Thoughts of a minibus traveller

De minibus jerk an' I jump out ah meh doze. De bush all roun, de road red in de moon and bus light. I hear a snap.. an' i look at de drivah.. an' de man drinkin' a Red Bull wid one hand an' steerin' wid he odder hand. So.. circumstances mek I decide fuh tek a bus pun Georgetown up to Annai. I go to a nice service. Lady nice, seh, yes yes, I could get front seat. I seh, not bad. I mek sure I didn't eat or drink nuttin so meh stomach aint gun upset. It was since 2003 dat I went wid a bus in de night - wid a big bus. A lady passenger ask me if I know who is de driver. I lookin roun too, because I see beer sharing out an' I hope dat de driver aint tekin a beer fuh de road. All look nice.. dey start loading up. Den I hear some cuss from de man loading up and de man who turn out to be de driver (no beer- good). Dey vex wid a Brazillian man who bring a delicate box. De man want de box stan' up and de loader man seh, whuh you tik dis is, aircraft?  A...

Feminists, hypocrites, unbelievers, believers and cultural activists are outraged at the reasons given for Chris Brown not coming to Guyana . Chris Brown, renowned for his music and his woman beating habits, was scheduled to perform at a Government supported event. According to reports from unnamed High Jinx officials, political figures made contact with Chris Brown and told him that he better be careful about coming to Guyana because he might get the same treatment he gave Rhianna. The Hypocrites who first targeted Chris Brown are outraged that APNU gets the credit. Columnist Stella , speaking from her kitchen where she was stirring her pot of thanksgiving curry, was outraged.. "I spent hours researching the reasons why Chris Brown should not come, and on Facebook , and now not to be named by the Chris Brown team is just awful. How could APNU allow this to happen? APNU should not be taking attention away from those who really work hard on these issues." Hairy Femin...

Fuku, Zafa, Rafael Trujillo, legend of the Mongoose, girls woman, being a man, science fiction..  Junot Díaz tells the story of a Dominican life - from the ancestral homelands to present day United States. The story is told through Yunior (seen to be some kind of alter ego of the author) who tells the story of Oscar, his sister Lola, their mother, Hypatia Belicia Cabral; and  grandfather, Abelard. The novel is written with footnotes, Spanish dialect, comic book and fantasy references - and covers a couple of years of Domincan Republic history. The language is lyrical, you read from page to page, there is violence as a thread running through it. Some things are understood, some things have to be checked. It is good reading these books with the different bits of language, the author in an interview had said "So I’m constantly, people have come to me and asked me… is this, are you trying to lock out your non-Dominican reader, you know? And I’m like, no? I assume any g...

Climbing Chamundi Hill : 1001 Steps with a Storyteller and a Reluctant Pilgrim by Ariel Glucklich Indian mythology is very central to religious understanding.. and Ariel Glucklich brings together some stories, which are in other stories to highlight aspects of Indian philosophy. The stories are told by an old librarian, walking with an American university researcher up Chamundi Hill.  The researcher is frustrated because his interpretation of the stories are different from what the librarian tells him.. and so one story leads to another to another until they reach the top of the hill.. and then the researcher realises that the goal of his liberation was not the top of the hill, but rather the bottom , where he started. Nice read.. I not too sure what the cover picture of a woman in Mughal costume got to do with the Climbing of the hill, but I guess it is to highlight the 'Indian' exotic thing.

Segu is an African city whose people, the Bambara have to deal with Islam and Christianity and other foreign influences and changes. Maryse Condé is a Guadelopean descendant of the Bambara This book review has all the details . The book uses historical narratives and tells the story through African eyes.. African referring to  women, men, kings, servants, slaves, slave owners, mulatto, Christian, Muslim - Fulani, Bambara, Moroccan, Yoruba, Hausa, mixed, displaced . There are mentions of slave rebellions and movements (Nova Scotia - thinking of Book of Negroes ) in other places. Our protagonists move survive different travails.. adapting themselves to circumstances which are not always friendly to them. The women especially adapt to their own losses and find ways of surviving. Maryse  Condé brings history to life through the stories of ordinary people who are caught up in the various upheavals during the early 19th century. The book is worth the read.