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Fadzayi Maposah-Correspondent
I had an early end to my working day on Thursday.
I thought that it was rather early, but by the time I got to the bus terminus, there were many people and the commuter omnibus crews were at one of their tricks again.
Kombi crews have one trick that they pull out of their bag each time that they see large numbers of people requiring transport. I have no idea where they got it from, but I consider it unfair. Maybe you have guessed right. Let me just say it.
They hike fares. They see many of you approaching a commuter omnibus and suddenly the fare goes up.
I do not really understand the logic, but they just do it and when one seeks an explanation, the response one gets is it is just the way things are.
The distance has not changed and the sitting plan is not altered in any way, but one just has to pay more money.
It could be that one is punished for travelling on a busy day.
Do they not know that we will be travelling for various reasons?
So there we were at the bus terminus and when the fare was announced, there were moans from all over the commuter omnibus.
The conductor that I know announced that the longer it took for the commuter omnibus to fill up could result in increased fares. Even those who had been upset had the energy to laugh.
He continued that if it started raining the fare would be increased again.
Then someone who seemed to have the interests of the passengers came and asked if anyone had a ticket.
The conductor said he was about to issue tickets. He asked people to start passing the money so that he could give them tickets in exchange. The conductor said that he would make it up to us after the holiday as they would revert to the real fares. They are a lot of dramatic people these commuter omnibus operators.
While waiting for the commuter omnibus to finish loading, I started to read something on my phone and in no time the commuter omnibus driver had come to his seat and we were preparing to leave the bus terminus. I sat at the front with a young man who had an earphone in one ear.
As the driver was settling down, he started to appear as if he was looking for something. The young man then carefully lifted a carrier bag that was in front of him. As he did that I picked an aroma and was sure that the carrier bag contained well prepared food.
If the food was not well prepared then the aroma misled me. The driver asked him why he was not eating. He would eat later he said, with the one that he loved that he was travelling to be with over the long weekend.
He would just ensure that the food would still be in a good condition by the tie he got to our destination. I just looked at him and smiled and to myself I said, love is in the air! The driver was careful and we reached our destination without any incident. Thanking him as I got off the commuter omnibus, to get to another that would take me home.
This time in the seat behind the driver, I sat next to an individual from a security company. I will not call him a security guard because I have no idea what he does at the security company. Just because he wore a security company`s uniform does not make it right for me to call him a guard. He had a little white bucket that had a lid.
As I jostled to sit comfortably as the third person joined us on the seat, he put his little bucket slightly out of my way so that I would not bump into it as I became comfortable. “Ambuya musandidhumire bucket rangu kani. Munondikanaganisira tea yemangwana.” (Mother in law please keep some space between my bucket and yourself. You just may disturb my tea/ breakfast plans for tomorrow.)
I thought the bucket had some milk and he did not want to have black tea by default. He told me later as we were paying our fares and I wanted the change that he had that the bucket had eggs that were meant for breakfast during the holiday.
Second man in less than two hours that I had sat with who was making sure that he was taking care of the ones he loved. When I got off the commuter omnibus and began the last lap of my journey on foot, I thought of a man who had approached me to find out more about vasectomy.
From me he just wanted information regarding the procedure and where he could have it done.
Without waiting for me to ask him questions, he told me that he had come to the conclusion that he would have the procedure done so that he was in total control of the `family fertility` such that his wife would never have to worry about contraception again.
His wife had experienced challenges with hormonal contraceptives and his opting to have the male permanent contraception done was the least that he could do.
When I told him that he would need to book for the procedure once he was certain that was what he wanted, he said that it was what he wanted and there was no need for me to think that he would change his mind.
He was prepared for the procedure and all the sessions such as counselling that he had to go through. Initially his wife had doubted him but she had seen his sincerity.
Yesterday was both Independence Day and Easter Friday or Good Friday. The two holidays that coincided speak a lot about sacrifice, willing to do something for others. Happy holidays!
Online Reporter