- Luckily, none of us got hurt and soon the police came to intervene.
- The bus had barely got any damage but unfortunately for our car, the whole right side had a massive dent.
Image: BEN NDONGA
Recently, I received news of the passing of a young creative who died in a road accident. This led me to remember one I was involved in myself.
It was in the wee hours of the morning along Maai Mahiu, where we were making our way to Hell's Gate for the WRC race of that day. I was in the company of three friends and somewhere along the way I fell asleep, only to be awoken by the car hitting a huge "bump".
Apparently, it wasn't a bump as I had thought while awakening from my sleep but a bus heading to Nyamira that had hit us from the back, specifically on the right side, where I was seated. The car spun a little and halted at a ditch. Part of it to the driver's side was inside the ditch.
Before we knew it, a huge crowd of people had surrounded the car. Luckily, our first instinct was to lock all the doors and windows cause such scenarios are where thieves thrive.
The people tried to knock and bang, waiting for us to budge and open for them but their efforts were futile. Some even came with bananas and vegetables, water, biscuits, etc, and attempted to sell them to us. They were like, "Si mfungue hata dirisha kidogo tuwauzie".
Proving something that I always tell myself, that every situation you can think of can still be monetised. In the rainy season, that's where the umbrella man gets his most sales, in the sunny season, that's where the cold refreshments vendors get their most sales.
In the flu season, in a matatu, a random person in the middle of traffic will "dandia" it, clear his voice and say something like, "Leo, my brother and sister, nimewaletea cough drops. Hii inamaliza homa katika huu msimu wa baridi, 3 ni 10, number ya M-pesa ni 07......,"
Anyway, back to what I was saying—the accident. Luckily, none of us got hurt and soon the police came to intervene. The bus had barely got any damage but unfortunately for our car, the whole right side had a massive dent. Both parties had to go to the police station to file a report and obtain an abstract.
Live at Maai-Mahiu police station we were on a Sunday morning. The passengers on the Nyamira bus looked very agitated. They seemed like they were going to a function because they were all dressed in their Sunday best.
Our phones were low on battery, and we had to charge them at the reporting desks. Of course, there was that scenario of overthinking and facing the fact that we might spend the night in a police cell, ha-ha, but that was close to impossible in the current circumstances.
Time went by and after the necessary calls, everything was sorted. However, the corrupt police didn’t let us go easily, we still had to part with some money.
Aside from the dent, the car was still in full operation, and we drove back to Nairobi. Not to sound superstitious, but the angel of death may have been onto me because that was the same day that my grandfather took his last breath.