By Chisom Winifred

‘Sia is such a soulful singer’ I thought, the way she puts her emotions in her songs is just amazing.

My headphone was jamming away my favourite song and I took my time cat walking home from work.   I got to the keke park and boarded the one headed my direction.

Few minutes later, a raggedly dressed man joined me and in a matter of seconds the keke was filled to its usual capacity and the driver wasted no time and zoomed off.

If I had a minute to make a decision, I would have alighted. I felt so uncomfortable with the poorly dressed man sitting beside me. I tried as much as possible to put space between us and avoid body contact.

He had weird luggage, brooms, iron rods all jammed into an old cement bag, I prayed for an uneventful trip, I didn’t have energy for drama. I even wondered if he was 100% okay. I gently greeted him;

‘Good evening Sir’

I wanted to be on his good side in case he decided to flog someone with a broom; at least he’ll know I’m his friend. My greeting was unanswered.

Hmmm, I gently unplugged my headphones, put them in my hand bag and zipped it, ready to jump down at any given moment. I was still lost in my world of over exaggerating things when his phone rang.  He picked.

I turned sharply to stare at him the moment I heard his voice. He spoke such polished and sound English. More so the person on the phone addressed him as ‘Sir’ and was asking science related questions.

The eloquence and ease at which he answered the questions was utterly amazing. This man had to be well read to be able to talk about DNA structure confidently and freely use incomprehensible science terms.

He even referred the person on the phone to his textbook page this and that. This wasn’t making much sense, such an intelligent man but raggedly dressed, could even be mistaken for a mad person.

He listened quietly and took his time to answer questions and explain. Afterwards, he gently tapped the driver and asked to alight. He paid his fare, dragged out his cement bag luggage and walked away. I was shook.

That didn’t add up. That was the first time I knew the literal meaning of the saying, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. Who would have thought? Rough on the outside and filled with depth and knowledge on the inside.

I realized I simply translated the situation according to what I saw upfront. I wondered how many times I’ve made similar decisions and how wrong I must have been.

The first thought that comes to mind when a well dressed gentleman passes by is; “He must be well educated or intelligent. Well, I just made a discovery; these are bold faced institutional lies.

Not every mad man is mad.