Last week I told you that I had nothing to say. I lied. Kind of. This week I have something to say about idiocy, Ghana style. Do you think I am lying?
I was in traffic around 7:30am the other day when I saw two idiots displaying their idiocy. A trotro (Idiot #1) left the traffic behind me and tried to go against oncoming traffic and make a left turn. He almost succeeded too, but had to stop, reverse a bit and try and go around a taxi and a couple of other vehicles.
I didn’t see it happen, but apparently, he scraped the side of the taxi. Next thing I know the taxi driver (Idiot #2) leaps out of his car and takes off after the trotro on foot.
The trotro makes the left turn, but the taxi driver is fleet of foot. Does anyone remember the cartoon character Speedy Gonzalez? Yeah, fast like that. He gets to the trotro and manages to throw an untidy punch through the window at the driver before the trotro accelerates. The scene was better than any action movie made by Bollywood. All we needed was a song and dance routine....
The taxi driver pauses long enough to pick up what looks like a rock from a gutter and sets off after the trotro, running. At this point his taxi is still parked where he left it, half on and half off the road. The driver’s door is open wide. Other cars are having to meander around the taxi.
I have moved by now; as I pass the turning, I can’t really see the trotro or the running taxi driver. I don’t bother rubber-necking. I don’t want to be Idiot #3.
These are the average Ghanaians who make me want to give up on our country. As I passed the abandoned taxi, I could barely see any mark on the side. But it was now causing a traffic jam. Oh, and by the by, there were still passengers sitting in it. I wonder what they were waiting for. Their change? And the owner was off exercising his running ability.
And this trotro driver who caused the whole thing? Who was so obviously wiser and smarter than any of us on the road at that time? Patience is obviously not a virtue of commercial drivers, but still, what a toonoo. And his behaviour was hardly unique to him.
Road rage in extremis, and all they succeeded in doing was worsen the traffic and provide entertainment for bored onlookers who don’t really want to go to work. Ghana.
I found the whole situation funny, tragic, and incomprehensibly wonderful. Did the taxi driver get to exact revenge on the trotro driver? Did he get any kind of monetary compensation for any perceived damage to his taxi? Was the trotro driver's maneuver in any way worth the time he thought he saved?
Did the passengers in the taxi even realise what was going on? Did the passengers in the trotro take the trotro driver's side? Were they perhaps the ones who had urged the trotro driver to execute the idiotic move in the first place?
Questions. And all because of a split second decision leading to insanity and idiocy.
I still got to work on time. I still had breakfast at my office desk. I still belched after breakfast and smacked my lips contentedly. And wondered what to do next. And idiots were still running after driving idiots....and stopping to pick up rocks.
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