excerpt from THE STRANGE

A big bus is a fish swimming on the tarmac ocean. Some are more wild than others and all along Latema road. They speak through trilling of horns. Bleating to each other the latest news, accidents, and such. It was once thought the driver controls the bus but upon later discovery, right after the contagious yeast infection of the pangani twins, it was seen that buses were alive and the driver was just steering, same as one would do with a horse or camel. Following this awakening, the government formed the C,CC Act. The whole thing was rather absurd and the public had trouble accepting it, especially the older generation who classified the new discovery as devils work, which was mostly forgotten after they saw how much public transport improved. The three C's stood for Care, Connectivity and Consciousness.

The C for connectivity was not just about connecting humans to the city but connecting humans to each other. It was observed that there is a sense of oneness which exists in a full bus. That different people from different backgrounds can sit together with their thighs touching for an entire journey. Buses began receiving the utmost care. A couple of makangas formed a union on behalf of the buses, nganya sacco; the new law confirmed what some makangas had already known  during their early escapades, collecting money and convincing customers to ride their bus. Overfilling was banned in the care act and stages were filled with biophilic design.

All buses made after the C, CC act were created with the utmost awareness. Mechanics, engineers and graffiti artists used the utmost intention to bring a bus to life. The whole process was revered as sacred and led to an increase in wages for drivers and makangas. More experimental buses began to emerge as it was discovered that diesel was poisonous for buses. Electric and H2O buses emerged; then one day Reginald Sonnet Florence Gachuki, a masters student of the Dedan Kimathi University, connected the breathing of plants  to automotive engineering. This sparked a revolution called, bio-mechanica.

The Bio-Mechanical age did extraordinary things for the environment and Nairobi became the greenest city in the world. One thing that didn't really change with the buses was their noise. The Civilians Against Bio-Mechanica (T.C.A.B.M) tried to use this to end the C, CC act. What began as a small congregation grew in numbers after their unsettling facebook presence. On their rally to parliament it was arranged that they would meet at Tom Mboya Street and so the followers went, only to see twelve other members dressed in white. The twelve tried to still hold a rally but were quickly arrested. It was then discovered that the T.C.A.B.M’s facebook members were mostly bots.

The awareness of bus consciousness was part of the Nyawawa Awakening and scholars are still exploring the buses connection to the Nyawawa.

source:Naja Ashei