•Monday, June 12, 2006
the matatu culture in kenya is one of the most unique forms of 'pop cultures' in its own right you can ever experience. last friday, i was made to reflect on the matatus by a small incident that happened at the global cinema roundabout, which has now being converted into a matatu terminus for most of the thika road routes.
three minibuses were jostling for space in a bid to get passengers first. the one i was in christened 'genge maniac' was reversing in order to depart since it was full and the other two were fighting for the now empty strategic space. such shoving requires good skills by the drivers as there is hardly any space to move. it was at this time that one of the empty matatus - chonga viazi - on reversing rammed onto genge maniac. no serious dent, but the driver of chonga viazi kept on reversing oblivious of the damage he was causing and in total disregard of the many side bangings by his touts. genge maniac driver just switched off the engine and waited for chonga viazi driver to finish his slamming business.
genge maniac driver showed no signs of anger, neither did he talk nor shout during the whole saga. he just got out and inspected the dent on his matatu. he then picked a rock and went towards chonga viazi. everyone expected fireworks and a fight to break out as genge maniac driver assumedly went for chonga viazi driver's jugular. no, he did not, instead he went and hit hard the front passenger side door of chonga viazi causing a more serious dent than the one in genge maniac. an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth as the legendary moses directed. or is it the law of the jungle? he then went back to genge maniac and drove off, content with his vengeance
i marvel at the logic and reasoning patterns of the matatu crew. i enjoy watching them and self-studying them. whilst a student in one of the city colleges some years back i got banned from a certain eastlands route where i resided. reason being that, during one evening rush hour, i made other passengers not to board another rickety matatu that took advantage of us during this time coz we had to queue and had no choice of selecting which matatu to board. you had to use the one at the front or the one available after queueing for more than an hour. the fact that it consistently broke down at the city stadium and you had to scramble for other matatus there notwithstanding.
three minibuses were jostling for space in a bid to get passengers first. the one i was in christened 'genge maniac' was reversing in order to depart since it was full and the other two were fighting for the now empty strategic space. such shoving requires good skills by the drivers as there is hardly any space to move. it was at this time that one of the empty matatus - chonga viazi - on reversing rammed onto genge maniac. no serious dent, but the driver of chonga viazi kept on reversing oblivious of the damage he was causing and in total disregard of the many side bangings by his touts. genge maniac driver just switched off the engine and waited for chonga viazi driver to finish his slamming business.
genge maniac driver showed no signs of anger, neither did he talk nor shout during the whole saga. he just got out and inspected the dent on his matatu. he then picked a rock and went towards chonga viazi. everyone expected fireworks and a fight to break out as genge maniac driver assumedly went for chonga viazi driver's jugular. no, he did not, instead he went and hit hard the front passenger side door of chonga viazi causing a more serious dent than the one in genge maniac. an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth as the legendary moses directed. or is it the law of the jungle? he then went back to genge maniac and drove off, content with his vengeance
i marvel at the logic and reasoning patterns of the matatu crew. i enjoy watching them and self-studying them. whilst a student in one of the city colleges some years back i got banned from a certain eastlands route where i resided. reason being that, during one evening rush hour, i made other passengers not to board another rickety matatu that took advantage of us during this time coz we had to queue and had no choice of selecting which matatu to board. you had to use the one at the front or the one available after queueing for more than an hour. the fact that it consistently broke down at the city stadium and you had to scramble for other matatus there notwithstanding.
not that i had the prowess to convince anyone not to board, i was just fed up with its breaking down since i had used it severally and the other tired queue partners took cue and refused to board. one kamjesh guy took it personally and banned me from using the matatus during the evening rush hour. i was thoroughly abused and told to go buy my own ride, and i promptly retorted that i was going right there and then to marshalls showroom for a peugeot 405 as i embarassingly walked away. kamjesh was the alter ego of mungiki and were as vicious as the mungikis. both gangs controlled most matatu routes and oftenly crashed in a battle for control of eastlands matatu termini. they died down with the matatu reform programme by one michuki, famous for rattling snakes statements. but they are now back and this time they mean business
i thought he was joking till i turned up the next evening. he was religiously there to enforce the edict. for the rest of the time i lived in eastlands, i had to rely on the train during the evening rush hour and walk the rest of the distance home. the train ride turned up to be much more convenient and cheaper except for the scrum, overcrowding, pickpocketing and the evening worship service complete with sadaka and testimonies in some cabins. well, that last part was not so bad. but if i got late and missed the seats or the javelins inside (i.e. standing on the passage and holding onto the rails on the roof for the rest of the journey) i had to do with hanging dangerously outside and be macho for the rest of the journey.
another incident happened at the junction of ronald ngala and tom mboya. i had boarded a number 15 matatu for langata. there is usually a lot of human traffic around that junction and very impatient matatu drivers. the driver of the matatu was angling for some space at the edge of the road pushing most of the pedestrians out of the road. he was so impatient that he had no time to honk for a man who was walking leisurely on the edge of the road. the driver said that the guy was proud and the next thing i saw was the man struggling to find his balance as he had already being pushed out of the road by the matatu driver using the side of the matatu. of course, the driver did not stop to stomach the hurl of abuses from agitated pedestrians. he was busy deying a stop order by a traffic policeman for 'jumping' the lights.
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6 comments:
ai those jinaz! chonga viazi...i heard the song recently and cld help but laugh.
lol great stories. enjoyed them thoroughly especially the one on being banned!
Great storo!Matatu vituko never failed to make my day!I recall when the traffic cops were running the cabal of tow trucks that they owned and would use them to tow away matatus.Touts and drivers of our route got sick of it and beat up one of the drivers.So for the rest of the day they shunned the terminus and dropped us off at the Railways roundabout instead!
Nice and I see the daily matatu show still goes on in NBO.
farmgal, mats are famous for being named after the latest craze in town. i do believe kenyan musicians are creative, most of them that is. the latest are 'nasinzia nikikuwaza' by nameless and 'mapenzi ni kipofu' by circute.
kabinti, lol, i thought the guy was joking or will forget but wapi!
acolyte, with matatus you are ready for anything. those tow trucks do still exist. i wonder whether its a by-law that one's car has to be towed whenever it has to be taken to a police station. even when it hasn't broken down? but those cops have to look for business, since they own the trucks.
irena, drama kiasi bado iko. thanks
Just thought I would post a comment. I just got back to the US from Nairobi and was looking for the lyrics for the Nameless song and searched on "Nasinzia nikikuwaza" and found your page. Hahaha. Anyway, great matatu story -- and so true! I have a journal also from my time in Kenya at www.livejournal.com/users/tiffkenya just to be fair, since I found yours. Enjoy!
~~Tiffany