|
Bring back the old time days
Posted: Monday, February 25, 2002
By Peter Ray Blood
With the hustle and bustle of Carnival 2002 behind us, maybe we can take a little stroll down memory lane. Let's go back to the days when Trinidad and Tobago was a peaceful colony, when the lines of decorum and behaviour were well defined, and children knew their place, and adults assumed the responsibility of being role models, without being paid or appointed to be.
Before proceeding, let me say that portions of this were borrowed from an e-mail message sent by a friend, residing in the United States, but all of it applies to most people around my age and older.
Well, let me think a minute. I was born before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill. There was no radar, credit cards, laser beams or ballpoint pens. Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers - the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air, or sunned on a chicken wire bleacher - and man hadn't yet walked on the moon.
Couples got married first and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, "Sir"- and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir." We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centres and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent. Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins. Draft-dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started. Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends - not purchasing condominiums.
We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt or guys wearing earrings. As a child I came to know rediffusion.
We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny and the parliamentary debates from the Red House on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with "Made in Japan" on it, it was junk.
The term "making out" referred to how you did on your school exam. Pizza Hut, McDonald's and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had five and 10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for five and 10 cents. Ice cream cones, phone calls, rides on a tramcar (around the Savannah), and a Pepsi were all a nickel (five cents). And, if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your five cents on enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.
In my days, there were no video games, video cassettes, video players, Spielberg, Indiana Jones, Stone Cold, The Rock or Lara Croft. But, on the front steps of the gallery, my late grandmother used to tell a mean fairy tale about soucouyant ("Gang Gang Sarah"), douens and other folk characters, with such clarity and detail that all the boys in the neighbourhood would be too scared to walk home afterwards.
In my day, "grass" was mowed; "coke" was a cold drink; "pot" was something your mother cooked in; and "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby. "Aids" were helpers in the principal's office; "chip" meant a piece of wood; "hardware" was found in a hardware store; and "software" wasn't even a word.
And, we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap. And, how old do you think I am?
Isn't all of this pretty scary if you think about it, and pretty sad at the same time?
Did somebody say 30 murders in the first two months of the year? Was another child stabbed in a schoolyard yesterday?
Schooldays was happy, happy days
When I wrote the back-in-times piece on my primary school days at St Crispin's Anglican School in Woodbrook, little did I know it would generate the responses it did.
One of these came from no less a person than former national football captain Carlton "The General" Franco, who lives in the US.
Franco not only shared some of his recollections from when he attended St Crispin's but also informed me of some of the school's outstanding alumni.
Among the sports hall-of-famers Franco recalled are former national goalkeeper Lincoln Phillips, West Indies wicketkeeper Deryck Murray and Olympian Edwin Skinner.
Franco said he believes former West Indies opening batsman Joey Carew was also a St Crispin's old boy, but he wasn't too sure of this.
He also reminded me that St Crispin's principal, Mr Samm, being the sports enthusiast he was, had a concrete cricket pitch built on the school grounds in the early '50s, a very ambitious project for an elementary school at that time.
In 1950, when Franco was chosen captain of the North elementary football team for the North-South match at Skinner Park, San Fernando, Mr Samm gave the school a holiday so that the students could travel by train to see the match. Samm got in trouble with the education department of the day, because he did not seek permission to do so.
Those were the days when there were no hostilities between teachers and students and teachers went that extra mile for their young charges.
Tied up on uniform
I guess that when old age starts to creep in, one's memory starts to slip out. A few weeks ago, in another of my deja vu columns, I stated that girls attending Tranquillity wore ties. I was wrong.
The fact is only the boys wore ties, yellow and brown ones at that. But the girls, like those attending St Francois Girls' College, wore panama hats.
Tranquillity was for years divided into boys and girls, until 1964, at which time some parents took exception to it becoming a co-ed school. The school's uniform was then changed to blue and grey.
Doh stop de Carnival
Did I hear correctly? Cancel Carnival 2003? Another lunatic suggestion in this land of "imps", this time coming from a bunch of citizens who are supposed to be intelligent, analytical and sober when discussing issues that impact on the national community.
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is a most unique animal and requires special and individual attention by all who participate in this annual festival.
So, instead of reacting in a state of panic in determining a solution for Carnival crime, the business community would be better advised to become more involved in this so-called "national festival."
While I might be accused of generalising, over the years you could count on one hand the corporate citizens that make any tangible contribution to Carnival. For instance, how many companies, or executives, depart from their professional enclaves to volunteer any hands-on assistance to a community steelband, mas or music band, or individual artiste?
How many, though, with their own children attending school, would invest in some kind of well-organised programme of exploiting the Carnival arts in education; whether it's pan in schools, or teaching students the rudiments of calypso composition, or bending wire to make a Carnival costume?
Carnival generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the State and business sector annually, but how much of this is reinvested in the arts and the artistes?
It is true that the hands-on custodians of Carnival also have a responsibility to fix the bloody mess our Carnival has degenerated into. In most of the festival there is no sense of management or organisation, with the tail continuing to wag the dog.
For starters, to solving crime in Carnival, the young people must be taught and counselled about the history and significance of Carnival. This will only begin when a government comes into power with the resolve and appreciation that Trinidad and Tobago culture, in all its myriad manifestations, is a damn serious matter. It deserves not just its own ministry, but the highest respect and attention, on par with the high profile treatment afforded the energy, security or health sectors.
 Send page by E-Mail
|
|
