Life in limbo

…Virtual piffle
There’s always been speculation about what happens after life. Some say you go to heaven… or most likely, human nature being what it is, to hell. Well, after Executive Committee (ExCo) member Ralph Ramkarran left the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), which was life to him, we’re finding out. We’d have said Ramkarran was in some kind of limbo. You know, that region right outside of hell where you hang around until the powers that be, decide what to do with you.
But Ramkarran just informed us as to where he actually is. Seems there is such a thing as “virtual reality” and Ramkarran has taken up residence there. We should’ve suspected. For the past year, we haven’t actually seen the man. The only clue he’s still around is a column in a blog called “Conversation Tree”. Conversation Tree exists in virtual reality.
Now the real Conversation Tree, at the turnoff where Ramkarran lives, has dried up and died. This was one clue that all was not well with Ramkarran. I mean, if the signifier of your existence dries up, it doesn’t send a reassuring message, does it? Anyhow, every week, the Stabber News picks up Ramkarran’s column and reprints it in its Sunday edition with a photo of Ramkarran and everything.
This is to reassure us that Ramkarran is still around…and, more to the point, that he matters. To drive home the latter point, the Stabber then goes on to carry the contents of the column as a news story later in the week. They just add “he said” and “she said” and other codes to imply that they’re reporting the words of a real life person from Earth. But in this week’s column, Ramkarran blew his cover, so to speak.
Actually, he tried to paint a picture of the PPP/C he left back on Earth. Said they’re in a virtual reality, which he first compared to the “Matrix”. But he blew his analogy when he also said the PPP/C was in the Orwellian world of “1984”. I mean, George Orwell described a real life world that would be created if true-believer Marxist-Leninists like Ramkarran ever got into power. In the “Matrix”, it’s machines that take over.
But Ramkarran really ought to visit the real world if he wants to be taken seriously. When he was back on Earth with the PPP/C, the rap against him was that he was “alienated” from the masses. Now that he exists only in virtual reality, who listens?
…Virtual arrival
We really wonder what’s going on over in the Ministry of Culture. Dr Frank Anthony comes over as a humble guy. But to paraphrase Winston Churchill, seems like he has a lot to be humble about. He just can’t seem to make up his mind on this “Arrival Day” business. Is it “Arrival Day”? Or “Indian Arrival Day”? We’re getting all confused out here. All the events the ministry sponsored seem to say, “Indian Arrival Day”, but then he shows up and talks about this generic “arrival business”. Enough already!
Then to rub salt into the confused local wounds, the ministry goes and invites two Trinis – Brinsley Samaroo and Kusha Haracksingh – to lecture Guyanese about our indentured experience. Two problems. First, these fellows are real establishment types, spouting only the “official line”. Haracksingh, for instance, used to be chairman of the Caronie, the Trinidad sugar company they eventually closed down.
Secondly, don’t we have any Guyanese who can speak on these matters? Guyana’s ethnic relations are significantly different from those of Trinidad, and people who comment on our ethnic affairs at this critical juncture ought to be more aware of our nuances.
Tambo award
With Forbes Burnham’s award in limbo (not virtual reality) – if not nixed, Barrington Braithwaite of the African  Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) took his fellow executive member Tacuma Ogunseye to task for putting the People’s National Congress (PNC) on the spot about Dr Walter Rodney. Ah…the trials and tribulations of the true believers!