Coil: Dying mangoes and Guyana 2017
by Vidyaratha Kissoon
“Gas price raise fus ting.. is whuh dis place coming to?”
Monday morning after New Years – streets are wet and skies are grey. Place is nice and cool.
Minibus driver working with his wife as conductor. “All ting gun raise now.. “
Gas price and Guyana’s misery were not on my mind. A sweet turpentine/julie mango which might have been dying had given me wonderful joy and serious belly wuk I think. I have a habit of eating around bird bites and so on.
The mango did not taste as though it was dying.
One woman told me that as she has aged, she can only handle two mangoes at a time. Another woman wrote about the two mangoes on her tree as a sign of hope. This duality of mango joy and mango belly wuk was more on my mind that gas price.
I have been piling up the rejected mangoes under the tree.
At the root.
Thinking that there is something nice about how the decay nurtures the soil and the other animals , and the thing which gave me belly wuk was a useful thing for the tree to give more .
A kind of worship.
The obsession with trying to make use of the dying mangoes was more on my mind than the gas price.
I was aware that the Red House saga was alive and well on New Year’s Day. Stabroek News a whole set of letters were there on New Years day, just about Red House..
I thought of the taxi drivers who did not know where Red House was located when I had asked them.
2016 ended with news that Minister Volda Lawrence was able to raise up some people to go and picket against the PPP outside Red House.
There are videos of someone like her pelting a man who had allegedly shoved one of her colleagues. She has not denied that she pelted the man.
Minister Lawrence was the only PNC leader there it seems facing up to the PPP cabal who have never been out protesting in the night before.
It wasn’t clear if any of Minister Lawrence’s colleagues who have been accused of raping children were with her facing up to the other people who have been protecting those who have been accused of assaulting women and children.
The army has denied that it sent people to take back Red House. Minister Volda’s colleague Minister Harmon has declared he did not know who was there at Red House on his behalf.
Was Minister Volda taking matters into her own hands to deflect some of the worries of the PNC supporters , so that they could be reminded about more important things like National Monuments than gas price and VAT and so?
On the 3 January, 2017 there was a strange article in the Kaieteur News which was not carried anywhere else “Museum honouring former President Hugh Desmond Hoyte opened” .
The article does not state the date of the opening event or the location of the museum.
A few people told me it was at the home owned by the late President Hoyte. He had endeared himself to many people by living in his home during his time as President, and rumours are that he also endured black out with his neighbours.
I hope the museum has a recording of the memorable speech he gave near Cuffy in February 1986 when he announced that the ban on flour had been lifted.
People had roared and cheered. I don’t know if Minister Lawrence would have been there cheering on Mr Hoyte.
Minister Lawrence was the main speaker at the museum event. She and Mayor Green were prominently reported.
It seems fitting that the house would be converted into a museum for the late President Desmond Hoyte. Nobody talks about Mr Hoyte except when they want to counter what Burnham did.
It is a shame that the opening did not receive more coverage and that more information is not available about access.
Cheddi Jagan’s House in Bel Air , Georgetown had been opened to the public as a Heritage kind of museum.
The house had come up again for public discussion when Jagdeo said he was living comparably with Cheddi .
It seems that the house has since been closed, and I have heard that it is up sale. No legacy there in the humble house that Cheddi lived in.
I think the narrative is now that Red House is a National Monument which the PPP try to thief to cover their shame that the only signs of Cheddi’s legacy is in the Marriott Hotel which is walking distance from Red House and the GAWU College.
In fact, Minister Volda and her colleagues made more news and attention than the revelations that the Marriott is still in a mess and that an Entertainment Complex and Casino are in the making.
There might be a room for the Cheddi Jagan collection.
It seems as though the ownership of the Marriott, and the strange company called NICIL are going to remain mysteries.
In the week after Red House, some Guyanese seemed to be preoccupied with Silk trappings. Silk.. one of the bizarre colonial legacies when the State decides which lawyers are better than others and where it looks bad if you have an Attorney General who does not have the letter S.C after his name.
Apparently this Silk thing is dear to our nationhood as the practice to beat children in schools and to discriminate against LGBT and other minority citizens.
The day after the minibus driver was lamenting the rise in the gas price, the news was that Minister Lawrence would be responsible for the Health and well being of the nation. There was a shuffle of Ministers.
More mad people pelt at those who offend them in Guyana more than say any voter or citizen pelting at other citizens. Pelting like how the woman in the video which was circulated was pelting.
The woman must have been pelting at all the men who assaulted women and who seem to get away with it.
The woman must have been pelting all the men who successive Ministers of Social
Protection/Human Services have had to defend in their political parties.
One PPP supporter told me ‘see.. she is like bheri, assaulting a citizen.. where are the protests?’.
A few days after the pelting video went viral, Minister Lawrence took up the the office which had been held by slap-and-strip-bheri.
There is something about this cycle which is vicious, which is not the healthy cycle of death, regeneration, birth but one of spinning in a rut and not moving anywhere.
When I pick up the dying mangoes, I throw them worship-like at the root of the tree and look forward to more mangoes.
I could contemplate since I have no other power, putting up faces of all the people who have been abusing power under the tree and pelt the pictures. Pelt like how the woman who looked like Minister Lawrence did in the video while confronting the PPP.
She must have felt good and relieved and have no other mental health concerns.
But the anger might be bad for the tree. The mango tree might wither and die.
Throwing the mangoes lovingly at the pictures of those who abuse power might not have the same effect.
So while we will not pelt, what else can we do to ensure that Guyana’s mango trees can benefit all of us?
