Now, mental illness is no laughing matter. It is a state, I would say, that pits one against oneself and one against the world.<\/p>\n
What else can I say, considering what happened in Limbe\u2014 Blantyre City\u2019s commercial hub\u2014 some five weeks ago?<\/p>\n
Joe Gwaladi!!! Yes, I mean that proud owner of a bicycle and loud speaker he keeps in tow everywhere he goes. It is like the speakers watch over Gwaladi\u2019s bike!<\/p>\n
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Gwaladi ndi Gwaladi basi! <\/em><\/p>\n Now, this Friday in question, Gwaladi was in Limbe\u2014 the street that stretches from Pep Stores to Jupiter [Limbe Police] after crossing the main road that takes one to Limbe Bus Depot\u2014 shouting on top of his voice as he sold music stored in memory sticks and CDs.<\/p>\n \u201cKupeza nyimbo pano. Ma flash a 4 GB pa mtengo wa K500 yokha. Gwaladi uja ndi uno. Gulani nyimbo motchipa pano!\u201d <\/em>shouted Gwaladi.<\/p>\n Well, a multitude soon gathered around him. Gwaladi could play one song, his composition of course, and then slip into marketing mood again.<\/p>\n \u201cKupeza nyimbo pano. Ma flash a 4 GB pa mtengo wa K500 yokha. Gwaladi uja ndi uno. Gulani nyimbo motchipa pano! <\/em>[Buy songs at a giveaway price. For K500, you get a 4 GB flash loaded with songs]\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe he has a script.<\/p>\n Every now and then, Gwaladi could break into dance\u2014 the kind of dance reserved for the night.<\/p>\n I do not know the relationship between Malawians and waist wriggling. John Chilembwe, may his soul rest in peace, could not have tolerated it!<\/p>\n It\u2019s what I am thinking, after all.<\/p>\n Gwaladi attracted a number of customers, who splashed K500 notes on him\u2014 in exchange for a CD or 4 GB memory card loaded with songs. The buyers loaded Gwaladi with cash, in exchange for whatever song Gwaladi had loaded into the CD or memory stick.<\/p>\n Now, Gwaladi is a clever man. Whenever he gets cash, he does not throw it in an open basket or keep it where crafty minds could connive to take it away from him.<\/p>\n Maybe that\u2019s why he dons a pair of jean trousers. The cloth is strong. Nobody can drill a hole into Gwaladi\u2019s pockets. Do not ask me why he falls for blue pairs of jeans? I have seen him spotting blue ones at times!<\/p>\n Well, Gwaladi must have been dancing when a man, presumed to be mentally unsound, popped onto the scene. I have said, already, that a mentally disturbed man or woman may be forced into a situation that pits them against themselves and the world.<\/p>\n These are people who need our care because, I am not sure about this, they are encased by their own thoughts and live in their own world. In that state, they, surely, cannot view the world the way we do.<\/p>\n Gwaladi, who had been dancing, suddenly stopped. One man in the group was giving him a K500 note in exchange for a CD or flash disk [I have forgotten which one it was] loaded with music.<\/p>\n That is when the man, presumed to be mentally disturbed, snatched the K500 note from Gwaladi\u2019s right hand. Upon which Gwaladi started chasing the man.<\/p>\n \u201cWamisala amadziwa ndalama? Wadziwa bwanji kuti ndi ndalama? <\/em>[If you are mentally disturbed, how do you know that this is K500?]\u201d Gwaladi shouted while running after the man.<\/p>\n Gwaladi must have run for a distance of between 20 and 30 metres when someone, who happened to be in front of the presumably mentally disturbed man, tripped him (the mentally disturbed man).<\/p>\n You should have seen the relief on Gwaladi\u2019s face.<\/p>\n Gwaladi drew a fist, changed his mind, smiled, and started off for the spot he had left his bicycle and loud speaker!<\/p>\n Now, that is what I call relief.<\/p>\n And, mayi oh mayi<\/em>, that boy Gwaladi can run!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now, mental illness is no laughing matter. It is a state, I would say, that pits one against oneself and one against the world. What else can I say, considering what happened in Limbe\u2014 Blantyre City\u2019s commercial hub\u2014 some five weeks ago? Joe Gwaladi!!! Yes, I mean that proud owner of a bicycle and loud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42646","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\/42646","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=42646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42649,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42646\/revisions\/42649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}