Let there be light. There was, and it was good. The lights have come on all over the city. That’s good, too. I am sure that it glows even more in the wide and small spaces of the countryside. Whether many diyas or just one. Or a single flicker of light only, with the tiniest sliver of light; so tiny as to be almost invisible, but still detectable, let it be. Light is about the purity of truth. A sacred day to all Hindus, and while at it, for sure, to Guyanese of every belief. For where there is light, there is life, a certain kind of life.
An unknown man, at once made famous and notorious by the pen of scribes, asked long ago: what is truth? When it is seen, it is known. End of all conversations. When it is spoken, it has an immaculacy about it that goes beyond the merely credible. Truth comes out of the pores and hair in quiet conversations, or big conferences. It is Diwali, so let there be that tranquility in the atmosphere. Truth is not what I say (or anyone else, no matter how high or low). It is just what is. Undeniable.
Unconquerable. Unusually extraordinary and to such an extent that it becomes the normalcy of man and moment and environment. No finger is pointed on this auspicious day. The door is opened for brotherhood to walk in, with a smile, a hand outstretched. Mine is. No exceptions. A man may be a reviler and vilifier of the most despicable putridity; he is still my brother. He is me and I am he.
My fellow Guyanese, the light must be on the inside. There is the ferocious test. The externals, the peripherals, they are all ephemeral. For here I am, a rich man, the quintessential Guyanese man, for this is what this country has tried to make of me. And so, too, every other Guyanese.
The numbers say so; and it is the status that should be. But rich in what? Long, brilliant arguments that are devoid of that one sacred element: truth? Where truth is a stranger, then the presence of any light is held as an enemy. Simple as that, and just as profound. No disquisition is necessary. What is there to dispute? A frame of mind such as this is immeasurably helpful in purging differences, and starting fresh. A clean slate. A bright, surging energy. Not the one that gushes forth from a seabed. Or a bank vault. But from some undefinable place from deep inside.
When there is light inside, then no man is feared. When there is the willingness to represent truth, go to war for it, then all the diyas in the world, all the candles in sacred spaces, are magnified into many countless points of light. We (yes, we) have distorted and deceived so much in this country that darkness is embraced as divinity. Whether red or green or yellow, or any other color claiming to be light, the past and the present confirm how much deception is king in this country. Light may travel at speeds that stagger the imagination. Its freedom to register and spread in Guyana has collided with an immovable, impenetrable wall of darkness. All the diyas and candles in the world may brighten for a moment, and then the darkness resumes its reign. It may be the sanctuary of the temple, the home, or even the street. But when hearts are compelled and convulsed towards the straits of darkness amid that halo of temporary light, then how could there still be the expectation that the God of light looks favorably on whatever is offered?
The foreigners should not be permitted to come here with their own brand of light and truth, and that dominates. I rebel. Neither should what contradicts light and truth, when originating from local powers, be given any favorable reception. I battle. There is an awesome simplicity, an incomparable majesty, about the light of truth, be it a speck or a shred, that cannot be defeated by armies or assassins, for it is almighty. Those who try inevitably fail, even though they don’t know how much. Diwali is about a day (the dark tide of night), and then so much more. Diwali is a state of mind. It is gracious. Diwali is about looking a man straight in the eye and being straight with him. The citizen may be a peasant with a plough, or one with the unextinguishable power of the pen behind him, but he or she is owed a debt of truth. For truth feeds justice. Justice preaches to integrity. Integrity comes from a house with a special ray of light. No loudness is required. No circling necessary. This is what is stood for, that’s all. And because of an unswerving dedication to such an ethos, the world is a better place. Diwali defeats darkness. Let us all give our all to make Guyana a better place, the best that it could be. I am so committed, so swear. So help me, every person in this land. And along with every power that is clean from anywhere else.
