Dear Editor,
It was our version of the Ambani wedding in Bloomfield and in Georgetown. Security was heavy in Bloomfield like it was a royal wedding. Was that at state expense?
They came and left in a long endless line to Bloomfield for the Sangeet on Thursday night, and they returned on Monday for the kangan (the post wedding fete). It was the first time that Bloomfield, nay Berbice, perhaps all of Guyana, saw such a long line of luxury vehicles never thought existed in the country — land cruiser, range rover, BMW, prados, raptor, fortuna, lexus, all mostly black, but a few white and some other colors also as I observed from a verandah at the main road at the beginning of the village that is a PPP stronghold. The PNC never got one vote there.
The village was rewarded for their loyalty with a grandiose wedding almost in competition with the wedding and reception of the Ambani’s in India. Many locals were invited though they were not fully appreciated; they had a grand time, taking home nice food, lots of a variety of meat and dhal puri and other delicacies, on both days.
The neighbouring or local guests were happy to come by hire car and minibus dropping off at the main road and by walking. They can’t touch a luxury vehicle, much less to afford to ride in one. Low cost vehicles were not allowed in. They had to park a distance away so as not to embarrass the host who catered for the fancy vehicles. Roads were widened and paved on near where the home stood. The pile sheeted Middle Walks on both sides of the cross street where the home stands to the main road was done for easy access and parking.
The home is palatial. It is a mansion with the ground tiled with very expensive terrazzo. It stands out from a long distance away. It glitters, reminding me of homes I saw in magazines in the Mediterranean. It is the most beautiful home in Berbice, rivaling Jagdeo’s. How could the host, someone on a low government salary, afford the five days of wedding festivities and to build a new home with the most expensive materials and decorations? The story is well known across the country except by his two superiors who pretend no one else knows.
Guyana never had such a wedding, five days of festivities. The opulence of the ceremonies and the carrying on, the show off, was unbelievable. The Who is Who among the corrupt were there in Bloomfield and perhaps at the other programs. The President did not come to Bloomfield although he went to the Marriott reception. The Vice President wisely blanked it, opting to fly to New York so that he can claim ignorance about the grandeur and lavishness, the obscenity of the receptions.
Jagan and Janet must have turned in their graves in neighboring at Babu Jaan. The road where Jagan once lived could only accommodate one donkey cart at a time without any overtaking. The sideline dam at Ankerville is caving in; no sheet piling there where estate workers traverse to get to the back dam for a hard day’s labor. The estate workers are not so fortunate as the man from Bloomfield to enrich themselves. He has moved on from cane cutter to watchman to union advocate, to regional chair, to executive secretary, to MP, to Minister, and maybe other titles in between.
Other estate workers crave for such rise so they can also build palatial mansions, have massive wedding receptions, and have the streets where they live widened and paved to accommodate two vehicles side by side. I don’t jealous the host of the wedding and the young people. I too want same for my three teenage children. I have been a PPP loyalist. I hope I too can get ‘Minista wuk’ and my children can get billion dollar contracts.
It was a great wedding and fantastic receptions, our Ambani dream fete. The only missing part to the wedding, as we read in social media, was the visas to America for the honeymoon.
Yours truly,
Tamesh Roopnarine
