Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 24, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
The flag is fluttering in the wind on a flagpole that touches the skyline. It is said that if you stand on the moon and look down, you will actually see it.
From the reaction of people, it must be considered as the greatest event in the history of Guyana. The crowds were large and they were ecstatic. It is said to be the biggest flag and the tallest pole. One person said it was one hundred and eighty feet tall.
As it was unfurled the spectators went wild. If they knew to whom the pole was consigned when it first came to Guyana, their enthusiasm would be less vocal.
Never before has any event overshadowed Mash Day celebrations. February 23 is usually a day for persons to be partying in the streets, not watching a flag wend its way up a flagpole. The grand bacchanal in the streets this year was not missed. The vendors that usually made a lot of money did not seem to mind the losses.
The people did not seem to mind that Mash was cancelled this year. They seemed to support the idea of cancelling the revelry in the streets. You would not think that would have ever been case, at least not when the PPP was in power.
Guyanese turned out in their numbers to see the flag being unfurled. There was a sideshow. It was called a Beat Retreat. People seemed excited by that also. Imagine, Mashramani being foregone in favour of the beat retreat.
There were ten grandstands built. Each stand was said to hold 600 persons. The stands were made for seating, but it seems as if everyone was standing for most of the time.
Persons were allowed to stand in front of the stands and therefore those in the stands had no option but to do the same.
Is this what Guyanese are coming back to for May 26th, 2016? Are they returning home in their droves to see a small – and it was small – military parade.
There is yet to be published a detailed calendar of events leading up to May 26. The public needs to know whether it is another military parade that will be held on May 26 or whether the show on that day will be different.
How many people really enjoy military parades? How spectacular was yesterday’s parade? There were quite a great number of children watching on. For many of them watching a military parade would have been a first time.
But judging from the numbers on the parade square, Venezuela is likely to be rolling in stitches about the number of troops Guyana has, rather than trembling in their boots.
Military parades have always formed part of a country’s national day celebrations. It is a colonial thing.
In fact, we were told that the beat retreat is a 16th century military drill.I guess you have to have a taste or appreciation for such things to enjoy them.
Yet the military drills seem to have a large following of fans. The military parade may replace Mash permanently.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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