adminfriends? Why do you want me to be in church listening to one man when at the bar I get a chance to be heard? Seiko vakadzi muchiti mukadiwa moshusha?” women are now being told under the roofs they otherwise call home.
The unlucky ones are earning themselves a beating for daring to tell the beast to watch his step.
The situation that obtained in the early days of the month has changed.
During the first week of January people had no cash. Some were even too poor to pay attention.
Mari yakange yatama, kukundwa nedanda rinosiya mbare!
People had rentals and school fees to contend with.
Incessant rains made pumpkin leaves, wild vegetables like nyevhe – known substitutes for meat in hard times – grow in abundance.
The rains also made termites and flying ants (majuru neshwa) emerge, giving scores of broke people alternative relish, showing how merciful God is.
Women who sell peanut butter and chickens on credit, God bless them, made people put food on the table for their children and there is no guarantee whether they will be paid in the end.
With shorter arms and deeper pockets, people generally stayed at home in the first week of this month, giving them more time to bond with their spouses.
Some men, just to kill time, even afforded a chance to accompany their spouses to church and sing songs of adoration along with them when times were hard.
And this afforded women the rare chance to show off their culinary skills and ability to make do with the little that was available.
But with the cash that is now trickling in, men are no longer spending time with families.
The surge in musical shows at this time of the year shows people’s spending power has improved and musicians can glean something for the upkeep of their families.
But if you, on the other hand, count the number of men who will be dancing the night away at these gigs you get a rough idea of how many women have been left to be comforted by blankets and water bottles, plus the downstream effects thereof.
What men do at bars gives their spouses every reason to whine.
As I commit pen to paper, gentle reader, I met countless women railing at the misfortune of their husbands accessing cash before they could show them real love and perhaps make them loathe the wise waters.
“Ko inga hapana changu chokwadi? Ndaiti zvavakasauka kudai tingave vanamati tose, asi pishinu zvainda napamwe. It was better he had remained broke because at least he could have time with the children,” complained a vegetable vendor.
“Oh . . . cash has ruined my plans. We used to be so close when the January Disease was biting. Now that he has money he is now starting to ignore me. It was better had he remained penniless. Honai ndasara ndega, mukuwasha,” the woman said throwing her hands up in despair.
Gentle reader, the women’s concerns are not to be ignored. When times are hard, men usually assist with chores like cutting the hedge, watering the chickens, vegetables and repairing other gadgets around the home.
They are usually not difficult to feed when times are low since they will tuck into anything like matemba and vegetables without raising a stink.
Now that cash is being found here and there, the married woman’s problems have resurfaced.
Legendary musician Marshall Munhumumwe and the Four Brothers sang:
Zuro chisara zvako hatichadanana,
Zvakaipa zvangu chisara nazvo,
Zvakanaka zvangu ndinoenda nazvo,
Tachekaniswa ukama nezvitsva zvamangwana,
Ndave kushamwaridzana nanhasi namangwana,
Nekuti ndivo vanezvitsva izvo ndinofarira.
The song rings true of men who have forgotten the pains of running a family without cash associated with the month of January.
They are now back to their old ways, the very same ones that make them go broke to the extent of failing to buy even a cigarrette.
A walk into any bar today will show a different picture from that which obtained at the beginning of the year.
Married men with children to look after, school fees and rent to pay, are now moving arm-in-arm with people of loose morals at the expense of their families.
Some are now back to their destructive old ways of roasting large chunks of meat than they require and splashing cash on strangers just to show they have high spending power.
New Year resolutions are slowly being cast aside and you risk being assaulted for trying to show them the way.
“I understand your concerns perfectly, my brother, but who appointed you referee over my affairs? This is just the first month of the year and I have 11 other full months to cover up. Akambokuti ndiri bharanzi risingazive zvarinoita ndianiko?” you are told straight in the face.
According to the Chinese, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
And they were not wrong.
People have just started breaking their resolutions.
Promises of new school uniforms and shoes that were made to children during the rough patch have since been thrown out the window.
Marriage promises that were being made to women during the lean patch no longer have anyone to live up to. The women were used and have now been left in the lurch.
Even at workplaces, the situation is almost the same.
People are borrowing large sums of money from employers to buy cars and build houses, but the cash is being diverted elsewhere.
Gentle reader, some people live in hovels but give beer precedence over improving their lot.
People fail not because they cannot plan adequately but because they spend much of their time planning to fail.
When the chips were down, yours truly is told, some people walk about with their spouses viewing new furniture and some housing stands.
However, those plans lasted till the time they got paid and everything took a turn for the worse.
Gentle reader, we are slowly crawling out of the woods, but let’s mind not to break our resolutions.
Inotambika mughetto.
Online Reporter
dyton mupawaenda