Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Georgetown, Guyana

In metaphorical fashion, the book “Light of the Bhagavats”, by author Srila Prabhupada, likens lost souls to the thundering clouds. To quote, “The forgetful living entities, individually and collectively, make sounds like thundering clouds: “I am this”, “It is ours”, or “It is mine.”
In a similar way, the forceful Guyanese sea breeze whipped its way across the flat coast as if to say, “I’m here”, “I’m strong”, “I can move things”. All night the wind made his presence known through sound and touch. He crept through my window at the house of host Haresh and Dolly, just a two minute walk to the Atlantic sea wall constructed first by the British and Dutch in the mid 19th century.

Haresh, Radha Gopinath from Toronto, and Rupa from New York, accompanied me on a westbound trek by the sea wall from Haresh’s home to the Pegasus Hotel. We had taken in the breeze, the sun, and the humidity. As early as 6AM, people are already lined up to relax, or snack, or fish, or to do puja, a Hindu ritual with the use of coconut and flowers. Some men were sitting with bird cages containing their pet song bird. They readied themselves for a competition with each other, a routine Sunday morning practice, betting on whose pet would sing the longest.

My sponsor for the trip to Guyana is an accountant from Canada, Ram Lila, who came to whisk us away by vehicle for an abhishek, a liquid ritual for the sacred images of Caitanya and Nityananda, two stalwart foot travelers from the medieval times of India. I spoke on the significance of Padayatra, a celebration for pedestrians who sing, dance, and drum in rhythmic fashion, before an enthusiastic community who would participate in a village to village foot journey celebrating the joy of the soul for the coming walk.

A trip over the Demerara River by way of a crude bridge to Crane, a town with a second community, was looking forward to tomorrow’s padayatra. Our small crew savoured the local cuisine of dahl puri, split pea soup, and fresh locally matured fruit.
The inhabitants in the land of plenty water, Guyana, are of two major descents – those of the Africa and India. Both groups generally respond well to outdoor events to do with any beat in the heat. Personally, I can’t wait.

12km