Dear Editor,
The local cost of living traumas is sending struggling citizens into some curious realms. The residents of Rasville and Roxanne Burnham Gardens had their say, and their responses ranged from the down-to-earth to the educational to the stoic to the grueling to the, well, peculiar. It was a journey for me.
“I can’t say the cost of living is high, and I can’t say it is low.” See what I mean, and that is fantastic, one man finding that refreshing mental oasis in this rocky, sandy territory. The big money people should be thrilled. They did tell us. On the opposite side of that spectrum, a woman had this to put on the table in front of all Guyanese (including those same big people): “by the time you break the money, it finished.” Break the money and it breaks the hearts of many honest Guyanese. One man’s soothing philosophy is a woman’s jarring reality; the former doesn’t break into a sweat; the latter is breaking apart. There is a gruesome finality in that word (“finished”).
From another, I learned something. It is called integrated agriculture which insulates to some extent from cost-of-living hardships. Integrated agriculture, hmm, a call will be made to Zulfikar, who should know. Whatever it is, it is worth a try. Somewhere in between these three coping, managing, surviving Guyanese, there were those who had access to two safety nets, what I call gems. One is a business; the other is family. I have none of either luxury; and as for family, the rich ones want nothing to do with me, while the poor ones, well that’s best left unwritten.
Another woman struck me right in the solar plexus: “the cost of living is not only affecting my family, but the community because the prices of items are double the prices in the markets… a lot of people would be hungry.” Hungry in Guyana? Nah, nah, no way! That can’t be right. It is, all of it, however it is said. Yeah, I have to be a hardhead and push hard things like these. There were a few citizens from the Rasville and Roxanne Burnham Gardens area (I wonder how it is in Caracas), who cut to the chase. Now the blustery people are going to get truly angry with me. These hardy residents hit the nail right on the head. Even the dead nail is screaming in protest. Get ready.
A pack of chowmein was $260 now it is $380 (46.1538% more). A parcel of bora used to be $200/300, today it is $800/600. If I take $600, it is still 300% up; I refuse to deal with $200, or even $300 to $800 where it may now be. Shoppers must travel with $200,000/300,000 to the market. That must be a typo, one zero too many for the market. I would have to eat grass. I am serious, since this is no laughing matter. A 10-kg sack of rice rose to $2100/2000/2200 from $1300, which like more than 50% any way it is massaged. I am not done yet, for a small bottle of cooking oil that was marked at $260 now fetches $460. If I were to say close to 100% in the wrong direction, I am sure to be derogated as a naysayer, troublemaker, distractor, and traitor.
My thinking is unprintable, but as an aid it begins with the first letter following the second vowel in the alphabet. In this snapshot of prices, not necessarily year over year, or quarter compared to quarter, this is the horror and tragedy of living in one of the richest countries in the world. The mystery is how do the people that are way brighter than me can look at prices and talk about the basket being in the low single digits. Somebody is making a jackass of Guyanese.
Now analyze this, government, goons, and good citizens: the cost of living is one baad dude. Some other ones in suits and briefcases, the new uniform of the imprisoned and the enslaved, think that I am one for persisting with these circumstances and saying that Guyanese at the bottom of ladder, those close to the line, are in deep, ah, trouble.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall