Trinidad is a Real Country
Trinidad is a Real Country
Trinidadians have a rather
strange saying : “Trinidad is not a real country”. It’s a light hearted but
often frustrating commentary on how “tings” are done in T and T. These
things range from: complaining about vendors , selling
their produce outside of the public markets , to the problems with what initially appears to be difficult public
servants and customer service. We say “initially appears” because most of these often maligned public
workers, are pretty cordial , when approached with a smile or a little joke. They are similar to their Caribbean counterparts.
However, customers who are not always pleasant are supposed to be
always right ! Trinidad still has a very
entrenched hy-brid system of local and central government and its not unusual ,
to be given an answer to a problem , in a local burrough and then realise that
the entire transaction could only be completed by the public officers in Port
of Spain. The problems and processes are
similar throughout the region. To put it bluntly, politicians usually mess up the system and then
leave the problems in the laps of innocent public servants and the people , who
never see the politicians immediately after the elections , find scapegoats to
vent their feelings . However, and this is from very personal observation, their
anger seems to subside because on
leaving the offices, they have this huge smile, still complaining and the
refrain : Trinidad is not a real country , is heard.
This unique personality is
embedded within the culture of T and T and if we accept that culture defines a
people , we also have to accept that the culture is real and therefore the
people and indeed the country are real. Trinidad’s uniqueness and culture are
the products of a country, that is constantly seeking real peace within itself.
However the seriousness of the people is
usually overlooked by the saying that all Trinis like to do is fete. Yes, they
love to fete and they have earned that right because they seek to exist in a
cohesive manner. And they do have the exclusive record of producing the only
musical instrument in the twenty first century;
they have one of the most popular global carnivals and collectively they are
the calypso kings and queens of the
world. Sometimes we tend to forget that a calypso was the first million dollar
record .
In terms of sheer intellectual
brilliance, no other leader within the region has yet matched Dr. Eric Williams
and no writer is in sight of surpassing the polarizing figure V.S. Naipaul. who
has been compared with Shakespeare. We often forget that before the
dominance of Jamaica in global athletics , the Trinis had done rather well and in terms of
beauty the they long ago showed the world that winning world beauty contests
was quite common. And , while
hating to rub salt in some wounds , those who understandably thought that Sir
Garry’s record of 365 not out was beyond reach , were dumfounded, when prince
Brian , came along and broke it twice !
The Indo and Afro population do
not pretend that there is no racism or differences among them but what they
steadfastly refuse to do is allow such differences to define and emasculate
their diverse culture. Hence the number of holidays and recognition of all
cultures clearly shows that Trinis are higjhly respectful of their history.
Amazingly, Trinidadian whites appear to be absent but if we attend Panorama or
any cultural event , they are well represented in the numbers that are
consistent with their demographic.
So, as we watch Trinis head home
with their boxes of Kentucky or indulge in expensive shopping trips to the
malls , we need not worry about doubles, seheenas and corn soup disappearing .
Development always brings downsides and in many cases it submerges the authenticity
of a people. But what makes Trinidad real is that its diverse culture will
never be successfully penetrated. We may find a few tears here and there but the
culture is withstanding the invasion quite well. Its like seeing a four year
old sing soul music, that makes us aware that soul will survive. Well I saw a
five year old Trinidadian playing pan and the tears that flowed from my eyes
were very real.
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