Ghetto Blast: The untold struggles of cyclists, miners

soul intact.
Arriving home and finding no food for you on the table should never goad you into demanding to know whether or not the woman whose hand you took in marriage is serious about living with you.
This is because being a cyclist or a mine worker is a life so full of gory incidents that make death and injury appear normal.
Getting injured, falling or even death is no news in the world of a cyclist.
It’s part of the game. Mafuta ebasa tinozora.
Mai mwana munodirei kudaro?
Kundirwadzisa kudaro?
Ndenge ndicharutsa chitaka ndakaringa choto,
Nguva dzese ndobva kubasa, ndichisvotwa nenzara,
Ipapo unengeuchigeza, pamoto pasina chiripo,
Kana woda kukanga, unonotenga mabhonzo
Kunze kwatosviba,
Anoibva riniko, ndakaringa choto? Sang the late Paul Mpofu and his trailblazing outfit Zambuko. True to the late bassist and jiti singer’s lyrics, there is no way to kill a man than let him go hungry even under the roof he calls home.
But women argue that if they cook for a mineworker or cyclist before his arrival, that food may be served to dogs if he is involved in an accident.
“Mushandi wemumugodhi kana anofamba nebhasikoro haasiirwe sadza,” you hear people saying.
And most girls and women would rather stay single than get married to a cyclist.
“Kuti ndashayei? Kana zvakadaro kuroorwa kwacho ngakugare. If ever you are married to a cyclist, you know that you can cry anytime because rufu rwuripedyo,” I heard women saying in Glen Norah last weekend.
They said if one’s husband uses a bike, they know fully well that they can never travel as a family.
“Hapana kumboti mukuwasha angatakura Ambuya vake because pabhasikoro hazviite,” the women purred, deriding a colleague who happens to be married to a Zesa meter reader who uses a bike during the course of his duties.
But who can blame people for thinking that way?
Each time a policeman on patrol draws near their homes, women married to cyclists, their mothers, relatives and children fear for the worst.
“Arikudei mupurisa uyo? What did he say? Is he not talking about David and his motorbike? Did he not tell you any bad news,” you hear women saying while buying tomatoes on street corners in the ghetto.
Others run away from people looking for their husbands for fear of having bad news delivered to them.
Each time you drive down the road and see an Organisation of African Unity (street lingo for people gathered at an accident scene) you know pretty well there is something the incident has to do with a cyclist.
“The car was speeding when a bus suddenly appeared. To avoid disaster, the good driver swerved to the other side to hit a cyclist and avoid maiming a lot of people,” you hear people saying as if a cyclist is not an authorised road user.
Motorists avoiding head-on collisions also end up hitting unsuspecting cyclists who will be observing traffic regulations to the maximum.
Gentle reader, the way cyclists are treated by other road users leaves a lot to be desired.
It’s as if there is an unwritten law somewhere that whoever is bloodthirsty should target a cyclist.
“Ipapo pakange paipa vakuru. Takazongoti regai tirove iye webhasikoro uyo kuti vafi nevanenge vakuvara vaite vashoma,” yours truly heard a person saying in an honourable court of law.
I almost hit him for the way he spoke of the cyclist as if he really has to die whenever calamity strikes. Kana uri webhasikoro, uri wetsaona mumugwagwa.
Most cyclists and mineworkers live today as if there is no tomorrow because to them death and injuries are trite and there appears to be a thin line between life and death.
But cyclists and mineworkers often give predators the weapons for their destruction.
Most of them drink themselves motherless, despite it being common knowledge that their mode of transport requires one to be always sober to make sound judgments. Even their conduct on the roads leaves a lot to be desired.
Whether it’s compensatory behaviour or some kind of mental problem, Ghetto Blast is yet to decipher, but most cyclists are foul mouthed.
Each time there is conflict on the road, they are quick to hurl obscenities or spoil for a fight.
Some cyclists think they can abuse other road users by overtaking from the wrong side of the road and forcing their way through closely parked clothes, and this has proved to be their major undoing.
Others just get on the road without their crash helmets on and this worsens the injuries they sustain in an accident.
Socially, cyclists are known for having a penchant to bed married woman hence the numerous occasions they have their cycles confiscated or punctured.
Mineworkers also think they should leave recklessly because their jobs are dangerous.
This is a group of people which in this day and age still prides itself in taking over a colleague’s wife.
Other negotiate for unprotected sex sessions with prostitutes hence their continued decimations in a world that demands for their services.
Inoitambika mughetto.