Are we there yet (Part II)?

Here is an early untested theory on memory! In the early days following an event, the brain has a tendency to focus on the hardships endured more than the joys derived in the process. Yet as time passes by, these painful memories slowly start subsiding to leave place for an overall positive recall of the activity. This, need should there be to clarify, holds tru-est for long hard slogs more than your ordinary walks-in-the-park-type activities. And should you want to consult my wife, my sense of planning has lately been rather skewed in the direction of the former. Having survived Mulanje barely (and the limping week to, at and back from work that ensued), the plan was to take the new bike out for a test. Janet’s new bike that is. The best bike I think we’ve ever laid our hands (and feet) on. So nothing should really been too much of a push for it. Of course, my handicap for the trip would be to ride a standard Malawian bike with all the friction that can possibly be generated from its moving parts. Having happily used it around Blantyre I thought that the overall added difficulty wouldn’t be too much for me to take. So I thought of a nice return trip to a place not so near but not so far either: Zomba. How I came to that distance assessment is something neither me nor Janet ever questioned. We simply assumed that it looked closer than Mulanje on the map and Mulanje is 50 something from Blantyre. Since the unit of distance here is the Kilometer, our estimate was that Zomba was less than 50Km from Blantyre. That’s a doddle really in our books. Having been known to do 20 a day to work and back in the UK, 50 over a whole day can’t be that bad. Here’s how this trip differed from this arbitrarily selected UK reference point. The weather in the UK might be sh*** but it is cool and doesn’t sap you of your will to live like a midday Malawian sun. Secondly, the average terrain is somewhat more level in a British city like Manchester than the endless undulations encountered between Blantyre and Zomba. Lastly, and most significantly, the unit of measurement I used inadvertently was 50 Km when, in reality, it turned out to be 50miles! So the whole trip was more like 75 odd Km each way. Try and explain that to the loyal wife who slogged some 20 hours’ of mountain walking for you one weekend ago!

Back to my theory on memory. So, there is its classic application: Hills, in particular undulations along a route which is flat on average! Yes, as you proceed one way from point A to B, you remember the hills (read hardship) mostly and think that the overall gradient was an uphill one to your destination. Hence the return trip should be much easier, being by default downhill! But here’s the catch. On the way to point B, you forgot to factor in the bits of the trip that felt easy (the bits after the hills that is, when you’d relax your legs a little). These easy bits of course became hills on the way back. Since the hills take longer to get through than the flats and descents, the overall impression from point B to A again becomes one of uphill. Thus I conclude that man has a preferential memory for pain in the short term than for pain-free goings on. And this pain gradually gets converted into a sense of achievement which is perceived as a positive memory long term!

Back to Zomba. It will certainly live up to be one of our most enduring memories of Malawi. Formerly the colonial capital of Malawi, it boasts some amazing architecture including the lodge where we stayed. Fringed by a superb plateau, its scenic potential is also very close to Mulanje’s and Nyika’s. While Mulanje is the wildest and Nyika the smoothest, Zomba wins the lot as the greenest. For those who dare not take the potato path as we did up the 700-800m up, there’s even a road that takes you there. (Small insight into the origin of that name- it was and is still used as the crossing route by farmers between the potato growing plains in the Domasi valley east of Zomba to Zomba market where they can be sold.) And don’t worry if you don’t have a car. The business of organising taxi ferries up the plateau is thriving in town. If you happen to need a taxi on the way down alone, then the economics are largely swayed in your favour as there are enough taxis that have only been hired one way and up. So they’re empty on the way down and will only take a couple of hundred Kwachas. Considering, they’re on neutral gear most of the way, they couldn’t realistically hike the price up any higher to cover their fuel cost! Beyond the adventure, the scenes and the streetwis-dom, Zomba was our bank holiday escape Janet and I to mark (somewhat belatedly) our 6th year of being together. That’s got to make a place memorable.

Zomba Plateau

Lush Greenery

Beauty & the Beast (or other way round!)