Sometimes it is good for people, regardless of status, to travel by way of public transport. I say so because this is one of the best forums to appreciate public opinion and sentiments.<\/p>\n
That is why I do not regret opting for this mode of travel on my journey to Nsanje. I am heading towards this \u2018warmest valley\u2019 in Malawi to visit a friend who has just been transferred there.<\/p>\n
This other lady, sandwiched by me and the driver on the front seat of the minibus, is reading a newspaper. Suddenly, she claps her hand and shakes her head in a manner associated with people shocked with sad news.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou men, you men, why?\u201d Azibambo ndinu ozerezeka basi <\/em>(you men are crazy)!\u201d she shouts at the top of her voice as the driver engages an overdrive gear to the already over-speeding minibus as it zigzags the winding terrains associated with the Blantyre \u2013 Nsanje Road after Milare Police Road Block.<\/p>\n \u201cI am reading this article in the newspaper. It indicates that a man in Ntchisi has been jailed for three years for caressing the bums and breasts of somebody\u2019s wife. Just imagine, the worse of it was that this lady was pregnant… and some man thinks the best thing to do is touch the sensitive parts that are usually exclusively reserved for the bonafide \u2018owner\u2019 \u2013 the husband!\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Almost all in the bus laughs and as expected some men start defending the Ntchisi \u2018saboteur\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cZinazi mumaziputa dala amayinu, mavalidwe <\/em>(sometimes it is the dressing of women that sparks lust in men). That Ntchisi guy was just appreciating nature and hence police, or whoever arrested him, had no business arresting him. Who knows, maybe they knew each other,\u201d one male passenger says.<\/p>\n But an old man quashed his sentiments. \u201cYou young men of today embarrass me. In the past, one would not do such a thing in public and without the consent of the woman. Actually both men and<\/p>\n women enjoy caressing in private; those things are done in the confines of a bedroom and not in public \u2013 we are not dogs!\u201d<\/p>\n That attracts even more laughter and more fire from the female passengers.<\/p>\n One woman says: \u201cMen who behave like that are cowards. For instance, why touch the body of a woman who belongs to another man? Such kind of men are those that rape women and children; they must all be put behind bars or castrated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAaaah, mayi mwaonjeza <\/em>(madam you are exaggerating things),\u201d says the conductor.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, she is not exaggerating but stating facts as they are. It is a shame that some of us, men, are afraid of proposing love to single ladies and prefer to propose or even unlawfully, and indeed indecently, assault some people\u2019s wives. This is an ulcer that is growing in our society and it is high time the authorities cut its root by, for instance, castrating those doing it, as proposed by this woman,\u201d remarks the old man.<\/p>\n Some young man on the back seat is, however, irked by the sentiments.<\/p>\n \u201cOld man, mind your language or else you will spark a campaign that would victimise innocent people. Do you know that some of these married women also prefer to date bachelors or even school boys?\u201d<\/p>\n But the old man does not give up. \u201cI cannot backtrack on this one; I strongly say those who date other people\u2019s wives are no different from those who rape or assault women \u2013 very dangerous men who deserve to be locked up elsewhere to avoid their \u2018marauding\u2019 behaviour towards innocent women. If you are man enough, why don\u2019t you propose single women or widows? If you are real men, why rape women or children and not find your own spouses to get the full satisfaction that goes with marriage?\u201d<\/p>\n The conductor interrupts the old man. \u201cOld man, what then, is your take of men who date prostitutes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYoung man, those people are more rotten that any form of rot. You men of today should learn to respect women, instead of soiling the reputation of men,\u201d says the old man over the noise of women who are ululating and clapping hands in the bus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes it is good for people, regardless of status, to travel by way of public transport. I say so because this is one of the best forums to appreciate public opinion and sentiments. That is why I do not regret opting for this mode of travel on my journey to Nsanje. I am heading towards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41711,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41706\/revisions\/41711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}