Let’s face it. Everyone is mad in Thampèreh. It sounds funny, but it’s true. The village has a problem with madness, and many have admitted this several times in the presence of friends, relatives, and even in public.
And if you are from Thampèreh and reading this now, you are also mad. Or you were mad at some point in your life. Not true?
What about that day in school when you told your classmate, “Ar go show you say ar crase pass you” after he tore your notebook? Or what about that time when your friend or brother accused you of something you didn’t do, and you replied, “nor mix me pan u crase”? Felt like you have a different type of madness.
Whether different or identical, people manifest their madness in several different ways, and that has been okay. But a few moons ago, Thampèreh’s recent most famous crase man, Blacka, was in hot water. It appeared he stepped on the wrong toes, and someone thought it was time to show him who was madder.
Even though his arrest’s circumstances have been sketchy, rumours have it that he insulted the village’s Painter. And when one of his aides informed him about Blacka’s insults, the Painter immediately said, “ar go show Blacka say ar crase pass arm” and ordered his arrest.
Another theory is that the case was an isolated one, and it was the judge who said he would show Blacka who’s madder after Blacka sealed his lips with his fingers and refused to speak up in court.
The competition to prove “Udat crase pass e kompin” in Thampèreh is getting interesting so much that the courts, through its injustice system, don’t want to be left behind.
The ministry of health and sanitation recently refurbished the former Kissy Crase yard and transformed it into a decent psychiatric facility to provide services on mental health and its related illnesses. It is an important step in the village’s efforts to curb mental health problems, provide decent treatment to patients and move away from the old ways of locking up and chaining patients in prison-like rooms.
But the village’s police and courts believe the Kissy Psychiatric Teaching Hospital isn’t good enough, and the wisest thing to do is to send all certified crase men and women to prison for corrective purposes. Because that’s how you show a mad man Udat crase pass e kompin.
