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August 2: Do you know there is another Freddie Kissoon who lives outside of Guyana and in not a Guyanese citizen? Stay with me as I take you on a journey of funny stories in my life as when I became confused with another person who has the same name with me.
I decided to let you know about the other Freddie Kissoon after I found out about the death of one of Guyana's leading political scientists, Dr. Paul Singh this week.. I didn't know Dr. Singh had died. The inexorability of decline in Guyana preoccupies the average citizen. The concatenation of deadly events sink you in a vortex of pessimism and no time is left to think outside of the walls of survival. So you pay no attention to little important news items that pop up here and there. My introverted life prevents me from visiting the cocktail circuits, the barbecue abandonments, the nocturnal haunts, the public confabulations, the shampoo avenues of people watching people. So I guess I do miss out on many important details. One of those that I regret I missed out on was the death of Dr. Singh. Through a chance encounter this week, I learnt of his death.
I grew up (academically speaking) in front of him at UG. In the later years of his life, he became disenchanted with UG after failing to achieve professorship while watching lesser scholars with political connections bypass him. He became a very bitter man. I saw this chagrined hurt in his eyes before he migrated to Jamaica and I pledged to myself that I would fight to make UG a better, more decent place. I am begging the PPP, the PNC, other opposition group and civil society to help me in this task so that Dr. Singh soul can rest in peace.
I always remember the other Freddie Kissoon when I think of Dr. Paul Singh. The other Freddie Kissoon is the son-in-law of Dr. Singh who lives in Trinidad. A few years ago, the other Freddie Kissoon was visiting UG in Guyana. So Dr. Singh wanted to get in touch with him and kept calling UG leaving messages for Freddie Kissoon to call him in Jamaica. But which Freddie Kissoon? Dr. Singh didn't specify so I kept getting these messages. Then the Head of my department confronted me, accusing me of being uncouth to Dr. Singh by not responding to his pleas. I gently whispered (which was an effort for me if you know what I mean) that Dr. Singh wants to talk to his son-in-law.
Then there was this lovely looking woman from a mulatto background who had become the head of the Caribbean Reference Library (CRL as we call it at UG) at UG. She had remigrated to Guyana and took a job in UG's library. I went to speak to the librarian of the CRL not having a clue that it was a new person in charge. I just told the secretary to say Freddie Kissoon would like a few minutes. As I walked into her office, she hastily and clumsily forced herself from behind her desk and greeted me as if I was a ruling politician with hands on the purse string. She looked polished, urbane but her perfumed lingered in the air. With a smile that reminded you of a female pop star thanking her audience as the band winds up, she exclaimed, " I really love Calabash Alley." I gave her an intestinal stare quickly trying to decide which one of us should be made a fool. She had no control of the situation. She had no choice. I could pretend to be Freddie Kissoon, the author of Calabash Alley, and let the champagne flow. Or I could let philosophy dictate my life as it had done since my thought patterns were formed in primary school. I surrendered to philosophy, and revealed that I wasn't the author of Calabash Alley. But I confessed to her that I want to write a book that would have the word ALLEY in it, and it may be entitled Guyana Alley about the narrowness of politics in Guyana.
Then there was the big one. Yes the big one. My wife and I touched down in Grenada about noon that Sunday. We were still in conversation about the beauty of Grenada when the guest- house proprietrix knocked on our room to say I have a visitor. The guy told me that Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop would like me to attend an urgent meeting at the Holiday Inn with the wife of Harry Belefonte. I was taken back. I arrived on the island to advise the Government of Grenada on foreign affairs and before I could put my head on a pillow after six hours in the skies, the PM had a task for me.
The car came, I kissed my wife, and off I went to meet Mrs. Belefonte. The Holiday Inn was filled with foreign and local dignitaries. No one recognized me, no one knew me, no one looked in my direction. I wore a long-sleeved jersey with the University of Toronto logo on it, a pair of black Levi jeans, and a pair of black loafers with the appearance of a Caribbean diaspora young man whose hair needed a good trimming. I couldn't make out who was who. The white women looked alike with their tans, and the white men looked alike with their short, tourist trousers, and designer sandals. I approached a woman who was wearing a long flowing dress made of African print with a kiskadee yellow head wear. I introduced myself as Freddie Kissoon who just came in from North America. I was whisked away to the company of a woman who introduced herself as Mrs. Belefonte. Mrs. Belefonte then introduced me to a very-tanned American named Falk. Ms. Falk then told me about her husband. He was a world famous Princeton professor whose books I had to read at all the universities I have been to. Mrs. Belefonte told me that Grenada will be holding a cultural event sponsored by UNESCO, and since she heard I was on the island, she would like me to use my talent as a playwright to help with that section of the event.
So I guess you know now that there is another Freddie Kissoon. He is the famous Freddie Kissoon of Trinidad. He is a Caribbean personality. He is much older than I am - around the late sixties or early seventies. Much taller than me - with a complexion that is similar with physical features that are quite different from me. And one thing for sure - with a hairstyle that makes us look extremely dissimilar. The other Freddie Kissoon, or the Caribbean Freddie Kissoon or the famous Freddie Kissoon writes plays of which his most famous is CALABASH ALLEY that has become one of the Caribbean's most enduring literary works since it was written in the sixties He also writes short stories and some of his works can be found in the CRL at UG. In all the CARICOM territories from Jamaica to Guyana, he is known in literary circles. And no, I have never met the other Freddie Kissoon. As for me, am I content to live life in Guyana as the less famous Freddie Kissoon.