I am dead certain you have all heard about the tortoise and the hare (or is it rabbit and turtle). Well, today’s story is somewhat similar though not identical. Consider it a modern age version of the epic fable. It goes a little something like this……. Long ago in the far away land of Chigumula lived a motorbike and a VX. By its nature, the motorbike was noisy and agile as it criss-crossed through traffic jams of Limbe. Day in, day out, its rider got to work earlier than the owner of the VX. Of course, there were other factors that contributed to the disparity in arrival times. For instance, the owner of the VX was the CEO and we all know about them CEOs and morning punctuality. On the contrary, the motorbike was messenger owned and it was within the messenger’s job description to open the office every morning. Oblivious of this, the motorbike thought he was superior to the VX because he “beat him to work” every day. With all pomposity he teased and taunted the VX 24/7. He called the VX all sorts of names: slow coach, slowpoke, hippo, elephant etc. Fed up with all this goading the VX challenged the motorbike to a race from Chigumula to Lilongwe. “Bring it on” said the motorbike in his loud, arrogant voice. Eighteen other cars were invited to participate. Among them were a Mercedes Benz, a BMW and a battered Toyota Stout which virtually according to rumour “owned” the races 30 years prior. The day of the race was a Saturday and as soon as the checkered flag was waved, Motorbike was quick off the mark. He weaved through the traffic jam and he was in and out of Limbe in a flash. Meanwhile, VX was having it tough. He struggled to ease through Limbe and he breathed a sigh of relief when he reached Yiankakis. “I will teach this boy a lesson”, he said to himself as he stepped on the gas. He couldn’t have made a bigger mistake because as soon as he started descending past the UDF office, a traffic policeman waved him down. As fate would have it, he was given a ticket for speeding. VX cursed his luck but moved on. All the while motorbike was hurtling forward, blurting out an annoying noise for all and sundry to hear. For all he knew, he was 14Km clear of the VX and heading for victory. So obsessed was he with victory over VX that he failed to notice the Mercedes Benz and BMW which smoothly eased past him. Toyota Stout who also had a good start started to overheat (Chichewa chake inachita boil) and fell off the pace. VX suffered a few more setbacks in the CBD and Mbayani/Chemusa area but as soon as he passed Kameza round about, he meant business. Had it not been for the several health stoppages and speed guns along the way, VX would probably have reached Lilongwe before the motorbike even made it to Ntcheu. Unfortunately for him, the Mercedes Benz and BMW were too classy to be caught once they hit the front. Exhausted and ragged, the motorbike approached Bunda roadblock. As he did so, he turned around just so that he could ascertain his victory over VX. At that point he saw VX surging past him and there was nothing he could do about it. VX was in full stride as he glided past motorbike with unfathomable ease. BMW and Mercedes finished first and second while VX was third. It was disappointing for someone of his caliber but he had at least silenced the raucous motorbike. As for the aged Toyota Stout, there is need for reinvention because cars are getting more and more sophisticated by the day. Moral of the story: 1. Kuthamanga sikufika 2. All competitors are potential winners. If you keep your eyes on the VX you may end up losing track of the Mercedes Benz and the BMW 3. A VX will always be more classy than a motorbike with a head-start 4. Everyone hates noise even if you are leading a race
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:26:43 +0000