Strange things are happening

Apr 25, 2010 Features / Columnists, My Column

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By Adam Harris

Sometimes strange things happen when one least expects. For example, cricket is coming to Guyana and this is indeed anticipated. I am not going to labour over the belief that once there is cricket, there is rain. Everyone in Guyana believes this and I am certain that no one is going to change that belief. Too much has happened. It is like telling some people that the United States is not a bed of roses.
A reminder is the fact that for months Guyana was as dry as a bone. Tanks containing rainwater ran dry and people were either left with the option to use the water that flows through the taps or to buy bottled water. Speaking from experience, my 400-gallon water tank that collects rainwater ran dry for the second time in more than a decade.
But that is beside the point. The authorities in the country began to promote the International Cricket Council-sponsored T20 World Cup. Of course there was not too much hype at the beginning and people began to wonder whether Guyana was indeed going to host any match. Suffice it to say that the excitement picked up.
Suddenly as the event drew close the heavens opened. The rains came, as the old people would say, ‘buckets a drop’. There were mini floods in different parts of the country. My one-time classmate, Roger Luncheon, at one of his press conferences, had cause to mention this correlation between rain and cricket.
There have been three days of heavy rain and there is the threat of more. Being the supreme optimist I am going to say that the rains will not affect the cricket in Guyana. Yet I find it strange that the rains are threatening at this time.
Another strange thing happened on Friday. I happened to go to Water Chris for lunch. I was chatting with some friends and making myself a nuisance when a man came up to me and announced, “I want to tell you something. War break out between Hindus and Christians.”
I immediately suspected what he was talking about but it was indeed strange that this man should come to me of all people with this notice. Well if the war has broken out there has been no shot fired in Guyana.
I know that some Hindus are angry that a teenage girl died because she was taken to a Christian Church where the pastor and some members of the congregation prayed over her. Stranger still is the fact that the girl’s parents are not in the least angry over the fact and they are saying that they want the issue to be brought to a close.
But the government has ordered an exhumation and has brought in a pathologist for a second opinion. I am glad that the child was not cremated. But suppose she had been, would there have been this continued interest at the national level?
I am convinced that there is more than religion here. Bishop Juan Edghill made some observations about the pastor and his wife. Perhaps this may be at the root of the confusion that led to one of the groups representing the cultural values of East Indians in Guyana to call for an investigation.
The other strange thing that happened this week placed me at the centre of the issue involving Chandra Narine Sharma. I followed the developments with the interest of a reporter. I was privy to the information that the story would break on Monday last week. At least one television newscast and one reporter carried the story. The newspaper that I edit was silent.
Kaieteur News got into the fray 24 hours after everyone else but I got a message that I was behind the problem. I was surprised and shocked at the same time. I may know a lot to things and I may be behind many investigations but this was surely not one of them. I deliberately stayed away from the court and I refrained from pronouncing on this issue which is turning out to be extremely sensitive.
I saw photographs of the crowds that gathered outside the court in support of Mr Sharma and I saw the curious ones who made claims that suggest that they were in opposition to the support.
I got a report about one of Sharma’s relatives announcing to a member of Kaieteur News that she knew who was the staff member of Sharma’s television outfit who called to tell me that Sharma was faking it in the court and in the hospital.
I must say that this woman, whom I have known for years, must be one of the best sleuths in Guyana. But it is indeed strange how
I turn up at the centre of this issue. I am likely to be blamed for the visa revocation.
Suffice it to say that the action by the United States Government is not strange. From as far back as I can remember, people at the centre of criminal investigations or sordid reports have had their visas revoked. Lennox Harris, nearly two decades ago, was charged following the discovery of a large quantity of marijuana in a container. He was not convicted in the courts but his visa was pulled. He only knew this when he tried to enter the United States.
Many others have suffered this action although they may have escaped criminal action. The United States consular department has a policy that is akin to “going to crab dance and getting mud”. This is not strange. Where there is smoke there is fire.

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