Dear Editor,
I have returned home like many Guyanese to get into the CARIFESTA spirit. I managed to get two tickets for the opening ceremony for myself and my wife with great difficulty as our hotel did not have any as I had anticipated. Well, I should have saved myself the trouble!
The rain was just a prelude to the lacklustre programme that followed. I waited impatiently for the parade to begin hoping to see a well choreographed entry of the Guyanese contingent. When I saw a sea of beautiful ladies in pink and white outfits following a tassa group behind the Guyana flag, I thought they heralded good things.
I was sadly disappointed as the rest of the contingent emerged in drab black looking like a country in mourning.
Those beautiful ladies in pink captivated my heart and most of the people sitting around us as they looked the most professional in the entire programme. I was later made to understand that they were from the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha.
The other items that were commendable were some men in gold, the melodious choir, the Yoruba singers and the maticore ladies.
I searched the papers the next day looking for glimpses of any of the performers I mentioned but it seemed that they were pushed on the back burner.
It is a crying shame as if it were not for those performers Guyana would have looked as if it did not have any standard at all. My wife commented to me that none of the Indian performers were featured in the papers. Well, let us not go there.
Congratulations you stunning ladies in the pink, you made a lasting impression on my wife and I and thousands sitting in our stand!
Hopefully the rest of our two weeks is better.
Yours faithfully,
Dasrath Maraj Singh
Editor’s note: Indo-Guyanese performers were featured in the Stabroek News.
why was he specifically looking for indian performers in the newspapers? Wasn’t it enough to see GUYANESE featured? Honestly ……….
he was looking to see if the media is biased guyana is a multi racial multi cultural country
I think that a full dress rehearsal or two, for most performers, prior to the opening night ceremony may have gone a long way to alleviate the lacklustre programme.
Full dress rehearsals are always in order for most artistic performances, maybe those involved forgot to do diligence here.
Guyanese people need to stop referring to race. We weren’t brought up to hate. What is wrong with the gentleman referring to the organisation that sponsered the ladies in pink? Nothing.
You guys need to grow up . There are worse things going on in the world today that requires attention, race is a frivolous matter. Every human deserves a place on earth, regardless of our color.
in reply to queen,this legacy will remain with us as long as the politicians continue to dabble i n this hatred for oneanother just pay a visit to any sitting of parliment in guyana and you will see with your own eyes the discontent and racial hipocracy of our leaders. this would’nt go away just like that it will remain with us forever like it or not.
Was he really? Wonder if he would have commented if say only Amerindian performers featured in the newspapers!!
Y’all are too funny and way too predictable!
WOW. This ignorance and bigotry never fails to amaze me. Living in the DIaspora, aren’t WE all subject to bigotry if you ain’t white American, Canadian, British, etc. EVEN Indian or African nationals don’t accept / respect their Guyanese counterparts.
Why can’t we let go of this hatred?
Indians are lving quite happily in Africa and Arab countries and Ghanians are living quite happily in India. Only Guyanese are stuck on this vicious, ignorant race issue. What pride is there in being Guyanese?