Heart on top- An intriguing trotro palaver

08:27:00 Unknown 6 Comments

If you live in the capital and cannot afford your own car, or the "ecomini" does not allow you to pick a taxi (dropping) to your destination, then be prepared to stand in an elongated queue, struggling for a commercial bus (trotro) or fighting with the conductor (mate) for taking too much of your money. Such is city life!

On my way home from Osu last Saturday afternoon, I didn't have to go through any of this "wahala" though I have no private car. Let's say I wanted to dodge the sun from lashing me with its hot rays so I made a plan. From the GBC bus stop where I stood, I waited patiently for a straight bus to the Kaneshie market so I could pick another straight home to Awoshie. That way, I wouldn't have to walk the usual 500 meters before getting home.

Believe me, I've had my own trotro encounters at a number of lorry parks but this is not to be compared to my earlier posts- Curse under the bridge or Thursday the 13th which happened at the Kaneshie and Kasoa lorry stations respectively. This is something different; hilarious, interesting and intriguing. Lay back and read on!

Upon reaching the Kaneshie market, I head straight to the A-Lang station where a driver yells and directs passengers to his bus. The rickety nature of this trotro gets me wondering. But to say I’m not used to such askew buses driving to my neighborhood is a total lie. “Ah! But why is this old driver loading the bus all by himself? Where is the mate?” I murmur as I entered steadily.

“A-Lang, last one!” he calls out to a lady approaching to board the bus. Apparently, there is no mate so she sits in his seat.

As we move out of the market, the driver pleads with her to collect our fares and she did. On reaching "First light" (few meters from Kaneshie market) to join the traffic jam, suddenly the door of the trotro begins to slide down- the driver has to do something quickly to fix it before the traffic starts moving. Too late, the green light is on and we have to move.

All this while, our acting mate supports the door with her arm, waiting for the driver to find a safe place to park and fix it. After some minutes of struggle , he eventually adjusts the door and sets off to continue the voyage.

At this moment, I'm keeping my cool; smiling and sucking on a yogurt ice cream thinking this is going to be one interesting ride. Do I have any option? Yes! Get out and pick another bus. No! If I alight, I won't get another bus to take me straight home so let's all endure it and pray. I'm not the only one in this situation after all. Although some of these passengers have an "are-we-there-yet?" look on their faces, they are all reluctant to get down.

Oops! the door goes down again just as we join the Odorkor highway. Already, our lady mate is looking quite tired by the huge task given her. Her arms can no longer support the door. She had waited for a bus to take her home but surely didn't bargain for an internship to be a bus conductor on this rickety trotro.

Oh my God! Her arms won't let her and she's about to let go of the door on the highway. Suddenly, a man in the front seat, next to the driver stretches out his hand backwards to support the door, hoping the driver will get to the nearest available bus stop to fix this mess for the second time. Don't over speed but he is.

He overtakes several cars, accelerating with a very irritating engine noise. Our "savior" holds on while we do the complaining. "Better slow down before the worse happens" the passengers caution him as if they aren't fed up with the ride already. If a police officer stops us now, I’m sure the best explanation would be “oh, the problem started just this afternoon and I was about to go see my mechanic.” But you and i know that's just a white lie that will in fact, only cost 1GHCedi or is it now 5GHCedi?.

Eventually, the bus gets to Barn yard (a bus stop en route Awoshie, just along the Mallam-Lapaz H1N1 highway) and makes a stop to drop some of the passengers- those who are lucky to make it safely to their destination. The grey-haired driver immediately takes advantage of the moment and quickly gets off to fix the door once and for all but this time it would not budge.

No wonder. I think the door is fed up with all the "nonsense" and it needed to see a mechanic. So what happens now that this door has given up on us? Should we remove it and place it on top of the car and drive on?

Yes, this is exactly what we are going to do. Surprised? You ain't seen nothing yet.

With our lady mate back on duty after guy-in-the-front had alighted, the driver carefully carries the gate and places it cautiously on top of the car without securing it. "Like seriously? This is how we are going to continue the journey? Mbano!" my mind speaks to me but the body was bent on riding in this moving coffin to the last- hopefully, to see what is going to happen. Meanwhile, if you still don’t have any reason why this country is still battling with the increasing number of road accidents, then you just got one.

Now our bus is "doorless." Those at the front row have to sit with care to avoid any "by force landing" on the street. Driving from Barn Yard to A-Lang is approximately 10 minutes but the ongoing road construction is making it quite uneasy to drive on. So think about this. If correct cars are driving slowly and steadily, what will our own “abongo” car do? That's right! So we crawled.

So here we were; from the then "racing car" to a now "tortoise-like creature". You should see me in it. Hilarious but frightening. “What if the door drops from the bus to hit a pedestrian? Will you just say sorry or you will drop us down to rush the victim to the hospital?” I ask the driver who all along hasn't uttered a word.

Considering his grey hair and posture, he should be thrice a score. Perhaps, reason why some of the passengers didn't give him hell- they respect him. En route, some pedestrians greeted us with wonder and disgust. They laughed and pointed fingers at us as we rode steadily along the street. “Look at that bus without a door," one boy said. "But where is it?" another exclaimed. "Oh! On top of the bus…hahaha.”

Now we are gearing up to make the last turn at Abrantie (the junction leading to A-Lang) and we must muster courage. Today be today- asem b3ba dabi. I now hold on to my seat firmly and shake my head to every squeak from the door at the top. Meanwhile, I can't resist watching the driver slowly and skillfully taking the curve carefully to keep the door from falling. At this point, i trust he is summoning all his "krachi powers"- in fact, every little trick he had learnt since his days of being a spare driver to the driver himself and now a car owner, perhaps. All his driving skills comes into being; turning the steering wheel with some sort of experience, he finally makes it!

Onlookers watch in complete awe, as if to clap, as the doorless bus finally maneuvers its way unto the other side of the road. You can call him a veteran but wait till we get to the final destination. Even on this fine and tarred road leading to my hood (yea, it's a mini estate, lol) this driver keeps a slow pace on the shoulders of the road to give way for better cars. He dare not speed up since he has our hearts on top of the bus, literally. We've come too far to allow anything to go wrong. In a few minutes this nightmare will be over.

Actually, it is over!

But wait! Let me get my camera and share this with you. Picture no lie abi? Interestingly, you will realize that there are some new passengers trying to get on board. Any message for them?

Well, if you are reading this now then trust me, miracles do happen. I am finally home and before writing this, I gulp down some cold water. Charlie, Girls abr3!

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