Ready for CWC 2007: 'Channa Man' seeks vending rights
Stabroek News
December 10, 2006
Roaming vendor, Leslie Greaves, best known as 'Nut Man' or 'Channa Man.' (Photo by Jules Gibson)
Itinerant vendor Leslie Greaves, also known as 'Channa Man' or 'Nut Man', is looking to secure vending rights at the Providence cricket stadium, East Bank Demerara come Cricket World Cup 2007.
Greaves, a popular figure with his basket on the streets of Georgetown, sells parched, salted and unsalted nuts, raisin nuts, channa and fried split peas. He is also a familiar sight at cricket venues, including the Bourda cricket ground during domestic, regional, test and one-day cricket matches.
He said he has applied for vending rights through the CWC 2007 Local Organising Committee in Georgetown. "I am fully prepared for CWC. I've sent in my application form with all the requirements. I am waiting for a phone call," he told the Stabroek News adding, "and I hope it would be successful."
Greaves said he has been selling on the road for 28 years now. "I normally don't miss international cricket. I go to all the matches." However, he admitted that because he must move around to sell his wares, he could never sit down and enjoy a match. Without a doubt his favourite side is the West Indies.
When there are test matches he would pay the Guyana Cricket Board for a special pass to do his vending in the venue. For smaller matches, "I would normally buy a ticket and go in," he said.
He said that for Cricket World Cup 2007 the organizers would have to be stricter but he does not want to be left out. In addition, he said he has customers who look out for his nuts at cricket. He said too, that even cricketers from some of the test playing countries have come to know him, especially from those on the Indian team.
He made enquiries at the LOC about what would be required for vending and feels that he has met the criteria, including having a valid food handler's certificate to ensure that the vendor is fit enough to handle food for human consumption. How-ever, he said, he was cautioned that his application did not mean that he would be granted permission.
"Without exaggerating," he said, everyday people would ask if he would be going to the CWC matches in Guyana. During a recent visit by an Indian delegation to Guyana, he said, he met one of the cricket fans who regularly follow the team from India.
The fan asked him if he would be at Providence and encouraged him to apply. He had thought that it would have been as easy as getting into the venues with just a pass as applied to the test matches.
However, he observed that he was lucky to have had his application sent in. Even though he had heard about having to apply, he procrastinated at first then when he decided to uplift a form it was just before the deadline for applications to be submitted.
At first, he said he was a bit anxious about applying but he said he was encouraged by the people he met in the streets and eventually when he got to the LOC office he felt even more encouraged that he had done the right thing.
Asked whether there was enough information for roaming vendors to take advantage of the vending opportunities that might be available, Greaves said: "There is enough information out there for people like me. You tend to hear plenty on the street but you also have to make sure that the information is correct." (Miranda La Rose)