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The Genesis of St Clair
St Clair has long been known as the finest real estate in the island. In a recently bygone era of colonialism it was the preserve exclusively of the uppercrust of the ruling classes where elegant...
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Life of a child —Part I
Just like Charles Dickens, the great Michael Anthony shows in his writings—The Year in San Fernando and the classic coming-of-age novel, Green Days by the River—what life was like through the eyes of a...
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Life of a child —Part 2
Last week we examined the existence of a typical lower to lower-middle-income child in the city of Port-of-Spain over a century ago. Today we look at what it would have been like for their counterparts...
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From The Pen of Naipaul
This year would have marked the 110th birthday of Seepersad Naipaul, who died quite suddenly in 1953. An unobtrusive man with a penchant for written drama he spent years as a correspondent for this...
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From The Pen of Naipaul: Dodd’s and Ferrol
“With this boy, whose name was Alec, Mr Biswas became friendly. The colours of Alec’s clothes were a continual surprise, and one day he scandalized the school by peeing blue, a clear, light turquoise....
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From The Pen of Naipaul —PART II: Bicycles and Prefects
The epic novel of Sir V S Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas is based largely on the life of his own father, Seepersad Naipaul. Mr Biswas, the ailing and forever futile hero of the book owned two main...
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Things to drink
“He cycled down the High Street. Just past the shop with the Red Rose Tea Is Good Tea sign, he looked back. Anand was still under the arcade, next to one of the thick white pillars with the...
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Anchor and Oil
One of the most complex characters in Sir V S Naipaul’s The Suffrage of Elvira is Ramlogan, the fat, hairy rumshop keeper who constantly feuds with his neighbour, the Goldsmith, over a multitude of...
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The Moose Bhagat Mandir
In 1887 James Henry Collens noted with amazement about his observances among indentured Indian labourers and the depth of their faith, particularly their knowledge of the Hindi epic, the Ramayan:“The...
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Trinidad’s shellfish treats
Before bake and shark, before doubles, before accra, there were oysters. At the Banwari Trace midden in south Trinidad (the oldest human habitation site in the West Indies), the first people...
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The Tobago Gaol—PART 1
Around 1769 the capital of Tobago moved to Scarborough from Studley Park and thus needed some sort of garrison. By May 1770, barracks, a powder magazine, military hospital and cistern had been erected...
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THE TOBAGO GAOL PART II
Before the removal of the garrison in 1854, the Royal Gaol had been in downtown Scarborough, in a cramped stone building best suited for about 20 persons but accommodating 50, both male and female.The...
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A shopping trip to Frederick Street—Part III
The Bonanza looks regal too, with its elegant wrought-iron façade, designed by the great architect and contractor, Mr George Brown, who was responsible for bringing the design elements of wrought iron...
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The King of Monos Island I
Monos Island is now best known as a holiday resort, but for the latter part of the 18th century and well into the 1920s it was an actual community with public officers, a chapel, and families who...
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The story of a priest and his parish in the 19th century: Building with rocks...
In the 1820s Carenage was a community of free coloured fishermen and small farmers which began to grow after Emancipation in 1834 with the settling of many ex-slaves in the district. The Rev Fr Patrick...
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The hotel of hotels—Part II
The hotel soon became THE venue for high-class entertainment. The dances on Thursday and Saturday nights were proverbial and entrance fee was $1.20 per head. The 1930s saw an in-house band, Roy...
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The legend of the La Diablesse
The tale of the La Diablesse originated on the island of Martinique more than three hundred years ago. One has to understand the demonising of the personalities even then and how women were viewed in...
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The Carnivals of Yesteryear
Carnival in Trinidad has its origins in the pre-Lenten masquerade balls staged by French emigrants who began arriving in the island in 1783 under the Cedula of Population.Slaves mimicked the masked...
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The chulha
Indentureship was not without its own abuse by the plantation owners who still had the consciousness of slave and master engrained in them. The East Indians were given the barest of rations and were...
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Paying homage to Siparee-ke-mai
(Published May 10, 2015) In the 1850s, Siparia was a sleepy little village lost in the high woods with a population of a few dozen people of mixed Amerindian and African descent. There were no public...
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