Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

General T&T

My small, thin Trini wedding

By Raffique Shah
November 14, 2023

Raffique ShahIf someone had told me 50 years ago that I would endure, maybe even enjoy, 50 years of marital bliss, I might have forgiven his ignorance, or likelier ignored his backward thinking, and moved on with whatever I was doing.

In those days I considered ­myself a revolutionary in the image, if not likeness, of Che Guevara, and a flag-waver for the Age of Aquarius generation, both of which had sworn to destroy the “backward” institutions that had “expired” stamped all over them as the modern world trotted along, shedding the old, embracing the new. The 20th century was going to be a game changer, big time.
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Africa, General T&T

Principles in politics

By Raffique Shah
November 01, 2023

Raffique ShahI know, I know: the words principles and politics hardly go together. They are more like an oxymoron. But fool that I am, until the day I breathe my last, I shall strive, in whatever way I can, to have politicians and their publics see the wisdom of insisting that they find ways, making principles an imperative for those who seek high public office, and for those who put them there.
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General T&T

Andre, a walking exemplar

By Raffique Shah
October 24, 2023

Raffique ShahWe know him only as Andre. Never asked for his surname, nickname or other identification marks or details, the way you might be tempted to scrutinise a banker before you deposit $100 in his sanitised surroundings, what with their propensity to magically make money disappear, according to recent media reports.

With Andre, what you see is what you get: a six-foot-plus whacker-man, walking erect almost with pride, one might say. With his weed-cutting equipment sloped on one arm, and his strides even, much like a soldier’s, one might see him any day in communities around Claxton Bay, where he lives.
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Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Music, a universal language

By Raffique Shah
October 17, 2023

Raffique ShahA 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 lest we disturb our neighbours. As I walked to the living room where our small music player is housed, I saw my wife sitting, tapping away her fingers to the rhythm of the music, and my daughter going about her normal schedule for the day. All doors and windows in the house were shut tight so nobody could complain about noise coming from our house.
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Finance, General T&T

Trinis can, must, do this

By Raffique Shah
October 12, 2023

Raffique ShahFinance Minister Colm Imbert is too experienced in Cabinet to not know when he fixed the new minimum wage per hour—TT$20.50—he was, in fact, proclaiming a not-so-new maximum wage.

During my years as an active trade unionist, I became all too familiar with this legitimate, lawful reaction of many employers, mostly in the commercial, agricultural and some heartless manufacturers, stating to anyone who seeks employment with them, “You will be paid government’s rates…that is, $20.50 an hour, $164 a day for daily paid and roughly $3,300 for the month.”
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Violence

Bloody Tuesday

By Raffique Shah
October 03, 2023

PART 2

Raffique ShahRamdwar (Dennis) shouted, “Gas!”

Gas, meaning CS: Crowd Dispersal Gas commonly known as “tear gas”.

The police wasted no time. It was like the proverbial “dog whistle”. Every “ranker”, Randy Burroughs and his “Flying” squad were there, as well as a large contingent of recruits, pounced on the peaceful workers and farmers raining blows with riot staffs, which were thick and heavy. Many bones were fractured on that day.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas

The true Bloody Tuesday story

By Raffique Shah
September 27, 2023

Raffique ShahIt was a chance encounter with one of only a handful of books on the contemporary history of Trinidad and Tobago that triggered memo­ries of another time, another day. I refer to the late Owen Baptiste’s publication, Crisis. Owen published that book in 1978, shortly after he quit the mainstream news­papers.

A bit of nostalgia struck me: I had to re-read something in it, and I thought why not the beginning. I should add that the front cover carries a photograph of three policemen dressed for internal security operations, wearing the then-traditional anti-riot garments and equipment.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Violence

Power in the barrel of a gun

By Raffique Shah
September 19, 2023

Raffique ShahLike most people who live in this country, many of whom, like me, will never leave the twin-island republic to live any­where else in the world, I am not only concerned but I am disturbed by what seems to be a deteriorating crime situation, especially crime that involves violence. At a recent news conference, I heard Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, not for the first time say, “We have become a very violent society.” Judging from the reports of criminal activities that we get in the media, that perception seems to be the truth.
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General T&T

What do they know of History

By Raffique Shah
September 12, 2023

Raffique ShahAs soon as he confirmed that I was ‘the’ Raffique Shah with whom he wanted to speak, he quickly established his bonafides and pedigree as a Presentation College Chaguanas alum, a die-hard Pres Boy. He had attended out alma mater many moons ago but not as many as I have, given I must be a decade or more older than him. He, too, like so many boys from the Caroni plain had had the benefit of the college’s class education from the premier secondary school, we might say the ‘best’ in the country, but he went on to return ‘home’ as soon as he graduated from university and landed the job as a teacher at the institution. Therein lay the right he had earned to sing praises to ‘Pres’ or to tear it apart if he felt he didn’t like what he saw, or rather what he is seeing today.
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General T&T

Ah Leaving

By Raffique Shah
September 05, 2023

Raffique ShahIf there is one thing Trinis like me, who still have an interest in Independence Day celebrations, look forward to, it’s the ever expanding volume of calypsoes that we enjoy coming from just about every radio and television station every year. We enjoy a bonus when, as happened this year, popular calypsonian and singer Denyse Plummer sadly passed on. Last year when Black Stalin [Leroy Calliste] passed on after a prolonged illness, his body of work being second in numbers only to Sparrow, we feasted for months on some of the best calypsoes ever, composed and sung by a bard of his stature.
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