Highway reflections on Mandela

Well, that wasn't very nice, now was it? Ramone, a seller of fish and other sea creatures, made a disparaging remark about a woman's hairdo, as he sat on the soft shoulder of Mandela Highway in St Catherine. The woman, who had moments earlier been reviewing the man's stock, walked off, saying the fish were too cloudy-eyed to be tasty.

"Cloudy lacka yuh pop-down hairstyle!" was what Ramone came up with as a retort. The woman let the insult go unreturned. I asked Ramone, a man I met a year ago and with whom I had been having a pleasant conversation earlier that day, why he chose to be so mean.

"Ah true still, but she feisty, man," he said. Ramone, a woman called Patsy and a gap-toothed teenager, nicknamed Dumper Truck, all sat together near the Ferry Police Station. Cars, buses and trucks sped by, though there weren't many vehicles on the road. It was early afternoon on a Wednesday, certainly not rush hour. Dumper Truck had with him a small battery-powered radio. He held it up close to his ear, shaking his body to the beat of dancehall music.

"Ketch dis yah one yah," said Patsy, pointing to the young man. "Ah so comes yuh mek people tink yuh head tough. Before yuh pick up yuh book." Dumper Truck did not seem to care very much. He just kept on dancing.

I mentioned the fact that Nelson Mandela, the former South African president for whom the highway is named, was in hospital. "Yes, mi did hear!" said Ramone, his eyes wide. "Me and a man was out here talking bout it wah day yah. What a ting eeh man."

Ramone said that he and Patsy have been selling along Mandela Highway since the early 1990s, and that the significance of the name has never escaped them.

"Ah Mandela, yuh know," said Patsy. "Ah nuh pyah pyah ting. People fi glad fi drive pan Mandela Highway. Dem fi know seh dem man deh ah di real big man, so dem fi tek care ah di place."

Ramone seemed troubled. I asked him what was the matter. "Mi nuh really feel seh dem shoulda did name it so," he said. Patsy seemed annoyed. "Mi nuh seh di man nuh great, yuh know. But mi feel seh is a whole heap a bad driving gwaan out here. And den yuh have accident and destruction when rain drop. So dem shouldn't bring Mandela inna dem tings," Ramone reasoned. Patsy hissed. Dumper Truck just kept on dancing.

"Mi all did get hold up one night out here. Man threaten fi jook mi down wid knife. Tell mi now, how Mandela drop inna dat?"

Dumper Truck, much to the annoyance of Patsy, made a shooting sound, lifting his hands in the air.

"Same ting!" Patsy exclaimed.

"Ah dat Mandela did ah fight. Foolishness lacka dat. And see we deh pan di man road ah buss pretend gun," said Ramone.

"People nuh fi so fool fool. Mandela ah di big boss. Like how him sick and ting, we shoulda use that fi see if we can start think more positive. We caan just big and fool fool pan di man road so," said Patsy.

Where should Robert go next? Let him know at robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com