Glimpse of life part 4

Drawings by zerihun seyoum

I sometimes think that Ethiopia is the only place in the world, where people just start  conversations in public places, where all passengers in a taxi or bus talk on a certain subject, where anyone can ask for direction without feeling weird, where people who met in taxis (the minibuses) sometimes end up being good friends or dating...so forth! 

For instance let me give you two examples from yesterday and today and what happened in the taxis I took in similar times, going back home;

Yesterday-  a famous song was playing in the taxi by Tilahun Gessesse, 'japanwan wedejae' by a young girl who was a finalist on Idle show, last year. So this young girl is singing the song by Tilahun, a male singer about how a man fall in love with a Japanese woman. There is no change done to the lyrics to fit to a girl singer. I didn't actually notice this till two guys from the back seat laughed out loud saying, 'she is saying, she is in love with a Japanese girl. .how funny.' Then a woman who sounds so irritated by the guys start defending the girl, 'it is not funny, she has a good voice, which is what matters, and she is a young girl how can you laugh?' The guys kept explaining how funny it sounds, and that it is not actually the young singer's fault but the producers choice of music that was wrong...' The woman also kept explaining what a nice voice the girl has...' They kept arguing, they were loud enough for everyone to hear. The woman was so defensive and didn't actually listen to what the guys were saying to the point I feel that the singer could be her little sister. Some passengers gave their comments too...the argument continues till they all get off the taxi and go their own ways. 

Today- it was a bit late. The taxi was full. It was quite normal environment till the last guy entered. The weyala (the guy who calls out where the taxi is going and collects money from passengers) was telling every passenger that, 'the price is 5 birr.' The normal price is 3:00 birr but it is common to pay 5 Birr when it is late. So everyone agreed except this guy who entered last. I call him the deviant. 'No!! The price is 3:00 birr I am only paying 3:00.' The 'weyala' told him to get off the taxi if he doesn't agree, he however refused and kept arguing, then they start insulting each other... Everyone starts to give his/ her comment on the matter… the guy said 'everyone can get off the taxi, ' አራግፍ ከፈለክ!, am not paying!!'

The temperamental man:- Through all this there was this guy in the third row. He got so upset all of the sudden and got up to fight with the guy who said he will not be paying 5:00 Birr. Imagine, he is just a passenger willing to fight and he is shorter, younger...

The peace maker:- I wonder what our world would be like if not for these kind of people. He is a tall guy, doesn't speak loud, and doesn't say much but say what matters. Every time the temperamental guy got up to fight he said something softly to him and made him sit back. He just kept gesturing with his hands to let the tempered guy sit back and calm down. 

Then the deviant takes out 3:00 Birr from his pocket and said, ‘this is all I have got and this is all I am paying!'

Everyone then murmured ' why didn't you say that at first, it is okay if you don't have money.'

Then we started going but the deviant didn't stop complaining about the 5 birr, and how the ‘weyala’ disrespected him.

The Gurage lady- I was sitting at the back and this woman sat beside me, she looks older than all of us, she wore a scarf and 'diriya.' She has the typical Gurage accent and she is loud. So keep imagining the accent when I tell you what she was saying. 

When the deviant said 3 birr is all he got, she said,'አሃ!! እኔም 3 ብር ነው ያለኝ! እስገባኝ የለኝም አልኩ ለወያላ!  አስገባኝ!  ለምን አንተ ትበጠብጣለህ! ,' I also have only 3 Birr, I told the ‘Weyala’ that is all I have got, he said okay...'

The solution girls:- there were two young girls in the third row.  I call them the solution girls because they offered to pay for the deviant guy. But that turned out to annoy him more. He said, ' I have kids to feed, I carry cement all day to meet my needs. I work hard to earn money, and you all argue I should pay, comparing me with yourself. I can't! You can! And you a 13 year old girl (she could actually be 25) who are you to offer to pay for me? 'I really thought what he was saying makes sense!

He just keeps complaining though, then he asked the ‘weyala’ to turn the light on, he tries it himself and saw it doesn't work. He said, 'their light doesn't work, their car doesn't work, their mind doesn't work!'

I started to realize that he was actually drunk! 

Then the driver, who was murmuring the whole time pulled the car aside, said 'he is disturbing me! I can't drive!!' He jumps out of the car so angry and come to pull the guy out of the car. 

Here acts the peace maker, he jumps of the car, put his huge arm over the drivers shoulder, whispered something in his ears, walks him back to his driver’s seat, got back to his seat and we started moving again. 

The cheer leader: cheer leaders are never part of the game but they give energy to the players to keep playing; either positive or negative energy. The cheer leader of all this sat on my left side. He doesn't have a stand; he is a kind of guy who speaks anything that comes to his mind. At first he was speaking out loud that the guy should be dragged out of the taxi. He keeps commenting irrelevant things the whole time. He even got so evil, at one point when he said, this guy should be slaughtered, he is stupid....'The gurage woman responded, ' አረ በልደታ አንተ ምን ነው ምታወራ!

Problem avoider: that would be me. I just can't stand all this, I hear myself complaining out loud, ' ok let's go now, will you all be quiet everything is settled now, አንተም ተው አንቺም ተይ በቃ አሁን እኮ ተስማምተዋል…ና ሂሳብህን ውሰድ እስቲ.’.trying to change the subject. Then the gurage woman turns to me and said 'ተይ አንቺ ደሞ ዝም በይ አትበይን! Stop it! dont tell me to shut up' Oops I didn't expect that. I told her it is because I didn't understand the relevance of arguing with a drunken guy. 

She later says, - ታቂያለሽ እንዲህ የሚያረገው አጋንንት ነው Then she whispers this to another girl, ...አጋንንት ነው.'  (It is the devil making him act this way). Then I looked at the cd in her hands, it was orthodox spiritual song. 

The deviant guy still complains.

The gurage woman all of the sudden shouts out loud saying 'እኔ ፍርድ እሰጣለሁ ይክፈል!! 'I give judgment he should pay!' Everyone laughs out loud...the guy already paid 3:00 Birr and we were moving peacefully, and then she brings this up? She then said, 'አንተ እሰራለሁ ነጋዴ ነኝ አላልክ ለምን አትከፍልም;...' Didn't you say you work, that you are a business man, why dont you pay?' I tried to think back, he only said he carries cement.  

A couple of people got off the taxi.

The gurage woman said, 'በሩ ጋር ጫፍ ጋር አውርደኝ አዚህ ካወረድከኝ ዱርዪዎች ይደበድቡኛል' (drop me off over there, I will be beaten up by thieves here!') Everyone laughs out loud again, the way she said it made it seem like there are actually some guys waiting for her to beat the hell out of her at that specific spot. She laughs with us saying, 'you all are laughing at me.' 

The deviant turns to the passengers and starts apologizing for his actions. Everyone is quite now. He specifically asks apology from the solution girls. The loud taxi is now filled with silence. He said he should be dropping off here but will go to the end with us till he gets forgiveness from us. The taxi stops. This was where he needs to get off. He got up still waiting for our response, he again said 'don’t you all accept my apology, I am sorry.’ Everyone was quite so I said, 'We accept! Have a good night!' He walks away waving his hands high. 

At the last stop, the driver said, I would have not act that way, if I knew he is drunk.'

What a glimpse of life!