Bourda market is the capital of Georgetown

Jun 20, 2010 Features / Columnists, My Column

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By Adam Harris

Bourda Market is one of the greatest places to be at any time—day or night. I go there to pick up a few items every now and then and find that, that must be the only place where everybody offers a bargain. Someone sells ochro for $80 a pound and the neighbour would say, “Come over here, I can give you for $75”. I like the competition except that not everything is really a bargain.
However, for the most part, the people simply say that they all have their customers and that they do not need to attract someone who visits another vendor. But there are still those offering unbelievable bargains.
For example, there was the time when a fellow was selling tomatoes so cheap that it was unbelievable. I saw a few people buying but for the greater part, many simply walked past. At first glance I told myself that people did not have much money so they were prepared to let some bargains slip.
It wasn’t until I heard someone ask, “You all backside want give people disease?” The query was directed at the person selling cheap tomatoes. It turned out that the cheap seller merely visited the dump heap and collected discarded tomatoes. The experienced shopper would have noticed that these were really soft.
There are other things at Bourda Market. For example there is the fashion parade of casual outfits. Some women turn out with really skimpy shorts or skirts. It is as if they are convinced that the sexier they look the more bargains they would attract. Perhaps they really do if the seller is a man.
There are many things on sale at Bourda Market. A doctor can easily deduce that many men have erectile dysfunction or that they feel that they need help to complete the act. Many buy ‘bush’ to strengthen their back.
I can understand if they are labourers or weight lifters. Those jobs can be backbreaking and perhaps the bush does help strengthen the back. But to talk about strengthening the back for sexual activity is really something else. Indeed, there are times when the lower back comes into play. But the man with a weak back can always lie on his back and save himself.
Yet each time I pass by the bush sellers I can hear the plaintiff cries about getting something for the back. An enterprising few would talk about getting something “to help the boy.” I would smile. Strange, they do not sell anything to help the girl. From experience I do know that more women have problems.
Sex is important, perhaps the most important thing in life and people need all the help they could get. Just yesterday I found an article that stated that the pill to aid women in the same manner Viagra aids men is a failure; that the risks and side effects were not worth it.
Poor me, naïve as I am, could not understand why a woman would want help – artificial help to complete the sex act. Indeed, if she has a mate who needs to visit Bourda Market for bush then there may be some need for self-gratification. But for all that, Bourda Market should not have been as popular as it is.
It must have a lot to offer because ever so often I hear of strange men breaking in and trying to help themselves to something. Visitors to Guyana love Bourda Market. There was a time when the snatchers were there in their numbers. However, the vendors themselves ran them off. And the vendors can run. When they run behind you they do so with any weapon of destruction on which they could lay their hands.
It was there that they beat a man to death; they also beat another within an inch of his life, so much so that he was glad when the police came.
That market never sleeps, as is the case of almost every market. One can buy anything at any time and that is what I like about the place. What I don’t like is that sometimes I spend more than it costs me to buy the things.
There is the old woman who needs a bus fare; the drug addict who needs a change to get something to eat and the man who is a self-designated security guard. He watches over your car while you shop, and his fee is not much. And his service is offered whether you need it or not.
The other day I found out that I had three people watching my car and I learnt this by accident. I returned with the few items and set about giving a small piece to the one I saw first. Immediately, two others came up and filed their claim. With so many ready guards I wonder how it is that people still lose things.
I can lime in that market. There is so much to see and to hear. Politics is big in some sections of the market. One can hear about all the corrupt Ministers, those who talk for the sake of talking and of course, those who spend money on non-existent projects.
I got some new ideas from Bourda Market and I got an earful of the young girls who should be in school but who find some crack in the market to do adult things.
It was Slingshot who sang about Bourda Market and the things there. He too was captivated by the bush that has poisoned no one. The help? Who knows?

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