Father’s Day? That is a strange observation

Jun 16, 2013 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Guyana is never out of strange happenings. In fact, scarcely a day goes by without people scratching their heads and wondering at what could have caused the nonsense. We start with the case of the policeman running after an escaped prisoner.
Two policemen went after the prisoner and lost him. That is not unexpected in some communities where there are so many nooks and crannies into which a person could disappear. Then there is an astonishing discovery—a policeman is found dead on the track. People suspect murder, but there are no marks of violence on the body.
A post mortem reveals that the policeman died of cardiac arrest, but this was a young man who never displayed any sign of a heart problem. Yet society has a way of finding reasons, so people claim that the policeman came into contact with an exposed electric wire that had been illegally connected. And indeed there were illegal connections, but no one has been arrested.
The next strange thing happened to another young person. In her seventeen years this girl behaved as though she was three times older. She did tell the police that she was 22. Her parents had long given up on her because she insisted that she was old enough to take care of herself.
A plane lands and this girl behaves as though she is approaching a car so she walks into a spinning propeller. There was no security at this hinterland airstrip as has been the case for decades. The arrival of an aircraft is a holiday event and people lose all sense of responsibility. They did say that she was going to the pilot to collect a package.
And just as the week is winding down a boat captain is killed. His boat reportedly develops some problem and there he is fixing or trying to fix the problem. Another boat comes out of the blue and strikes him dead. One is left to wonder at the extent of careless on the waterways in the same way that there is excessive carelessness on the hinterland airstrips.
So here we have three cases that should keep the police busy, but the woes for the police do not end there. There are motorists on the roads who are equally careless; behaving as though there is no tomorrow.
People on West Demerara spotted a car buried in a swamp. There is no report of any accident and surely the police report nothing. The society is left to worry about what is happening. People simply do not care but then again, there are those with so much money that anything goes. A car accident is nothing to worry about. “We will buy another.”
Guyana insists on telling the world that it is a poor country, but the way its people behave one is left to wonder whether this is really true. The news came that one of the richest men in the country actually bought a T20 franchise. The sum paid for the franchise is undisclosed and try as reporters might, they are not being provided with the answer.
A cricket franchise is not expected to be cheap because the cricketers do not come cheap these days. They play a few matches and they become millionaires. One would expect the franchise holder to pay each player a few million dollars in local currency. Those who are already internationally famous are paid a lot more.
I asked myself how is it that a Guyanese, a man from a poor country, could buy a franchise when there are others in other countries who are supposed to be so much richer but who cannot buy a franchise. Is it that Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop is richer than Ansa McAl? Is he richer than ‘Butch’ Stewart who owns so many Sandals hotels that exist in so many Caribbean islands?
If that is the case, then some of the allegations made against Ramroop and his friendship with the government may hold water. The story must be told but when told, will the head of the Guyana Revenue Authority tell us about the paper trail and the taxes paid as this man accumulated his wealth?
However, there is another strange thing, but this has been happening from time immemorial. Today is Father’s Day. Just a few weeks ago the world observed Mother’s Day. The shops trotted out just about everything and these were sold so fast that the shop owners wished that every day could have been Mother’s Day, which it should.
I walked around the stores and it was as though there was nothing exciting happening. I saw some of the offers, but it was as if the merchant community knew that creating a special day for fathers was like flogging a dead horse.
I fathered three daughters and they always ensured that they got something for me. I always got a book or some cologne or a card proclaiming me to be the best dad in the world. But then again, I was a good father, because these girls always collected something from me to give to their mothers.
One of my daughters-in-law always made certain that Father’s Day was special. She would come and cook up a storm. She gave me my first pedicure and this was on Father’s Day. I was one of the lucky fathers. I still have two boxes of chocolate, gifts from my eldest daughter and granddaughter on Father’s Day.
Why are fathers so ignored? That is a silly question. Many are hardly around; some forget that they are fathers and there are those who want to be fathers in many households. Imagine getting all those children and their mothers under one roof.
I remember providing my wife with breakfast in bed and cooking lunch on Mother’s Day. I never got a meal in bed unless I was ill.
Suffice it to say that some children would be heading to the cemetery to paint the tombs or to do some weeding. I will spare my children that task. I will be cremated.
To those good fathers, enjoy the day. To those who make the rest of us feel despised, it is still Father’s Day.
 

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