way towards my first car, my second house (the first one was a bedsitter!) and consequently my business complex or maybe even a beach house in Miami, I have decided to stick it out in those selfishly-lacking-in-space matatus and hopefully I’ll win the lottery….soon!
