Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Man asked as I was eating the dhal , rice and coconut chokha - 'You working today?" and I sighed and did not bother to answer that the eating the dhal, rice and coconut chokha was an experiment in trying to find some inspiration for a thing I said I would write because it was work. Self employment is like that.. I say yes when I could And this was after cleaning, washing, helping with cooking and also trying to think about what to write for the weekly thing which deadline comes up all of a sudden. The Universe  has thrown a whole set of different things, work things which are not related to each other and which seem to require different energy, different questions for solutions, or even questioning the questions to find a solutions. A rare encounter with a private sector client. We want you to find a solution for us and because I am reeling from one thing, and about to contemplate the other thing. I say yes without saying but hey hey.. we might not have defined the pr...

by Vidyaratha Kissoon It was 1979 or 1980 – or maybe before. I would have been about 8 or 9 years old. My parents decided to go to one of the WPA meetings. Walter Rodney was supposed to be speaking at Kitty Market Square. The car was parked in Barr Street. Some people, men and women, came and started rocking the car .They opened the car doors and said ‘yall get out of hey’ and other things, one woman was kicking.  My father managed to start the car and drove away. June 1980. I am 9 years old. The car this time is parked on the Kitty Public Road. We are watching the funeral procession for Walter Rodney. A lot of people walking. I remember a white lady, Janet Jagan kind of marching. I am not sure how far she marched with the procession. In adulthood, I learn that Rodney was more than just a man who annoyed Burnham. In 1968, t he Jamaican Government banned him and there were riots in Kingston. It was also becoming clearer that Rodney was remembered more outside ...

Man at Bourda Market said that the butter nut squash was from Canal. It seems to be one of the crops that is grown every now and then. It is harder and drier than pumpkin. It is sweeter. It requires slow heat and frequent stirring and then in no time at all, it is done. It takes a while to peel.  It is kind of a distraction from the other things which have to be done Work is there to be done. No complaints. Two intense projects - having to do things offline which should be done online.  No dark clouds fogging up the mind too much. Mind has to catch up. Body though continues its slow deterioration..  toes tingling now which means some nerve damage thing.  Can be alleviated by exercise. Exercise requires will power and a strong desire to thrive rather than to just go through a minute by minute exercise. Welcome distraction comes in a late invitation for ice cream.. it is so easy to run down the road for ice cream and nice chat.  Another cautious call, po...

by Vidyaratha Kissoon A man who reads the Coil sometimes, said I should think about patriotism – and what former P rime Minister and former President Sam Hinds h ad to say about the PPP and its claims to patriotism. He wanted to know whether this links to the view that coolie people are not as patriotic to Guyana as others and that they just see Guyana as a place to make a living. This was all happening in the same week when the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry report was nearly not received by the Government and when the conclusions said that yes, Burnham had something to do with the killing of Rodney. Both men have been described as fierce patriots and friends of the Guyanese working class and so on. Unlike the PPP, Burnham and Rodney, I am not a patriot. Patriotism reminds of me of flag waving, gun carrying Americans killing everybody who they say is against American values. There is a massive flag going up in Durban Park Georgetown. The news reports sug...

by Vidyaratha Kissoon (Images of pages from Damra Phag Bahar courtesy of Gaiutra Bahadur) The 2016 Phagwah season started on Friday 12 February with the planting of Holika Many Hindus would have started the chowtaal sessions which characterise the Phagwah season. Chowtaals are usually sung by groups of people. The rhythm tends to start slow, then increase to a high speed. The upbeat energy is maintained by jal and dholak. Chowtaals are accompanied by ulaara, kabinta, bartaals, yogiya and other styles of songs. Most of the chowtaals originated in India, and are prayers and relate to the stories from the Hindu scriptures. This 11 th Feb 2016 was the hundredth anniversary of a book of Phagwah songs – chowtaals, ulaara and kabinta – written by an indentured labourer. In February 1916, World War 1 was raging. The Daily Argosy of that time reports that East Indians in La Grange had heard rumours that there was a German cruiser ‘outside the bar’. Magistrate ...

Dear God, I lying down here waiting to sleep.. but every now and then this cough which crunching up my whole body which already paining coming up. I trying to think calm thoughts and so - I stock up on all the herbal and the cough syrup and so but like all just meking things worse. I know dere is a lot of science around why I get the nasty cough, and I hear dat when I was small dat a doctor, and not a pandit had predicted I would always trouble with this nasty cough thing on and off. But it easier to pray to you than to a scientist. I feel shame.. is everywhere I go today, and is nuff place I have to go these days, I deh coughing and so like I gun dead. A couple days a go I tell somebody that I would be happy if the body pain go away.. but now God, I think you send this cough so that I could know I would be happy if the cough go away.  I also thinking that this is payment for all my sins and so and I bearing it up because it mean I going straight to heaven to join you. I...

