Silent No No
on The Ghana Experience (Ghana), 31/Jul/2010 17:17, 34 days ago
22-23 July 2010These are two of my encounters with people in the last two days whereI had to say no silently.Last Sunday when I was standing near the Lorry Station (Here a publictransport hub is called as Lorry station) of Bolga waiting for Rose, abulky man came near me and asked me whether I was Indian and startedtelling me a story how he had met an Indian who had given him a notewith currency note and blah blah blah. From his ragged clothes whichsurely had not been washed for many days and his way of speaking, itwas clear that this man had some mental problem. Fortunately I couldget away from him in a short time as Rose came.Yesterday I had gone to Bolga for accessing internet and searchinginformation relating to my assignment. I wanted to start for Bongo asearly as possible because all the public transport to Bongo just endsby 5:00 pm. It started raining heavily and I had to wait under oneshade till the rain recede. That meant I was most likely to miss thelast shared taxi going to Bongo. Heavy drizzle receded at about 5:00and I walked to the Lorry Station. While I was searching for theshared taxis, this man caught me again and started asking me where Iwanted to go. As I was desperately searching for taxi to Bongo, I justtold him so. He took me to the correct location and fortunately I gotthe last Tro Tro going to Bongo. Now Tro Tro is the name for a smallmini bus or jeep like passenger carrier going to various places.Generally Tro Tros do not serve Bongo route but this was a speciallyarranged (on public demand) one as the taxis could not go to Bongo dueto roads which become muddy and unsafe for small taxis. This manopened the door of the drivers compartment and told me to sit there.I just sat. Then again he started to tell me the stories of how heworks hard and gets very little money. Then he asked me if he couldgive me a cigarette to smoke. When I told him that I don't smoke, hestarted the story of Rupee note again and whether I could exchange itwith him. When I told that I don't have any use of that note, hestarted asking me at least if I could give him a one. I said I shallgive him that next time. After realising that I am not giving in tohis indirect pleas for giving something to him, he left from the spot.(In Ghana they call a place where they serve drinks and sometimes foodas'spot', but I am not using the word in that sense here of course.On one more side note, liqour is openly sold and consumed here buttill date I have never seen a drunken person who is disturbing othersor ill behaving at public locations.) Even though he had helped me andI had an urge to give him something, I did not give him anything. Why?I shall be passing via Bolga Lorry Station at least two times a day,once a week, 52 weeks a year. That means I shall be making 104 visitsto Lorry Station and the probability of this man catching me is atleast 50% as he is always hanging around the place. Can you imaginepoor me giving in to his pleas and repeatedly hearing his storymeeting an Indian man for 52 times?Here is another encounter, though small, but again making me say no byremaining silent. Today in the morning a lady came in the office andstarted speaking with my boss. She was very loud and vocal and waswearing fashionable clothes and ornaments. My boss went outside forsome work and she kept on sitting on the sofa. She asked me what I wasdoing there in the office. I tried to explain her about pro poorprogrammes and their designs and management etc. She told me that shewas poor and needed a loan badly for the modernisation of herrestaurant and further told me to give her a loan. I had to suppressmy laugh and explained her how helpless I was in doing so. After awhile I asked her if she uses Shea Butter. Now Shea Butter is anindigenous product of Northern Ghana and is one of the intervention onwhich I shall be working. Shea Butter is used as cosmetic and food.She started explaining me how she uses it by adding some herbs to thebutter and applying it daily to the skin. She repeatedly showed herpalms and arms and how smooth they were and how nicely they smell. Shefurther wanted me to go near her and smell her hand. I could perceivethat it was all done innocently with the natural boldness in her but Ihad my own limits. This was all happening when actually I meant to askher how she uses Shea Butter as a food ingredient. I had to remainsilent and just let the subject end itself.