Port of Spain

I realise I'm going in a haphazard manner, but really I'm just writing whatever comes into my head. Recently I've just returned from a long vacation in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. It's a beautiful little city located on the edge of Trinidad, overlooking the Gulf of Paria.

Now when you think of the Carribbean, you imagine a laid back setting, with palms dotting the beach and lots of singing and dancing. Well, Trinidad and Tobago is a lot like this, with liming (translated into lounging) being prominent in the nightlife and weekends.

There is a very famous Carnival held before Ash Wednesday in the season of Lent. I didn't have the opportunity of witnessing the Carnival, but I got a chance to meet Brian Mac Farlane, who is an artist who represents social and cultural issues of the past and present through his band in the Carnival. It was lovely to meet him and to see his thought process and creations.

There is a very dominant Indian population on the islands, which comprises of descendants of indentured labour who went to Trinidad four generations ago. They have remained true to their heritage, eating and celebrating festivals which we celebrate in India. They have a number of temples on the island, and I got the opportunity to visit some as well and interact with the Indian community.

Some have seen India now, some haven't. Ofcourse a lot has changed since Independence and since 1991, when we liberalised our economy. Some however, have not seen the changes and don't know how far we have progressed. Though a lot of work remains to be done, I know that a lot of good people are at work and India is developing, slowly but steadily.

One thing that struck me was when a family said that they had not met their daughter for the past four years and how they only met her for a week when she had come to visit. I think that technology has made a difference, and such long interludes between meeting become shorter because of the Internet, email and telephone.

What comprises a culture? What comprises a heritage? Language is one of them. Trinidad is one of those places where Hindi has completely disappeared. People listen to it, but don't understand it. And a lot of people I met sensed that they should know it. Now I'm not saying that my Hindi is perfect, but I do know the language. It was interesting to see how a whole people can forget their language and not propogate it further to future generations. What links the next generation to their past then? There has been a revival of the Hindi language now, with more people interested in learning the language.