Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Minority Rights in a Secular Democracy  Transcript of presentation made at a forum organised in Georgetown, Guyana on 27 April, 2003 to discuss “Sexual Orientation as a Fundamental Right”   "Well, I’d like to thank Mr. James for that introduction and to also thank Vidya for inviting me to this forum. While there is a lot of stereotyping in this world. I think ROAR is stereotyped also. So it’s good to be breaking out of whatever those stereotypes might be to be able to comment on some wider issues. I would also like to welcome this opportunity to be part of this project, so to speak. Where we as a people can begin to discuss and have discourses about our society and the nature of our society because ultimately a society has to have the willingness to be a community held together by common values. But values are a bit amorphous sometimes because values do change and that is one of the points I wish to make. But they change based on society grappli...

Some people sing. Some pray and meditate. Some smoke. Some have sex. I read. I don't know when I started reading in the toilet. I have memories of hearing 'Hurry up and get out ,  you musse got a book in there'. I remember books, newspapers, old magazines and then in my teenage years, porno magazines. It is now a bit addictive though. No matter how urgent, no matter the rush, I still try to grab something to read. Normally I read the newspapers of the day before. It is annoying when I pick up the wrong newspapers. And I have to be kind of careful.. because eyebrows are raised when I pick up the whole pile of Sunday papers .. as though I would not be coming out. The legend goes that I got my first name from toilet reading. The patra said my name had to start with "De' (as Dee sound) and they could not find any.. My father apparently was reading a Times magazine article about Moshe Dayan, an Israeli Minister and shouted out to my mother from the toilet.. ...

They say that it is human, the emotions and the actions cannot be controlled. Every action has a reaction and every reaction has a further reaction. Desire is complex. Illicit desire is even more complex. It is easier to say when you fall in love with (and not just in lust with) that you can let go. And so it is the inevitable happened and my friend found out that I was the outside man, in fact one of many because my loving of my loved one also included frank and open discussion about honesty and relationships. This is the second time in my life that I have hurt someone who I did not intend to hurt. My friend had me in great respect and kindness. I had told my loved one.. we will be sensible. I told my loved one once.. I will kill you if you ever hurt my friend. We were not sensible. Even though time and distance were apart - my loved one and I were trying to connect after about three or four years,  it is ironic that the reconnection with the loved one would generate ...

One morning I got up with thoughts racing and decided to walk in the yard with the camera. I tried a photo blog  thing.. it is on Facebook   Click on each of the images in the Facebook Album to open the slideshow view.

It took one email from one former friend lover asking 'what's happening' , followed by a phone call from another former friend/lover to 'check in' to paralyse and shift the mind to the past and the battle to be civil . This happened on a day that I met a new client and that work had to be presented. So again, it was easy to mask.. to deliver on some work and leave the clients happy, while at the same time.. feeling the despair and the anxiety which comes with wandering.. how to remain ethical with these former friends/lovers and be civil and polite without descending again into a fog. One of the critical ways of managing mental health is to understand the 'triggers' for depression, and to find ways of managing them. I tried working on the triggers.. I know that some I cannot avoid.. and I also know that eating well and exercise will help to deal with triggers. This month I felt a breakthrough in understanding some of the triggers and finding ways ...

De bus man is  a Sai Baba devotee so I jump in de bus an' we talk 'Sai Ram' . Meh min' deh pun de tings I gah fuh do , when de bus man shout at me.. 'Wuz Gandhi a homosexual'. I jump an' seh.. whuh? Who? . Bus man seh how dey bad namin' Gandhi an' sehin how he wuz a homosexual. I seh.. suh whuh wrang if he wuz a homosexual.. he aint do whuh he had to do? It mek anyting different? Bus man seh.. dat is not de point, but how dey could lie? I seh.. well far as I know, dey find de love letters dat Gandhi write to de white man he did like. Bus man seh.. so what.. two man cyan like each odder? Why can't a man tell anodda man he love him wid out it being homosexual ? I seh.. well all ah duh.. true true.. but how you know dat dem aint had someting going on? Bus man seh why dem Christian people slanderin' Hindu leaders like dat.  I tell de bus man, nah.. is because you lookin' at de ting from a christian perspective , dat you tink so...

I asked the girl if her resort would entertain gay and lesbian couples on honeymoon and without skipping a beat she said yes, they have had already and they do not discriminate. President Ramotar said he wanted to preserve the Institution of marriage at the opening of Wedding Expo.. and true, you need marriage before you could have weddings. I went around the booths asking about their services for gay and lesbian people. Splashmins said yes, they do not care. I ask the girl if she would call the police if two men rent the honeymoon suite.. and she said, no, it is none of their business what their  customers do. I also ask if it is possible to have the honeymoon without the wedding and quickly she pointed me to their lovers package.  Arrowpoint said that they have all kinds of ceremonies and they have no problems with entertaining gay and lesbian couples if they want to come down. Toya's Exotics.. had all their products of lingerie, toys, oils etc for 'the wedding...