ADAM HARRIS once wrote that Freddie Kissoon writes about everything under the sun. I don’t know why he left out everything under the moon, also. I cannot say I disagree with him. It has been a long journey as a newspaper columnist, so I must have touched everything under the sun and moon.

Many of my complaints would have been acted upon without me knowing and some, I know, were acted on, even though the action was not directly related to what I penned in particular columns. So I was in Massey supermarket in Turkeyen on Wednesday, February 27 and what I heard playing for shoppers caused me to reflect on the thought as to if, after 35 years of newspaper presence, I have changed anything.

So when I heard what was playing in the supermarket, my mind drifted to a column I did on music in the supermarket. It was published on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 and captioned: “What do two supermarkets, Swami Aksharananda, and Freud, have in common?”

The article was about Latin music being played in Giftland supermarket and Massey supermarket. I quote from the article: “I am assuming that Massy and Giftland play Spanish songs because of the influx of Latin people and petroleum workers. What is wrong with these two retail outlets playing Latin songs? The answer is absolutely nothing. I see nothing wrong with it. So these two supermarkets can play their Latin lyrics as often as they like. But there are more Indians–both Hindu and Muslim–shoppers at these two outlets than our Latin guests. For each Latin shopper you find in a store, there are 20 Indians. The music of the sub-continent has been with Guyana since the indentured system began here. Why these supermarkets do not play Hindi songs? It has to be a baffling situation. In fact it is an enigma.”

After I penned that column, I did not hear Indian music in either of the two outlets. So I guess I was ignored. So last Wednesday, Indian music was being played in the Massey shop. I wrote that column on October 21. Today is March 2, 2024, so I guess I was ignored. But I am relieved that Indian music is now being aired and I am pleased because it was what we Guyanese refer to as “eyepass.”

Almost 95 percent of the population of this country does not speak Spanish. The Latin population of Guyana is less than five percent. Why then would these two supermarkets carry Latin music and not Indian? All Guyanese speak two forms of English. The combination is our natural language, so English music is what you would expect large retail stores to play. Even the Muslims, Hindus, and Rastafari brethren listen to English music. But why Spanish music and not Bollywood film music?

What is the answer? In that October 2021 column, I provided the explanation. That is why the name Freud is in the title of the column. The decision to carry Latin music and not popular Hindu songs, I don’t believe was deliberate or based on any bigoted thinking. The answer lies in Freud.

Deep down inside the Freudian mind of the Mulatto/Creole folks, Indian religion, and culture and music are not on par with Western Christian culture. These people innocently carry the Freudian burden that Indian culture is not as sophisticated and modern as its Western counterpart.

I believe it just came naturally for the managers to choose Latin American songs over the Hindu film songs. It did not mean that they thought less of Indians. It was just the power of the Freudian mind at work. So now that Massey is playing Hindu film music in the supermarket, I wonder if Giftland will follow. The answer is yes because in a few weeks’ time, there is no longer a Giftland supermarket. It has been taken over by the Massey brand.

I guess I would never know why Massey decided to air Hindu music in the month of February in 2024 and not before even though I publicly complained about the bias in October 2021. Well I guess better late than never. Let me close with a pellucid clarification. I see nothing wrong with Spanish music being played in the malls in Guyana. But it is wrong to do so and not play Indian music.

The logic is simply. More shoppers in the malls listen to Bollywood music than Latin rhythm and that is because Latin shoppers are very small in number compared to Indian shoppers. I close with some advice. Study Sigmund Freud and you will understand why people do the things they do.