By Raffique Shah February 08, 2025 Old age is a B!!ch. Growing up as a boy in rural Trinidad, I would often hear that refrain coming from the mouths of people who were, well, old. In those times, anyone who had a couple grey hairs or whose skin looked like leather, or who walked around … Continue reading Hiding our inhumanity
By Raffique Shah December 21, 2024 Over the past two to three years, I have destroyed two cooking pots, having forgotten them on the stove and not having adhered to the safety rules we had agreed to enforce. It was not deliberate, of course. I can easily explain how it happened and why, as we … Continue reading Amid your revelry, stay safe
By Raffique Shah November 27, 2024 Trinidad was a bountiful island. It once was almost self-sufficient in food production. Its economy for the past 50 years has been reliant on its oil, gas and petrochemicals. To truly understand how close we came to being a gem of a country, citizens of today need to know … Continue reading Not culture, dis is madness
By Raffique Shah October 16, 2024 It is said that if you live long enough, you would have seen and heard “Everything”. I am closing in on 80 years and based on my last 30 years’ experience, I do not think I have seen close to everything. I guess the wise men who made that … Continue reading Lead by example, PM
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe February 20, 2024 “A Quest for Truth” was delivered on Monday Night February 19, 2024, at the UNC’s forum on crime. The Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, leader of the UNC, other members of the panel, distinguished members of the UNC, ladies and gentlemen and those who are present at the Chaguanas … Continue reading A Quest for Truth
By Raffique Shah February 19, 2024 It took Machel Montano 40 of his 49 years to creatively and graphically make an emphatic statement on this senseless commess that surrounds calypso and soca. I am still not sure however that his contention—that soca is the soul of calypso—is correct, but he laid down the gauntlet for … Continue reading Machel resurrects the old
By Raffique Shah February 13, 2024 I can see it clearly today as I did back then 70-odd years ago. My brain at eight years young focused on the sweet melody that came from the one steelband that passed through Freeport Junction. By 6 a.m. when the junction came alive with about 800 people of … Continue reading When music ignites passion
By Raffique Shah January 23, 2024 Eleven years ago, when I first reported that I was diagnosed by several doctors with Parkinson’s disease, I thought I knew then much about this neurodegenerative condition for which there was no cure. Back then, the only persons I knew who had PD were actor Michael J Fox, my … Continue reading Parkinson’s patients mission
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe October 23, 2023 The following is a lecture delivered at the Pa Gya! A Literary Festival in Accra, Ghana. First of all, I wish to thank the hosts of this marvelous festival for inviting me to participate in it and for allowing me to share my ideas of how literature, … Continue reading Art and culture in West Africa and the Caribbean
By Raffique Shah October 17, 2023 A few days ago, I awoke from an afternoon nap to the sound of Indian music literally filling the house. I was somewhat disoriented transitioning from sleep to wake but also, because of the volume at which the music was being played. We hardly ever turn the volume up … Continue reading Music, a universal language