My new suit

November 20, 2008

Staebrock Market is a fascinating place. Right smack dab in the center of Georgetown, hard up against the docks on the Demerara River, Staebrock market is one of the most eclectic places I've ever visited. Every smell, every color, every sound you can imagine is here. Outside, fruit vendors, bread vendors, hucksters, money hustlers shout at every passer-by trying to sell their wares. Stalls filled with baseball caps (mostly NY Yankees...not many Red Sox fans in Georgetown), leather goods, belts, sandals, hats...you can buy anything here. The cries of the vendors are mixed with the cacophony of horns from the cars, taxis and mini-busses that edge pedestrians out of the way as they make their way through the crowds.

Inside, butchers reduce cow, sheep and goat carcasses to select cuts for the buying public. In the next stall fish mongers prepare any of a hundred different fish caught that morning for the buyers. Mixed in with the smells of fresh meat, fish and vegetables, both fresh and rotting are the pungent smells of spices...every imaginable spice in huge wooden bowls.

Towards the back of the market are the fabric vendors and in one dark corner is the stall of Basdeo Persaud. On a previous trip I had talked with him about making a suit fro me that I could leave in Georgetown to have available when I attended Toastmasters meetings or other functions requiring a suit and tie. Basdeo, said, "sure, I can make that suit for you. Jacket, fully lined, two pair of pants...I can have it ready in three days..that will be $135 US".

Today I'm going back to pick up my suit. At Basdeo's stall, he lays down a piece of cardboard for me to stand on, I strip down to my shirt and underwear...the ONLY reason people even look my way is that they don't see many white men standing in their underwear at the back of Staebrock Market. The suit fits perfectly, I pay Basdeo and it is off into the searing sun of the Georgetown morning. I will wear my new suit to the Toastmaster's training program for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.