 'You going out in dis drizzle wid dat cough.. wear a hat nah?" Dry cough , which clenches the whole body including the parts that are already paining, and intention is to buy thick leaf thyme to chew up with the honey and the cough medicine and anything else, because this nasty cough is the last thing I need in a time with a variety of deliverables. El Nino where the high winds blow up the dust which is not seen but is felt more on the throat or maybe it is all in the head. And then the tangerines, the last at the season, maybe El Nino.. small, bright well.. tangerine colour and each one sweet sweet.. what is the point of eating these the 9 year old asks.. it is only juice and seeds , nothing to chew on.. And so I end up buying more tangerines and forgetting the thyme  - maybe if I had coughed I would have remembered. And the rain is drizzling and I say to hell with it, I already have the damn cough and it is El Nino and the rain is welcome..  .. the breeze bl...

"Dis uncle does sand pun he word", the young woman said in the hairdressing salon. I had returned to cut my hair. My barber preaches on a Wednesday - and he never has to ask me what to be done on the hair. I was walking on the road, when I saw a slight, woman, wearing spectacles, beckoning to me "Come , come"and I said .."Who, me?" and she said yes.. she had seen me at mandir she said. "I cut gent's hair".. and I said okay, but I have a barber.. She said to still give her a try. I went and came back. She asked me how I wanted it .. I said well, low like.. .. I said that 'I usualy tell the barber to mek me look nice'.. the young woman said .. but you is a handsome man. I would not hear this in a barber shop The hairdresser, the young woman and me in the Salon.  Barber shop gaff is different. I asked how long she had been doing this work - it seemed almost thirty years.  "Do you dye your hair" she asked me, and ...

Woman asked 'have you figured out yet what causes the ups and downs' and I said that one of the things I have stopped doing is trying to fight up over what causes the ups and downs and just get through. One day.. work done, almost like a normal day.. next day.. concentration a bit all over the place, the itchy nose and so on which means a cold might be coming on and then in between random conversations and requests for things... One of those days where it feels like stuff is being done, but not the same focus so it is not clear what's happening. Starting the day with repeating some of the mistakes which I had promised not to repeat and then feeling like things going back a familiar way. Eating.. again.. junk... easy to find junk. Things to be done, but they are postponed. Thinking of  how to get back on track, or wondering if I should bother until I do get back on track. Having to learn to still the mind though, while waiting and not be arguing about the time bei...

by Vidyaratha Kissoon “Some people might think this is a dark poem” – seventy-seven year old Francis Quamina Farrier told the audience. He read “Makonaima’s Sacrifice” a poem which is about the legend of Kaieteur and the  “self-sacrificing of the people. The event was called Two Gentlemen Read Poetry – two elderly men Mr Farrier and Captain Lloyd Marshall. They read different kinds of poetry (except spoken word) . After he read the poem about people sacrificing themselves to Makonaima,  Mr Farrier wondered perhaps, if Woodside Choir or some other group would go to the top of Kaieteur and sing Count Your Blessings . Some persons who are suicidal or depressed might feel that the curses which cause the pain outweigh the blessings. They might feel more anxious that they cannot enjoy their blessings without feeling pain. In the Sunday Chronicle Classified Ads of 31 January, 2016 – under “Councling”  – an Apostle offers to cure the demon possessed. There ...

I saw your name on the list for the PPP . The shock is deep.. whether that instead of  quitting Guyana or being vocal at whatever despair you feel about Granger , Guyana and his government, you have decided that it is better to join with slap-and-strip-bheri and with anil and the man who was accused of raping and beating his girl friend. I thought you were interested in social justice. I know that it was rough, being a coolie man and taking a leadership position and then I noticed you became silent. I assumed that the pressure was on.  Were you serious about the anti alcohol work? Were you serious about dealing with gender based violence? I know your business has suffered. I don't know if there are other people who regret not coming out stronger for Jagdeo and bheri and anil , and other abusers and who feel that coolie people could prosper with Jagdeo-with-bheri-and-anil-and-thers rather than with We had talked long about everything what was wrong with the PPP.....

The CEO of Brainstreet, Lance was just appointed to the board of the Guyana Energy Agency so the ICT conversation with the three people who were there at 130pm started off with renewable energy, possibilities, problems and the fact that Guyana has 5 hours of direct light on average a day and other things. Vijay Datadin  led the discussion. His Presentation was designed for people who work in IT and are now becoming familiar with Geographic Information System (GIS) concepts. GIS applications present spatial data in a visual way.    Vijay looked at the opportunity for GIS , using the model shown here. The Hardware available now extends to smart phones, hand held GPS. The G IS day activities helped to raise awareness . The Software available has been expanded with the use of FOSS 4 GIS.  The conversation included the need for the policy and standards, the move to Open Data in a culture which did not rapidly share data; socialism and the use of old Ge...