Category Archives: Culture

Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, Music, Security

Total disrepect

6 Comments

By Raffique Shah
February 12, 2012

Raffique ShahI HAVE been nursing a not-so-quiet anger since last Sunday’s Panorama Semi-finals, and no, it has nothing to do with Despers being omitted from the finals, although I feel “a how” about that. I have asked fellow pan-fans, many of whom, like me, no longer make the pilgrimage to the Savannah, but who, nevertheless, do not miss a note, “How could they show total disrespect to pan, to the thousands who labour in panyards to produce one of the world’s biggest musical extravaganzas?”
Continue reading Total disrepect →

Africa, Crime in T&T, Culture, Education, General T&T, Race and Identity, Schools

Crime in T&T – Afri-centric Analysis

6 Comments

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
February 11, 2012

Dr. Kwame NantambuThe most intractable, vexing and perplexing problem in T&T is crime. And the raison d’etre successive governments have been unable and unsuccessful in dealing with this problem is primarily because they have all adopted a Euro-centric approach instead of an Afri-centric approach.
Continue reading Crime in T&T – Afri-centric Analysis →

Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, International, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

Malay Steps out of His Crease

13 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
February 06, 2012

PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar in IndiaIn the aftermath of the current euphoria and unbridled optimism generated from the highly successful recent State visit conducted by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissesar to India in connection with the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas it is very disconcerting to hear HE The High Commissioner of India to T&T, Malay Mishra using an occasion to promote his mission’s Hindi language program in T&T, to unleash unwarranted and undiplomatic criticisms of her alleged inability to connect with the people of her ancestral village of Bhelupur because she spoke in English- the official language of T&T.
Continue reading Malay Steps out of His Crease →

Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, People's Partnership, Politics

Impossible dreams

5 Comments

By Peggy Mohan
February 05, 2012 – trinidadexpress.com

PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar in IndiaThere is nothing strange in a person from India visiting Trinidad and being beset by dreams of connection with Indo-Trinidadians. They look so much like us…if only they could speak Hindi like us too. Once upon a time they must have…
Continue reading Impossible dreams →

Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, People's Partnership, Politics

Alternative to Crossing the Kala Pani

44 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
January 29, 2011

PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar Meeting with her relatives and receiving a Gift during the visit to her inaccessible ancestral village of Bhelupur in Indian state of Bihar
PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar Meeting with her relatives and receiving a Gift during the visit to her inaccessible ancestral village of Bhelupur in Indian state of Bihar

The official visits undertaken by Prime Ministers Panday (1997) and Bissessar-Persad ( 2012) to their respective ancestral homeland villages located in North India after receiving the Pravasi Samaan Awards bring into sharp focus the truth inherent in the maxim that God works in mysterious ways His wonders to behold.
Continue reading Alternative to Crossing the Kala Pani →

Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

To Goar or Not To Lagay

47 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
January 15, 2012

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar receives the Pravasi Samaan Award in Jaipur
PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar receives the Pravasi Samaan Award in Jaipur

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar attempted to touch the feet of The President of India, Shrimatee Pratibha Patil in true Trini Hindu-style of performing the “goar lagay” after receiving the Pravasi Samaan Award in Jaipur. The question is whether she has compromised the concept of the sovereign equality of states and infringed the secular configuration and contours of governance by this Hindu act of humility, respect, diplomacy and submission.
Continue reading To Goar or Not To Lagay →

Culture, General T&T, India, Race and Identity

Celebration of Wine to Rejection of Women

6 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
December 26, 2011

Stephen KangalThe infectious lyrics of chutney this Xmas have currently emancipated itself from the celebration and adoration of the rejected “rum till I die” theme to genuine social commentary/analysis of the deteriorating, dominating and lack-of-confidence conduct of the young Indian woman inside and outside of the marriage contract.
Continue reading Celebration of Wine to Rejection of Women →

Culture, General T&T, Media, Religion

Gifts that last a lifetime

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
December 25, 2011

Raffique ShahA CHRISTMAS Day column could be a writer’s dream, or his worst nightmare. Many among those who revel in the spirit of the season would reason that it’s the best platform from which to extend greetings to a large number of people, thanks to the wide readership that the Sunday Express commands. Others might ask, in between “hics” and “burps”, “Who the hell reads anything on C’wismas Day?”
Continue reading Gifts that last a lifetime →

Africa, Culture, General T&T, International, Race and Identity, Religion

Homecoming: Bahia 2011

5 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 22, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeFor the past week I have been visiting Salvador, Bahia, Brazil as a guest of the FUNAG, an independent foundation of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. I was invited to participate in AfroXX1, a celebration of the United Nations “Year of the People of African Descent”; my having written a chapter in African Heritage in the making of National Identity in Brazil and the Caribbean, a book that was commissioned for the event. My contribution is entitled: “African Heritage in the Making of the Trinidad and Tobago’s Identity.”
Continue reading Homecoming: Bahia 2011 →

Africa, Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, Labour, People's Partnership, Politics, Racism Watch

Sat and Devant on the Saddle

24 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 15, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSat and Devant riding high on de saddle now and dey driving a hard bargain. Many who voted for the UNC never expected them to thrust Sat and Devant on we with such force, guns ablazing. Even those who refused to vote (and I am culpably in this regard), are feeling uneasy about what is happening in the country. However, I do not think those who voted for UNC and those who abstain should feel badly. They did the correct thing in telling Patrick Manning that he had gone too far and had to be restrained. That is the essence of democracy. Whenever things go out of whack, a countervailing force always steps in to correct the excesses of any party. Silvio Berlusconi who ruled Italy supreme for seventeen years is gone. Muamar Gaddafi ruled Libya for forty two years. He’s gone. As my mamma used to say, “Nothing lasts forever.”
Continue reading Sat and Devant on the Saddle →