Dear Editor,
I blessed the day I was introduced to the book The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya by a letter in SN from Ryhaan Shah. Rahul, an Indian national, ‘slyly’ walked into their homes and with this book exposed all of their inhibitions, insecurities and insensitivities. If one is not careful you may think he is taunting or is laughing at those absurdities, when in fact he is delivering a message; a message of understanding and a suggestion that Guyana is a blessed place – enjoy it, make the best of it.
While I think the greatest part of the message in the book is directed to Indian Guyanese – and who is better to say it than an Indian – the fact is there are messages for every single group of Guyanese. Rahul spoke about African Guyanese and the big mistake they made post-slavery after they bought villages. He addressed the apparent disrespect all Guyanese seem to have for our indigenous population and particularly the indigenous women. Then he pointed glaringly at Guyanese male disrespect for women generally and how the failings of government and the Guyanese society have caused a lot of women to lose self-respect and esteem. He took time out to detail his personal experience with a girl he called Jan that encompasses the plight of a lot of disillusioned Guyanese women.
I have not found a single topic or reality presented by Rahul that I could disagree with. In fact this book could not have come at a better time in our country’s development. Given where our country stands after the last election, every single politician, every single Guyanese should read this book and look at ourselves. We should all look at making the adjustments to our perceptions of each other and work together for the development of our country.
The book is divided into three parts. In part one he decided to jump into the deep and give the reader an unadulterated representation of Guyanese folklore. Here he described his meetings with men in rum shops, pork-knockers and such like. I am familiar with every single joke about women, gay people and the ex-President, except one that is new to me; that is the joke about the Bajan and the sun. It is wrong to say that Rahul did not meet Guyanese of all persuasion – he certainly moved around. But, unless Guyanese morality has deteriorated severely since 2001 when I left, those jokes were not intended to go beyond the doors of rum shops and ‘backdams’ and were definitely not for the ears of women.
I am not hitting Rahul here. Maybe he very well understands the implications but had to write it to present its absurdity, especially when it may be contributing to the way men now treat women in Guyana. I must admit that after bellyfuls of laughter I was about to cast aside the book before getting to part two and wondered what was the point. In part two Rahul gave us a history lesson about how Guyana was developed and pointed out some stunning realities. I then began to realize what he was trying to do. And, the largest part of the book, part three, he dedicated to explaining his association with one particular woman he met. I do not believe a Guyanese could have made these revelations and I thank God for his intervention. Rahul did not mention that Baby, a character he went pork-knocking with, was a ‘black man’ until after the entire trip. Why did he do that? Was he trying to make the point that African people are not so scary after all? I could not help wondering how many Indian Guyanese would have made the trip with Baby after he first presented himself as an ex-convict who had mercilessly chopped a man to death. Of course Baby was lying – a typical African Guyanese trait to ‘big up’ oneself or to drive enough fear to protect personal weaknesses.
In explaining Guyana’s development, preserved from the Atlantic and swamps he praised the input of African Guyanese to the country’s infrastructure. He continued to talk about the Indian arrival which is causing conflict until today. Rahul explains the early social conflicts between Indians and Africans and pointed out the mistake Africans made in turning away from the land and agriculture in frustration.
The writer could not understand the insensitivity of Indians who could not appreciate, “The Africans had built the land, built everything on it and then been oppressed under the immense weight of everything they had built. How differently the Indians looked at it.” Rahul finds that Guyana’s biggest problem stems from Guyanese Indians’ misguided affiliations and desired ‘oneness’ with India. “Their Indianness felt more intimate than mine,” Rahul wrote. “They longed for it; I had no such longing. I was wearied by it and in fact in flight from it. They had the power to imagine their India, never having to grapple with it.”
In the area of crime Rahul loathes the representations of Roger Khan and the Freedom Fighters to Indians and Africans respectively. He talked about his conversation with a Mr Singh about Roger Khan. “The problem is that there is only one Roger Khan,” Mr Singh told him. “You need one hundred.” Rahul compares that with Akingbade, a supporter of the Freedom Fighters. He wrote, “To him the crime spree was not a crime spree but an ‘armed resistance’ a just response to police and state repression.” But strangely there is no other instance of Africans having bad things to say about Indians. After trips with African pork-knockers I cannot help wondering about the implication.
Putting everything together Rahul concluded: “And there among the blacklisted youth on an idle corner in Buxton, or in the racial hothouse of the Singhs, things are bared with bitter simplicity… Five for freedom versus Phantom, Blackie and his heirs versus Roger Khan and his cohorts, each thing seeded from something before, and that from something before, going back to the time the Africans and the Indians were put down brutally on the foreshores of South America.”
Rahul wanted to point out that the biggest loser in all of this was Guyana lacking in development and its devastating effect on our womenfolk. He spent a considerable amount of time explaining in detail his relationship with Jan. Why? To brag about his male proficiencies? No. He wanted to show this girl’s susceptibilities. A mother at seventeen, having to drop out of school and no support system or organization to help her beyond that first missed step. Her desperation and anxiety to get out of Guyana, her total dependency on a man to lift her out of bondage, so much so that she went with Rahul on an ill-advised trip to Trinidad and Venezuela, thinking that it would be an eventual trip to India or the US.
Jan, after realizing that Rahul was not saying the right words, declaring his excitement and not being able to wait to get her out of Guyana, broke off the relationship in mid-vacation. Then she did the unthinkable that would have caused her a strict reprimand if she was dealing with a Guyanese man (“Ah want back me ticket money”), she, in desperation, started another relationship – even though she could have been trying to make him feel jealous. The devastating result for her is a reflection of the female tragedies in Guyana.
While telling the story, he made particular effort to contrast beautiful Guyana with first Trinidad and then Venezuela at Christmas time. I was amused about his thoughts when a man with an American accent offered him rum and coke and said, “The finest rum in Venezuela.” His mental response, “Yuh ever taste a Guyanese rum, the greatest f’in honey in this universe…”
What more can I say? The Sly Company of People Who Care is a masterpiece, except for one thing. Rahul decided to write with a Guyanese voice. When I left in 2001 f’s and s’s were not frequent parts of speech in the average Guyanese lexicon. Maybe the jailbreak has changed Guyana for the worse. Rahul wrote as much. I understand why he was outspoken. Men’s rum-shop disregard for women must have appalled him and he wanted to highlight our absurdity, but suggest it’s typical Guyanese speech norm was a misjudgment.
Regardless, Guyanese people, we all have to pull ourselves together and make Guyana a better place. Can we delve within ourselves and get it done?
Yours faithfully,
F Skinner
