Where logic doesn't apply

Logic...a basic human requirement.Its just like common sense which is not so common anyway(cliche I know)..where I call home currently, the entire concept of logic ceases to exist and the human race is governed or driven by needs and wants I can best describe(subtly of course) using words like greed, ignorance, hunger, cunning and others of the same family.....on the other extreme, cannibal would be a good word to describe these behaviors.

For the millions o African citizens who depend on the ever so glorius public transport for thei movement, lack of reason is not a stranger. In African states, the fare for tranport is more or less not fixed. It may have a range, which is often between two very extreme values which qualifies to be counted as not fixed though they insist the rates are. Anyways, the paradox first hit me when on one hot afternoon(all afternoons are actually equally hot here) I had to go for get my regular rice and meat at a small shack about 500 metres from my dungeon of labor. On this particular day, I decided to treat myself to public transport fearing the sweating and drowsiness that would result from the sun. Normally I'd pay 250 Tshs from home to work(abt 6 km away) and typically I thought I'd pay 100 for the 500m I would ride the bus.

When the conductor approached me, I ever so confidently fished out of my pocket a shiny 100 Tshs coin.(I had just been paid-why else would I choose to ride the bus today?) he grabbed the coin and proceeded to shake the millions of coins in his hand making a sound that was familiar to any regular bus rider "Need more money!Need more money!Need more money!"-now imagine coins making a sound to those words.I looked at him feeling rather embarrassed and surprised,but mostly the former. What now?He demanded full fare...full fare!!250Tshs for 500m?! Then as usual being the smart ass I am, I tried to reason with him and apply some logic."I am riding only 500m. How can I pay the same fare as the person who has come all the way from the city centre which is about 20km away?" Typically the conductor wasn't listenong and after my emotional breakdown he still shook the coins."Need more money!Need more money!Need more money!"
Being the economist I was, I had already budgeted my fare and luch and had carried along exact money.I I added some more money, that would mean a forfeit of rice and meat, something I wasn't about to settle for. I decided to play cool and reason further-by this time I had gone way past my stop and was now heading towards the final bus stop.-I hadn't noticed this.When am reasoning I like to think that time stands still so am oblivious to time.

Anyways, after the long dialogue with the conductor, he did let me get off without adding more money but since I got off at the wrong stop, I had to ride another bus back to work and this would cost me!I ended up not having my rice and beef until later after work which didn't have quite an effect on me as it would at lunch time.

Now that I come to think of it, I also lost contact with logic at some point.I should have given him the money and walked back to the office for more but noooo I just had to argue for 6km. I'm tempted to draw another picture but I fear that in these instances I may also have been a victim of the "no logic between his/her ears" syndrome....

Have a logical time,won't you!!