Trotro Tragedies: I sat by a mad man and didn’t even notice

Trotro Tragedies is a Bra Perucci Africa series that seeks and tells the story of the adventurous Ghanaian who uses public transport each day. The good, the bad and the ugly. We tell it all.

This week, a 27-year old Ghanaian worker recounts his story of how he met and sat by a mad man and did not even realise.

Your experience is one that is a little confusing. Take us through what happened

Okay, so I’m not a person that picks Troskis often. Up until I entered University, I had never picked a Troski before. I used to be driven everywhere but when I entered the University in the second semester of Level 100, my dad told me to be picking Troskis from time to time since he would be pulling the driver he had assigned to me.

What do you think motivated his decision?

Honestly, I have no idea because it isn’t like we had a big fight and he decided to stop his driver from taking me where ever I needed to be taken to. I never thought it pertinent to learn how to drive and I’m ashamed to tell you I still don’t know how to drive. But essentially, I think he pulled his driver because there were times that he needed to be somewhere urgently but I would be doing my rounds with the driver.

That sounds fair. When did you start picking Troskis finally?

When I was in level 200. The first semester. In the previous semester, he had told me to start taking Troskis but i was sorta bummed so I picked Ubers everywhere.

That must have been expensive.

It really was. That what was motivated me to take a Troski for the first time. I was going to Legon Campus from Spintex. I didn’t have enough cash to take an Uber so I heard one of the conductors shouting Madina and I got in the car. There was no one in the front seats so that’s where I sat.

It didn’t take long for the car to start moving. At the next stop, a man open the front seat door and sat by me. I noticed the driver go silent then because we were conversing before the bus got to the next stop.

The man that sat by you was the mentally ill person?

Yeah. He was in his thirties. Looked respectable and was holding an old journal. He didn’t look like someone who was mentally ill at all. I admit he sort of had a pungent smell about him when he entered and sat by me but with Accra heat and sweat, I didn’t pay attention to it.

The car moved and he started reading his journal. I noticed it was from 2012 cause my phone was off and I was looking around for anything I found interesting enough.

Did he talk to you?

He did. We actually had one of the most entertaining conversations I have ever had with a stranger. He told me about how he has no job nor wife because of something that happened to him. I do not remember the whole story but it was about his wife disappearing with their kids and moving to live with another man.

He told me he looked for them everywhere but couldn’t find them so he gave up and now he roams the streets of Accra hoping he bumps into them somewhere.

That’s sad

Yeah very. He told me he would be getting down at the next junction so I paid for us both and when the car reached the junction he got off. As he was getting down he kept on muttering the name Georgina to himself so I thought that was the name of his wife.

I was gravely mistaken.

How so?

This is where it gets interesting. The minute he got down from the car the driver and the mate started laughing. I was confused so I asked what was up. The driver told me in Twi “Wo nim s3 akoa no wab)dam?”

I was still confused. How is he mad? He doesn’t look like it. It was then that I was told he was a scholar who got screwed over by his girlfriend, Georgina. The details were not available but basically what he does is go around picking Troskis and when he is not allowed to enter, he breaks the car glasses or causes some physical damage to the car. So now, wherever they see him, they pick him.

Impossible!

I thought same. They told me, he tells a different story to everyone he meets. The last time was he lost wife and kids to a flood. I felt bad that he was not getting the mental healthcare that he badly needed and had been left to roam the streets.

Has that experience affected you in any way?

Yes it has. Since that day, I sit in Troskis and keep to myself because you never know.