The thing about Christmas in Guyana is that this particular holiday has transcended religious boundaries. Devoted Muslim and Hindu families that meticulously observe their respective religious days also participate in the festivities associated with the Christmas season.
Christmas in Guyana, then, has national embrace and loved ones show their mutual affection by the exchange of gifts and the culinary abundance that each home must have. But in a poor country like Guyana, Christmas can be discomfiting when great expectations are unfilled for a large amount of families.
I don't like Christmas. It brings to life the lacerating scars buried in my Freudian mind. I longed for Christmas gifts growing up in D'Urban Street, Wortmanville. I got a water gun one year. It was the year of plentiful in my parent's pockets. After that season, no more dreams came true. I kept that water-gun that I got when I was six years throughout my years of growing up. It stayed with me in the achievement of manhood only to be lost when the Kissoon home fell down.
I got the news when I was in Canada and thus was unable to save that piece of my Christmas dream that has reminded me of what my mission in life was.
Christmas brings home to us the stark reality of poverty in Guyana. On Saturday morning, I went to the market. I swear on my parent's grave that what I am about to write is true. Mangoes are out of season but they were going at one for a hundred dollars. Surely, that is excessive for a country where the fruit is common as the grass. Now brace yourself for this one. On Saturday morning throughout the entire market (Bourda that is), tomatoes were $350 a pound.
There was an irony in my purchase. I bought my tomatoes from a vendor and standing right next to her was Rajendra Rampersaud, an important official of the Bank of Guyana and a senior member of the ruling party. He was shopping with his wife for greens and vegetables like me.
I know Rajendra very well from the days when he was a staff member at UG. I thought of remonstrating with him over the price of tomatoes since he and his colleagues are in charge of the Guyanese economy but it was the season for goodwill, and we chatted about everything except the economy.
I am typing this essay early morning on Christmas Eve. Before I sat down to it, I dashed off to Bourda Market to ascertain if the tomato price was the same. I didn't want to be accused of falseness in my column. It is still going at $350 a pound. This is hard for poor people.
I know on reading this you will say that Freddie isn't poor; he bought high priced tomatoes. Yes, I did. That doesn't place me in any upper bracket. You want to know the truth why I bought those tomatoes?
UG doesn't give its employees any special offering for the season. But Glenn Lall, the owner of Kaieteur News, did. I worked all year round producing a daily column. On Thursday, Glenn Lall was generous to me. Of course, I wouldn't declare it to the tax man. Get one thing straight if you are reading this particular article of mine – I will not declare any additional earnings I will receive outside of my UG salary.
To do so in this socially, pathological society where wealthy people get richer from cheating the tax man would be an act of self-destruction. Any salaried employee from the public sector that wants to declare his/her income from a sideline employment has to be a fool.
Some people have, from time to time, referred to me as being a bit crazy. I don't know; maybe I am. But this I know; I am not stupid.
Back to the topic of Christmas in a poor country. Bora was being sold on Saturday for a hundred dollars for a small bundle. My point is that many lower class families will have a rough Christmas; prices are too high for many of the foods they have to buy.
One of the things that irritate me about the economy in Guyana at Christmas is how many aspects of gifts exchange have been lost. I love giving my friends three types of gifts that are universally appropriate; I am not susceptible to any argument that tells me otherwise.
They are books, records and movies. I do not know a year in my life, except for the past three years in Guyana, where I haven't sent out these items to loved ones. You can't do that in this country.
First, music. The economy cannot sustain the commercial cost of original albums. You cannot get a manufactured copy of a CD in this country. All CDs are locally burnt and the price ranges from $250 to $400. How can you present a copy of an album of Josh Groban, Enya or Sarah Brightman to a loved one? It lacks aesthetic value.
Secondly, movies. The explanation is the same. The trouble with copied music and movies is that they are being put on poor quality disc and in many instances they are not playable. Imagine giving a gift of Schindler's List to a dear friend; the family sits around the living room to see one of the greatest movies ever made and the movie cannot be played.
I truly miss original movies and albums in Guyana. This Christmas I would have loved to give Schindler's List and the music of Burt Bacharach as presents. If I live to see Christmas next year, in October, I will place three orders from overseas for Schindler's List. No matter what types of stories you like to look at, Schindler's List will move you in a deep, emotional way.
Thirdly, books. Three years ago, I almost got a stroke when I found out the cost of my daughter's Christmas gift to me. She knows I have an ongoing interest in studying the Holocaust and Adolph Hitler and the Nazi era. She bought me, “Weimar and the Rise of Hitler ” for a sum that I couldn't afford.
Well, the next year, I did get a stroke. For my holiday present, my wife purchased not one book on Hitler but two. They were, “The Third Reich in Colour” and “Tyrants.” I fainted when I found out how much they cost.
Books are just too expensive and therefore they are beyond the reach of the ordinary folks. It is such a pity because books are the most appropriate gifts for any age in any country for the holiday period and for birthday presents.
I hope all of us did play our part in helping the needy ones this season. No matter how limited were our funds, we must reach out to those that do not have in this the season of man's humane kindness to his/her fellow human beings.
In my heart, I wish all Guyanese a delectable holiday. Hope the future holds the best for us as a nation.