SHAL Mangal would like to get up and do things around the house and yard, but his movements are curtailed by a mysterious ailment which has prevented him from walking, due to intense swelling of both feet.

The 64-year-old was at the time of the visit by the team to his home in Reliance Settlement, East Canje, Berbice, reclining on a rocking chair and his feet were propped up by a wooden stool, under which a pillow was placed for that cushioning effect.

Mangal is not pleased with his current health condition because he would like to be active, mostly to assist his wife in gardening.

“Our son came to visit over the weekend so he made a big pot of cook-up rice; so we don’t have to cook today, it has a lot leftover and we will ensure it doesn’t go to waste,” he said.

Mangal is a stickler for cleanliness and his yard and house is always well-kept; so in the event that they have visitors, the place must be clean at all times.

A lot can be said for his discipline and the way the home is kept. He was taught at an early age to be tidy and knows how to keep a home, since he came from humble beginnings.

Mangal is originally from Goed Bananen Land, also East Canje, Berbice, and his wife Kamlawattie Mangal, is from Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice.

The pair is renting a house in Reliance Settlement which has very clean surroundings and is outfitted with flowers and plants.

Mangal is the father of three, all of whom are leading their own lives, but would visit from time to time and telephone every day to check on them.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that life was hard growing up because they had no roads or potable water supply.

Mangal stated that he had to wade through knee-deep mud to fetch water to fill a tank before going to school every morning.

He recalled it was from his home in the back street he had to walk to get to the standpipe in the village some distance away.

Mangal added that he used to be tasked with “jabbing” the bottom house with mud and cow manure with his bare hands and had to accomplish that on his knees once weekly before his mother came home from work.

He was the product of hard-working parents. His mother bought and sold greens at the market and would later open a small shop at their home which he managed, being the eldest child.

“I had to do things the right way or no way because if things weren’t as they should it was ‘licks’ and back then you couldn’t give no back answer or answer your parents like nowadays,” he said.

Mangal stated that he is the eldest of six siblings and he was given a lot of responsibilities, even for his age he had to learn to do many things and he had to very quickly.

He noted that his parents were good people, but their downfall was his hard-working but alcoholic father, who eventually caused his mother’s death when she was 48 years old as a direct result of a severe beating.

At age 14, his mother depended on him to assist in the chores, he did everything else except the cooking but he knew how to cook.

She would return home from the market to cook and they would wait until his dad returns home from a bout of drinking ‘bush rum’ with a friend down the dam; after work it was his routine to imbibe.

He would return home and pick quarrels and it would end very badly for his mother, who was on the receiving end of many blows to the body.

“My father was a big man, a strapping fella, who worked as a cane cutter and he was not afraid of anybody or anything, but he drank every day after which he would tend to the garden, then things would go haywire in the home,” he said.

Despite the abuse meted out to his mother at the hands of his father, he remembered that they never wanted for food, clothing and a good ‘licking.’

Mangal recalled his parents did not hesitate to discipline them and instilled good values in them as children and he is thankful for that good upbringing which led him through life as a gentleman.

He had his first job at the Blairmont Sugar Estate and by that time he was married and was a cane cutter for 15 years.

He and his wife relocated to Suriname for five years and it was then he became ill and they had to return to Guyana.

Mangal told the pepperpot Magazine that he got a job at the Psychiatric Hospital as a security guard for some time and also worked at Ansa McAl and Toolsie Persaud.

It became difficult for him to work and he was discharged as medically unfit for work and had to stay at home.

Today, Mangal can no longer engage in any strenuous work due to his condition and relies on his wife to assist him.

To bring in an income his wife Kamlawattie Mangal, would make chicken foot and plantain chips and sell at the roadside in the afternoons.

This couple also plant their own vegetables and they would at times utilise the outdoor fireside to cook meals.

“The best part about living in Reliance Settlement is the peace and quiet it brings, with no nosy neighbours peeping into our affairs and the people pretty much mind their own business. Having no neighbours is a good thing here for us,” he said.