The Hindu sufi singer and the 'chatrie coolie' at the maasjid

Image from http://www.healthy-heart-meditation.com/sufi-heart.html

Breezy West Coast night.

The powerful violinist playing and the breeze carrying the notes.

Children playing and laughing.

Families, Many women, some in hijab, some not.


Anna Catherina Islamic Complex  compound.

Sufism  is not widely practiced in our traditions in Guyana. Sufi music is known perhaps through Bollywood.

The person who keeps reading Rumi is one of my atheist friends of Muslim extraction who is active in fighting against injustice .

The High Commission  of India, the  Anna Catherina Islamic Complex   and others hosted Indira Naik and a troupe of excellent musicians in a crazy week.

A week when the country had to deal with the PPP continued destruction of values which many had hoped had died away with Burnham


The stage is a symbol of coolie creativity - the trailer owned by the Hindu man decorated and serving the purpose

The man next to me wondered ' what would our forefathers think of all this."

The book Coolie Woman is in my head.  The women and men leaving India to come here to make some living and building or recreating home.

The man's 'this' was referring to our peaceful and comfortable environment, almost "normal.."

But our this also includes the Attorney General, the chatrie coolie who went to Queens College ,and the refusal of the PPP and the lovers of the PPP to shun the descent into madness.


It is not easy to be a coolie Hindu black lesbian who wants to navigate the religious community while avoiding the PPP.
Burnham's ban of flour and dhal lingers and regardless of what, it seems, there will always be assurances of support given to the PPP .  I am always nervous when attending coolie events - religious functions, family wakes, anything because there could be deference paid to the madness which is the 'this' even from people who in their private conversations cuss the PPP.


Several Muslim organisations, including the Anna Catherina Sunnatul Jamat had honoured the Attorney General in 2012. 

In 2012 as well , the Sarasvati Vidya Niketan also honoured Mr Nandlall by inviting him to speak to the students at the Graduation ceremony.

It must be one of those few times when Hindus and Muslims have honoured any person in the same year outside of their reigning President.

And India and Pakistan with their nuclear weapons pointed at each other, and the partition violence a far way.. there is something special about the Hindu woman at the maasjid calling for Jhulela , the Sufi saint who had struggled centuries ago against Hindu/Muslim conflict.

And so it is.. that in the face of the continued madness of the PPP, the Hindu and Muslim organisations are silent. Perhaps it is good the silence, because some when they speak might voice support for the madness.

Many are disturbed. But there is something about we coolies, the rules of hospitality and the way in which bonds like family bonds are made. It is not just about Burnham's flour and dhal ban any more.. it is perhaps the shame at the betrayal , that the coolies have been made fool of. And shaming is what is used to keep many coolies respectable - many kill themselves rather than succumb to 'shame' .

I do not know if any individual or organisation who has honoured any politician can then cuss them when they do wrong or call for their resignation.

The Jehovah Witnesses are perhaps wisest when they do not get involved in politics. The Baha'is as well tend not to, even as they vote. But we Hindus and Muslims and some Christians involve the politicians.. we use the opportunities to endorse the leaders and shake hands with the leaders - is this from Burnham time?

And so when the time comes to cuss them, it cannot be easy to violate the hospitality rules. Do the  coolies then condone or ignore the wrong doing then, so as to avoid feeling betrayed? That we made mistakes in whose hands we shook, and on whose neck we through the malas? Do Hindus and Muslims in Guyana really think that the Attorney General's private thoughts are not manifested in the way the country is governed?  Even if some Hindus and Muslims wanted Amaila Falls, and some Hindus and Muslims opposed the Casino Bill on their religious grounds, does this silence now mean that things are okay?

Some  want to have protest and bunnin' down the place. 

The Ramayana.. Hanuman burnt Lanka, the kingdom of Ravana. Ravana was a great devotee of Lord Shiva until he messed up and the last straw was when he took away Sita. The Bhagvad Gita, the Mahabharat.. Lord Arjuna has to go to war with his family and Lord Krsna talks about fighting injustice.

There is rage to be dealt with, rage at the coolies especially who remain silent in the face of the PPP madness. Rage of those who think Hinduism tolerates the madness. Rage at the coolies who use the Diwali message to further express partisan values rather than to remember that Hindus are across a wide spectrum of political beliefs .



There is a pathos in the AG's conversation with the reporter - the assertion of coolie-ness mixing with the desire for some class/caste aspiration. Many men would understand the sex by proxy and the objectification of the woman who is not his wife . Many men (and some women) would probably empathise with the desire to annihilate the enemy - after all, that is what is played out daily in Guyana.. from schools where teachers beat students with permission from the PPP, where students attack each other, in the rum drinking scenarios where friends turn on each other, in the backdam where Gold is mined, and in homes where men believe that the women are their enemies, in the drivers of vehicles who kill and maim others on the roads.
Private thoughts which are manifested into horrific public actions.

Indira Naik sang of love - love of God in the Sufi tradition, and that love usually means some compassion for humanity. And so it is easy for me not to worry too much with the PPP, but to worry about the Hindus and Muslims who have embraced me and who sing with me and who pray with me and who believe that the PPP are right and will not do anything to stop the behaviour. 


My atheist friends would laugh when I say that it was easy to feel God there with the sound of the Hindu woman and the Muslim musicians ..and that breeze, and relaxed atmosphere.

God on the ship coming from India, God in the people trying to build their lives here, building mandirs and maasjids, now and then conflicting when there were mixed marriages and so. God  in finding ways to resist Burnham's tyranny.

Is there God though, in the coolie silence and consent to PPP's continued perpetration of injustice against Guyana? Is there God in the refusal to hold the PPP accountable even though they have been blessed with honours and malas?