Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Image from http://www.healthy-heart-meditation.com/sufi-heart.html Breezy West Coast night. The powerful violinist playing and the breeze carrying the notes. Children playing and laughing. Families, Many women, some in hijab, some not. Anna Catherina Islamic Complex  compound. Sufism  is not widely practiced in our traditions in Guyana. Sufi music is known perhaps through Bollywood. The person who keeps reading Rumi is one of my atheist friends of Muslim extraction who is active in fighting against injustice . The High Commission  of India, the  Anna Catherina Islamic Complex   and others hosted Indira Naik and a troupe of excellent musicians in a crazy week. A week when the country had to deal with the PPP continued destruction of values which many had hoped had died away with Burnham The stage is a symbol of coolie creativity - the trailer owned by the Hindu man decorated and serving the purpose The man next to me wondered '...

Orange peel has more flavour than the orange juice and so a piece of orange peel soaking with the tea bag, and then milk and picking up the sugar bottle and putting it down back again and then saying to hell with it, and two spoons of sugar and relief.. Relief from anxiety about cooking and hoping that the cooking works as the diet requirements are complicated - stomach, taste - diabetic diahorrea/constipation, retching, cooking times. Relief from anxiety about crises which might or might not come forward, and relief from the idea that bad thoughts would come 'true' so don't imagine thing Relief from anxiety about the inability to constantly change plans and adjust or anxiety about readiness for immediate changes Relief from feeling funny at facing people who you can longer talk to because you cannot listen to them as you work out in your head all the things which have to be done Relief from walking on egg shells as to deal with latent violence around - in peo...

The favourite chocolate cake is made throughout the year - birthdays are usually the excuse or just like duh. The recipe has been amended - the butter milk replaced with soured milk or yoghurt, the self-raising flour replaced with a complex ratio of salt:bakingpowder:bakingsoda:flour and recently the 2 eggs with 1/2 cup crushed banana and a pinch of baking soda and maybe some extra sugar.  Baking time is not 350 degrees .. only until the cake raise and then the heat lowered a bit if the edges are cooking first . There is an extra lift given with the stick of Northwest Cocoa Sticks grated in. So with the cake, so with life... there might be recipes and instructions, but they can be changed. Heat has to be adjusted. Things can be added. Cakes are made and eaten. They are temporary really as with many things in life and also as with life itself which also ends. Chocolate Cake though,  unlike life, can easily be savoured and enjoyed for a long time.

  Now that mid-forties hit me and with all the pain and so on about, I think it is time to organise some rules of etikwette and manners and so. Knife and fork - I will not eat with knife and fork again and I will not go anywhere where I think I have to eat with knife and fork - unless I getting paid. In fact, these days I tend to say no to lunch and dinner invitations because I am finding it more awkward to eat if is not my plate in front of the TV. I say yes to dessert though because spoon is still easy to use. Eating with fingers is complicated, I can't eat any and everywhere any more especially if they have people around who might pay me as sometimes the food ends up above knuckles on the fingers.  And I clumsy bad, food always falling out the side of my mouth and off the plate and so. Ties - I will not go anywhere with a dress code and I will not wear a tie - even if I am being paid. No more ties. No more Cultural Centre until the drop the dress code. White Lies ...

Place hot and a hot Orange Bus pull up wid dark tint windows and black trimmings.. Party Cup pun de screen I know is a risk I teking.. I siddown next to an old man in short pants and nice hat and shirt .. one ah dem man who still gat style.. bus playing music and I hear 'bad man put up yuh han, and baby fadder put up yuh han and all dem who doan use candam is bad man and ting like dat ( suh much fuh de HIV money ) Driver hit Vlissengen Rd and next ting yuh know he speeding down and well.. place hat and I aint notice but old man in de hat holler at de driver.. slow down you have ol people in de bus. Old lady in seat in front of me and young lady in de jump seat. Bad man driver raise de music and ol man shout louder and driver cussing back.. so you hearing f..k old peole. 'raise yuh hand .. bad gyurl, win down'.. u mudda sk..t. slow down de bus yuh want kill we and de conductor looking nervously round de bus fuh see if anybody else gun cuss. Bad man driver fiddli...

A young woman said she would encourage any body in an abusive situation to pray and fast and then seek guidance. A pandit said that if Hindus knew their religion well, then the profile of the person who most likely to commit suicide would not be Hindu/East Indian/coolie male.  Some concerned non-Hindus wonder if it is the reincarnation thing which make so many Hindus want to kill themselves, but I think that for many persons, it is the end of the troubles in this life which is of more concern rather than the next one. We hear that bad things happen to people who do not pray or who do not pray hard enough and good things happen to people who pray or pray well. When good things happen to bad people it is probably because they are er devil worshippers or something like that. It is nice to have someone to go ask for things and to have faith that good will happen and so and to enjoy the rituals which go along with this asking and thanking and seeking of whatever. I don't ask Go...

 ( This article was published in the Stabroek News of 20 October, 2014 In the Diaspora column . It is reproduced here with links to related to content) Tears came to Clive’s eyes as he talked about the girl who had told him about her father’s abusive behaviour. The girl had asked him why he was wearing the purple corsage. He told her about the domestic violence forum which he had just attended. Clive did not expect her story of surviving her father’s violent behaviour. The forum was organised by the Institute for Women, Gender and Development Studies (IWGDS) at Anton de Kom University of Suriname (ADK) as part of their activities for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in November 2013. The forum was organised to raise awareness about domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence. The panel consisted of a judge, a member of the NGO community, and other community experts in Suriname who work against domestic violence and other forms...