Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Dreams.. Last night I dreamed that there was a spring tide and some river flooded my yard and area with clear clean water. This morning of the 52nd Republic Anniversary of Guyana, part of the yard is flooded as the rain pours. The pumps might be working. At some point last night I remember thinking that maybe the clear clean water meant to wash away things and that no stink x dutty water remains.  I can put the meaning to the dreams as I want. And so as the rain falls , and the water is there waiting to move away..  'Haul dey stink and dutty" The PPP Government is pushing its One Guyana agenda. You either One with them, or not. And then we hear that the PPP Government is having as one of its Unifying One Guyana events for Mashramani, an event Stink X Dutty.  I am neither PPP nor PNC, but I am one with the PPP and PNC and whatever else is left for Guyana.  I check the origins of stink x dutty and see that Machel Montanan and Bunji Garlin have a song.. and referring I...

  "Like you nah mean fuh plant nuttin'" the minibus driver tells me as I jump in the front seat and fix the two salt bags of the weekly market produce so that the tomato and the banana dont' crush  and he could see the rear view mirror.  ' Nah.. me han gat blight.. some ah we gah fuh buy, nah everybady can plant'' I tell him and he said 'arite'. Another time I told him that it was not food in the bag, but aile money which I could not keep in the bank. He said 'arite' then too. I don't worry about the seat belt as I imagine that the tomato and the banana and maybe the pineapple and ochro and plantain chips and so on might together buffer a crash.  Saturday morning and I am relieved that there is no rain because holding umbrella and two salt bags while trying to manage wallet and money 'look yuh money fall down' is not as good as just slowly walking through the market and looking at all the nice fruits and vegetables and imagini...

  The pull of the bright tangerines  Bourda Market Saturday morning.  I intend not to ask the price of anything I want to buy. I am not a farmer and I do not understand how prices of fruits and vegetables are determined. Something has gone wrong since the 2021 floods though. The weather has been good for the last few months and the prices continue to be flood time prices. I am not a farmer. I have no idea what is going on in the farms.  I wonder about the people who might stop eating fruits and vegetables in favour of cheaper things without nutrition. Signs of the prosperity coming with the oil? Where 'organic' and 'fresh' will become fancy and expensive? The tangerines have the bright well orange/tangerine colour. Man says 5 for a 1000.  Tangerines are my favourite fruit. I know the season has finished and that the Guyana grown tangerines are not usually this colour.  Maybe imported?  I ask the man for one though, just to get a taste of the tangerin...

  Deep breath.  Inhale. Exhale  There is a beautiful moon out. Nice sunsets.  Thoughts are all over. Body is paining in different parts. Things to be done.  Bora to be cooked.  I don't want to do this now.  But like so many other things, I have no choice.  Breathe and shift thoughts to the task.  Cut the tops of each small bundle. Check the tips.  Wash the bora, run the fingers down the length. Feel the bora. Breathe. Concentrate.  Bora is piled up.  Hands are relaxed.  Bring mind down to the knife, the board. relax the shoulders on the exhale.  Grateful for the bora and the things I can eat and do.  Remembering the big orange moon and thinking I am one with the moon don't fight it.  Now to take the time, ignore time. No hustle here to chip the bora.  I am no chef, no expert. Move knife down, try to imagine similar lengths.  Think of the other people who do this without thinking. Remembering...

First time making New Year's Resolutions. The times though seem to call for them. The pandemic continues. The PNC and PPP will intensify divisions in the oil rich democracy as their way of survival is to  destroy each other while the oil exploiters take the oil away and leave debt and inequality behind. 1. Breathing like a corpse  The Savasana pose - the corpse pose- looks like the easiest yoga one.. lie down and breathe while scanning the body to release the tensions. But it is not so easy. The the mind is taken away from things which might seem important to focus on the breath and the body. And so breathing as a corpse, being a corpse is a way of grounding and also being away and detached. And encouraging others to do the same. 2. Sankalp सङ्कल्प) Morning is rough , moon is moving. Feet are sluggish. Deep inside I think as soon as I get home, I need to do the yoga routine. Most outside thinking nah.. go chill out, eat, take a break, place cold. The sankalp, the intention th...

    Beyond the mask "You think I would not recognise you with the mask" the woman said and I could imagine her smiling behind her mask as her eyes were bright and face relaxed as faces do when people smile. I had been shuffling down the pavement, tripping over the bumps and so and at some point I thought to lift my shoulders and look ahead and walk purposefully and so on.. The woman walked passed me and turned back. Bright red turban, armless dress. Back straight and smooth quick movements. "I can never forget yall" she said.   The late 1990s in Guyana. The man who married her was abusive to her, burn her with hot water. Her church did not believe in divorce. Help & Shelter and Legal Aid had just started up. The legislation was being tested. "I was depressed for a long time.. grateful for everyone who helped .." she said, remembering counsellors,  lawyers, people who had to walk with her. "I surrendered to Yahweh." she said.. "in the nas...

  Rivers The woman laughed as she held my hand. She was helping me to climb out of the boat on the fairly steady river. She said it is the first time she had to help a man and every time I saw her, she laughed. She and her husband were kind to hold my hand in and out of the boat. As man, I don't ask for help normally but my balance is bad and if I had to get to work, then.. It was nice to be on the river, once I got in the boat. Kamarang and Mazaruni Rivers - for a couple of days I had to use to get some work done.   Nice breeze blowing, pulling down the mask and hoping that no Covid-19 virus blowing anywhere across the water. I saw children paddling canoes. A pensioner paddling her canoe with a child, and I remember the last time I tried to row a boat in a river and nearly capsized it. Another woman who was from the river said that more than drowning, be careful because the waters are polluted with the mining. She would not use water from the rivers.  All the surfac...