“Gas price raise fus ting.. is whuh dis place coming to?”
Monday morning after New Years – streets are wet and skies are grey. Place is nice and cool.
Minibus driver working with his wife as conductor. “All ting gun raise now.. “
Gas price and Guyana’s misery were not on my mind. A sweet turpentine/julie mango which might have been dying had given me wonderful joy and serious belly wuk I think. I have a habit of eating around bird bites and so on.
The mango did not taste as though it was dying.
One woman told me that as she has aged, she can only handle two mangoes at a time. Another woman wrote about the two mangoes on her tree as a sign of hope. This duality of mango joy and mango belly wuk was more on my mind that gas price.
I have been piling up the rejected mangoes under the tree.
At the root.
Thinking that there is something nice about how the decay nurtures the soil and the other animals , and the thing which gave me belly wuk was a useful thing for the tree to give more .
A kind of worship.
The obsession with trying to make use of the dying mangoes was more on my mind than the gas price.
I was aware that the Red House saga was alive and well on New Year’s Day. Stabroek News a whole set of letters were there on New Years day, just about Red House..
I thought of the taxi drivers who did not know where Red House was located when I had asked them.
2016 ended with news that Minister Volda Lawrence was able to raise up some people to go and picket against the PPP outside Red House.
There are videos of someone like her pelting a man who had allegedly shoved one of her colleagues. She has not denied that she pelted the man.
Minister Lawrence was the only PNC leader there it seems facing up to the PPP cabal who have never been out protesting in the night before.
It wasn’t clear if any of Minister Lawrence’s colleagues who have been accused of raping children were with her facing up to the other people who have been protecting those who have been accused of assaulting women and children.
The army has denied that it sent people to take back Red House. Minister Volda’s colleague Minister Harmon has declared he did not know who was there at Red House on his behalf.
Was Minister Volda taking matters into her own hands to deflect some of the worries of the PNC supporters , so that they could be reminded about more important things like National Monuments than gas price and VAT and so?
On the 3 January, 2017 there was a strange article in the Kaieteur News which was not carried anywhere else “Museum honouring former President Hugh Desmond Hoyte opened” .
The article does not state the date of the opening event or the location of the museum.
A few people told me it was at the home owned by the late President Hoyte. He had endeared himself to many people by living in his home during his time as President, and rumours are that he also endured black out with his neighbours.
I hope the museum has a recording of the memorable speech he gave near Cuffy in February 1986 when he announced that the ban on flour had been lifted.
People had roared and cheered. I don’t know if Minister Lawrence would have been there cheering on Mr Hoyte.
Minister Lawrence was the main speaker at the museum event. She and Mayor Green were prominently reported.
It seems fitting that the house would be converted into a museum for the late President Desmond Hoyte. Nobody talks about Mr Hoyte except when they want to counter what Burnham did.
It is a shame that the opening did not receive more coverage and that more information is not available about access.
Cheddi Jagan’s House in Bel Air , Georgetown had been opened to the public as a Heritage kind of museum.
The house had come up again for public discussion when Jagdeo said he was living comparably with Cheddi .
It seems that the house has since been closed, and I have heard that it is up sale. No legacy there in the humble house that Cheddi lived in.
I think the narrative is now that Red House is a National Monument which the PPP try to thief to cover their shame that the only signs of Cheddi’s legacy is in the Marriott Hotel which is walking distance from Red House and the GAWU College.
In fact, Minister Volda and her colleagues made more news and attention than the revelations that the Marriott is still in a mess and that an Entertainment Complex and Casino are in the making.
There might be a room for the Cheddi Jagan collection.
It seems as though the ownership of the Marriott, and the strange company called NICIL are going to remain mysteries.
In the week after Red House, some Guyanese seemed to be preoccupied with Silk trappings. Silk.. one of the bizarre colonial legacies when the State decides which lawyers are better than others and where it looks bad if you have an Attorney General who does not have the letter S.C after his name.
Apparently this Silk thing is dear to our nationhood as the practice to beat children in schools and to discriminate against LGBT and other minority citizens.
The day after the minibus driver was lamenting the rise in the gas price, the news was that Minister Lawrence would be responsible for the Health and well being of the nation. There was a shuffle of Ministers.
More mad people pelt at those who offend them in Guyana more than say any voter or citizen pelting at other citizens. Pelting like how the woman in the video which was circulated was pelting.
The woman must have been pelting at all the men who assaulted women and who seem to get away with it.
The woman must have been pelting all the men who successive Ministers of Social
Protection/Human Services have had to defend in their political parties.
One PPP supporter told me ‘see.. she is like bheri, assaulting a citizen.. where are the protests?’.
A few days after the pelting video went viral, Minister Lawrence took up the the office which had been held by slap-and-strip-bheri.
There is something about this cycle which is vicious, which is not the healthy cycle of death, regeneration, birth but one of spinning in a rut and not moving anywhere.
When I pick up the dying mangoes, I throw them worship-like at the root of the tree and look forward to more mangoes.
I could contemplate since I have no other power, putting up faces of all the people who have been abusing power under the tree and pelt the pictures. Pelt like how the woman who looked like Minister Lawrence did in the video while confronting the PPP.
She must have felt good and relieved and have no other mental health concerns.
But the anger might be bad for the tree. The mango tree might wither and die.
Throwing the mangoes lovingly at the pictures of those who abuse power might not have the same effect.
So while we will not pelt, what else can we do to ensure that Guyana’s mango trees can benefit all of us?
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