Coil: Seven curry as metaphor for social cohesion

“Shake meh hand nuh” the man said gruffly and I shook his hand thinking well, times change. The man who had not wanted me in his workplace when he was propping up the PPP now wants me to shake his hand and I think well my hand has been in the gutters many times so the hand really is nothing. and then writing this I imagine, what an awful thing to think about somebody after Social Cohesion Roundtable.

I could have clasped my hands in Namaste and explained that since my hands have been in filthy places that it would not do him good but then I think of the man who I had offended many times who had reached out his hand to me once and I had taken it with relief.

Another man had asked me if I was going to the seven curry thing. The Ministry of Social Cohesion (part of the Ministry of the Presidency) has a poster with a picture of seven curry in the leaf.

Seven curry, loved by many, is a very Guyanese – well coolie Guyanese thing. In other parts of the world, people eat from banana leaves or flat leaves. Seven curry for those who do not know is the food cooked at Hindu religious functions – rice, dhal, pumpkin, mango curry, bhajee, baigan and eddoe curry, katahar curry, potato and channa curry, carahee (sometimes), and other things.

But I learned over the last decade that many citizens do not eat seven curry due to their religious beliefs. I learned that some people have to understand whether it came from a jhandi or a wedding house because there are different views of the degree of religiosity of those things. A man told me that his religion does not consider Hindu weddings as religious for example, so it was okay to eat seven curry from a wedding, but not from a mandir food sale.

I do not eat beef or pork regardless of the sources (I eat other carcass regardless of the sources) and I could imagine if the Ministry of Social Cohesion had a picture of beef cookup as being a symbol of our Social Cohesion, I would be horrified.

But then again, maybe seven curry could be a nice local a model for social cohesion for those who eat it even after careful consideration of its sources. Individual vegetables which people might not like, when mixed together, sanay, each still retaining its own essence and making the whole taste really good and better than the individual components.

The seven curry poster has a quote from a man calling on Minister Amna Ally to bring the communities together. I like the idea of Minister Amna as a manifestation of a healing Mother Goddess (oops there I go again.. some people would be offended by a manifestation of Mother Goddess ) . The Minister though has been clear in her presentations about the shared responsibility for dealing with social cohesion and about inclusion of all kinds of identities beyond black and coolie.

A man texted me during her speech “A national strategy that includes sexual orientation .. so says Minister Amna Ally. Wow!!” The political parties in their manifesto’s had talked about removing discrimination against lesbian , gay, bisexual and transgender citizens. The Minister at the opening and the Prime Minister at the closing made references which challenged the homophobia in the country. Speeches are nice. Minister Amna Ally in 2012, made a powerful speech in Parliament about changing the culture of beating children. It is perhaps one of the most powerful speeches of any Caribbean politician which acknowledged the history of acceptance and called for the changes. Minister of Education Roopnaraine, like his predecessor, has spoken of his own abhorrence of corporal punishment. But , social cohesion between the Government and the PPP, there seems to be a fear of the child beaters since Guyana did not accept the recommendations at the most recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process to repeal the corporal punishment laws.

The recommendations to deal with discrimination against LGBT citizens were also not accepted, despite the Manifesto promises. It could be that that the last UPR found itself bridging two administrations. Education Month in Guyana has started and there is no evidence that the Ministry of Education will be burning wild canes and whips and instruments used to inflict the policy of beating children, never mind the Minister's abhorrence.

It is not clear whether the Government of Guyana intends to proceed with social cohesion while maintaining discriminatory legislation – consultations with the abusers notwithstanding.

In the gaff during the social cohesion forum, it was interesting to hear how the seven curry makers own 89% of the economy (a woman said 95% but a man who says he is an economist said no no is 89% but it is not clear where he got that information)

I don't know if the advocates would think of the coolie woman and others like her who asked me for a help. Social cohesion as me and my middle class values, I noted the gray roots on her dyed hair and I wondered whether my help was going to buy hair dye rather than food but then again I thought hair dye is probably better than rum or cigarettes. I asked her to rent me some space under her umbrella from the rain, rather than asking for help. She told me that she would have sheltered me whether I gave her money or not . I imagine how many interactions across Guyana are based on some assumptions which gradually turn into facts which fuel the underlying divisions.

President Granger talked at the opening of the conference about meeting with Bharat Jagdeo. According to the President, (and not Bharat Jagdeo as yet), Bharat Jagdeo will help to recover some of the lost money. I was asked to facilitate at the Social Cohesion Roundtable and I was relieved when I heard that the PPP boycotted the social cohesion forum because I do not know what reconciliation with a party which has presented among its representatives with strip and slap bheri and gays on an island supporter edghill. I have had memorable encounters with people who disagree with me on many things where the spirit of the engagement was not to cause harm.

Walking around with a plate or rice and salad (there were substantial vegetarian options for lunch – caterers felt that vegetarian meant the meat options minus the meat) and I see another man sitting down with a similar plate. We gaff and he says he has been a vegetarian for over thirty years. He had strong views about discrimination and who was discriminating and who was being discriminated against. He is a strong Burnhman man. We talked about religion and God a bit, he told me he still lights diyas at Diwali as his mother had dreamed Mother Laxmi before his birth. He no longer does

the Laxmi puja – “I follow Exodus 20.4 now” - but still lights the diyas i because “nutting wrong wid light, the light is Universal”.

I have a dream that Minister Amna Ally will be leading a ceremonial lighting of a diya with Moses and Bharat at Parliament for this year Diwali. ( I get a sense that Moses and Bharat have more deeper issues than say David and Bharat, but there are reports that they will have to sort them out. Apparently David and Moses also had some issues).

Jomo Paul wrote about this Guyanese dream thing and talking about the dilemma of wanting to stay and wanting to leave.

I have a dream too, that regardless of who eat seven curry and so, that people would not beat their children and would be open to non-violent ways of dealing with their children, and that Guyana is a place where the Guyanese could have their own dreams and be able to fulfil them once they are not dreaming of oppressing other people. My neighbour has a dream for example with the reported support of the Mayor of turning the parapets into parking lots for the vehicles of his mechanic customers which include the Government, regardless of flooding and other concerns.

Friday night I was in a minibus heading to mandir where the bus driver was rolling like a man and drinking the man beer. I contemplated and hoped that if I don't reach the mandir , that the beer drinking driver might lead me to heaven at least. With all respect to those who want to advocate for learning each other's culture and so on, I have no interest in learning about the culture of the drinking man beer while driving. In the spirit of social cohesion, the beer drinking driver got my money and hopefully that will be turned into appropriate fines etc at some stage before any he causes any harm to anyone and that he could be healed very soon.

I know in the new Guyana with social cohesion, I have some responsibility to ensure that the State could also ensure mechanisms to ensure justice and rehabilitation as a way to prevent further division and violence. Maybe next time I will come out of the bus and call the nearest Police station to look out for the drinking driver rather than paying him.