THIS ECONOMY IS BRINGING OUT THE BEAST IN NIGERIANS!
Not used to using Lagbus and BRT buses, I nearly passed out in one! As the last passenger to get on board, I had the singular misfortune of using the seat just behind the rail guarding the steps leading to the rear door.
As soon as I sat down, the fellow behind me roughly told me to sit upright and desist from reclining on the backrest for "the tin don break o!"
No sooner had I assumed this awkward and erect sitting posture than a young man ignored the empty alley running through the length of the bus to come lean on the rail just in my front....thus impeding airflow. And lack of air stimulates attacks of travel sickness...for sufferers like me!
My pleas that he shifted position were fully ignored. Being a chronic sufferer of travel sickness, I became nauseous and started sweating profusely! The man sitting next to me did not budge. My sweating and obvious discomfort as I shifted weight from one buttock to the next did not elicit any compassion from him! He seemed like a man determined to mind his own business...until impending vomiting compelled me to notify the unyielding youth about the risk he stood of being splashed with vomitus! The young man briskly responded by skipping away from the rail to secure a spot in the alley.I thought I had a final respite until a fat woman came to "replace" the youth....effectively blocking "all" air! She too ignored my initial plea to shift base until I resorted to the vomitus "strategy" to make her move! As soon as she moved away, the unfeeling guy on the next seat suddenly found his voice....and admonished me to "stop ordering people about since the bus was not my sitting room"!
I was flabbergasted! How can this man pretend not to notice my severe discomfort and now talk as if I deliberately chose to order people around in public? By the way, who appointed him as a judge?
Rather than get angry, I kept my cool, waited for a while for the ambient "heat" to dissipate. I then proceeded to explain to him that I usually don't complain on public buses, that my travel sickness compelled me to complain, that I wouldn't have talked about vomiting had the persons yielded to my initial pleas, but the man just shut me up!
Shortly thereafter, he proceeded to rain abuses on me. The other fellows as if on cue, soon joined in...
I had never witnessed such display of cruelty and total disregard for the plight of a fellow man!
I also recall outpatients who used to insult me as I bore accident victims in my arms, my clinical coat soaked in blood....for attending to patients who came "after" them!
Then, I remembered the state of the nation, drawing consolation from the fact that our harsh economy can easily lead people to be insane...
Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitoner and public affairs analyst.