Law of attraction, criminal minds, love, elections - Groundings May 2015

The police guard from Parliament Buildings came and said to move the banner and we said, ow man, is just books, is not like a hammock or so and he said arite. I tell him to let that Clerk know is Vidya Kissoon.

Image cropped from one by Sherlina Nageer

Groundings started with Sherlina and me spreading books. She had her box of questions, I got more fancy and had hearts folded from a Sunday Chronicle with the questions stapled on.

Two persons asked me whether the clippings had anything to do with the hearts and I said yes, it was taking bad news and trying to make good things and they smiled.


Two school girls picked up two murder mysteries. I said, wait wait., How old are you? and one girl said 12 and the other girl said 10. The 12 year old said, don't worry " I watch Criminal Minds" and I mutter okay.

Another school girl comes up, she is 12 and she finds a book and she says that in addition to voting, people could love their country by keeping the place clean. Three school girls come up, after CAPE, They not eligible to vote they say  but they can show love by encouraging others to vote. One looked for Harlequin Romance novel. They also said that people should look after each other and the environment and that it is okay to love people who not voting .

Another school boy wanted to answer more than one question so he could get more than one book. He said keeping the environment clean and preserving monuments

Two reporters came up. I said, yall need to answer questions now. It was fun asking the reporters questions for a change.

Other people passed.. the lure of Free Books, just answer one question did not hook them. A young man came and looked skeptically at us and asked who we were, why we did this and so on. He never heard of this Groundings before. The youngster gaffed for over an hour with one of the young men who had spent two hours gaffing with us the first time he had met up.

Image from Sherlina Nageer

Natalie joined us for the first time. She took some of the paper hearts and encouraged people. Natalie's son Jaden was killed at GPHC and Natalie has been fighting for justice.  Natalie's energy though is not about bitterness and revenge but about ensuring that there is accountability in the health sector.

A quiet looking young man came up. He did not want books or magazines. He said he came to meet with Lina. I was a bit worried wondering if he wanted to 'buse her out or so - but he  had this kind of quiet determination. I saw him talking to Natalie. His sister, Teresa Laltoo lost a baby due to negligence in the public health system. They have not had any investigations.  No sense of revenge or vengeance from him either. The elections are tense, outrage is selective on many issues and the stress has been surreal.  However, standing there on that pavement outside the Parliament which does not seem to function for all Guyana, with Natalie and Dave and talking about love and elections was spiritually refreshing .

Stan Gouveia, radio man,  was in a long gaff with a lady. We thought he knew the lady but then it turns out this was the first time he met her. So there were these two long conversations going on between people who had not met each other.

Another young man come up, he conducts with his father sometimes. He wanted to know if we had books about the 'laws of attraction' and about the universe and its existence. He talked about exploring different religions and so. He did not take any books but I got the phone number to give to a group of people I know who are interested in similar things. He said he is not wearing the party colours which he is supporting because he is scared he might get beat up.

Another man came up who said he doesn't abuse anybody any more and he would try to protect anybody from abuse 'show them love and comfort' "I used to be like that years ago, but things change now" He took a book about writings about black family. He said he has books he would like to give away and I said just do this, put up the sign and gaff about the books if you want.


A woman passed. I recognised that like me, she had some some mental health issues despite the headphones. I offered the book or magazine, she said yes, yes.. and she picked up a random book and asked me if she could have it. I wanted to chat some more.

Another group of school children with their teacher fresh from winning a quiz competition.

Other persons stopped, picked up books, magazines, smiled. Other persons smiled and passed. One lady said man Vidya I have so many books at home and I said, well just do the same thing.. all it needs is a place where people pass and they pick up a free book.


As always at the corner, the homeless and persons who don't look normal stop and some collect magazines or books. Two men came up , one said that everybody must vote . He cannot love anybody who does not vote. His friend said, that even if you vote, or don't vote, you should always speak up.

Some persons did not stay long, they gave answers and moved on. Two women asked if Lina was my wife - 'duh is de gyurl from de TV right' and they said it was possible to love somebody who vote for a different party. Another young man said his house had people voting for different parties.

People talked about speaking up if they saw anybody abusing another person.. while I heard a story of a minibus of passengers and drivers who were silent as the conductor racially abused a passenger. The driver reportedly later expressed some remorse. There are many bystanders in our world and so much work is needed to move in action - after the initial shock wears off.

Three magazines left which did not have covers. We decided to go for icecream.  We walked into the new ice cream place, and said nah.. dis price too high and went to another ice cream place where price was not too high even as we found ways to say why we would not go to the cheapest place which did not have so many flavours.

Love.

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