DeAbreu’s letter brings back memories

Jun 18, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor:

By coincidence or Divine intentions, Bakra Eid brings a flood of emotions buried in my psyches. I just finished reading the 17 June 2024 letter by Mr. Frank DeAbreu[https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2024/06/17/the-early-days-of-business-in-georgetown/] and he triggered memories that have stayed with me for some 58 years.

On Bakra Eid some 58 years ago: annually, my father [the late Haji Mozam Ally] and his brothers would “qurbani” [sacrifice] a bull and share the meat to the surrounding communities of Supenaam/Good Hope/Aurora on the Essequibo Coast. That year [1966], after witnessing the “jabbakaray” [the actual slitting of the bull’s throat according to Islamic practice] and its attendant duties: skinning of the carcass, chopping up the meat, etc. As a curious 7-year-old boy, I wanted to know what they did with the guts? Only to be told that the guts was given to Miss Joyce [Bovell] to be cleaned at the wharf close by. I went to investigate. And as I was about to peer over to see Miss Joyce cleaning the gut, then Daniel [Bovell] swung a line with a hook to catch fish. Instead, the hook struck my right eye damaging the lens.

I was rushed to Dr. Goel, the leading eye doctor in Guyana at the time. He operated on my eye at Prashad’s Hospital. Just as an aside, many years later, my ophthalmologist at Massachusetts General Hospital asked me, who did the surgery to my eye? Fearing the worse, I told him the surgery was done in Guyana, during the 1960s, by an Indian doctor named Goel. He remarked that Dr. Goel was a genius. Given the primitive conditions of the times, Dr. Goel performed a miracle: he extracted the damaged lens without damaging my eye. It was akin to pulling the lens through the eye of a needle. Nothing short of a miracle. I spent a week in Prashad’s Hospital.

Now, back to Mr. DeAbreu’s letter. He mentioned Mr. Azeez of Royal Jewel House. Mr. Azeez was a friend of my dad. And upon learning of my mishap and my hospitalization, every day he would send a cooler with apple juice and goodies [chocolates and sweets]. Now, mind you, I have never met Mr. Azeez; but every time that I have apple juice, I remember his kindness and the taste to having apple juice for the first time. Thank you Mr. Azeez.

Every year at Bakra Eid, I say a prayer for Dr. Goel and Mr. Azeez. May Allah forgive their sins and grant them a place in paradise. And may Allah shower his blessings on the children of Dr. Goel and Mr. Azeez. Ameen.

Thank you, Mr. DeAbreu.
Sincerely,
Roger Ally

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