TNN 82
Hello folks… an’ welcome again to we broadcast… (deep voice)… This Is TNN…… life is ah stage..an’ we are de actors….an’ everyone have ah part to playyyyyy…. (background music, Valentino)
Jumpstation: Yuk mekin' sport; Howzat; Oh lorse.. oh lorse; Upper to lower level; Descending into the valley; Founding fathers.
Normally ah doh make too much comment on t’ings outside of Trinbago, except of course for West Indies Cricket (de less said about dat de better) but ah have to stick meh mouth in dis time…
Alyuh eh see what happen in B’dos de week gone dey.. De students protestin’ about lack of security, poor livin’ conditions and equally poor food on de campus. Dey form dey gatherin’ , beatin’ drum an’ chantin’ INSIDE de premises… de security on de campus call in de Police, an’ sah, Boy Blue an dem leggo baton, cuff, kick, lash, drag de poor studies to Police Jeep….eeef yuh see comess.
An’ de worse t’ing is dat is mainly women students dat get rough up so…! What is de purpose behind dat? When ah see licks so, ah say, wey boy! Dis cyah be de island I know..!
An’ to make matter worse, dey real rough-up ah lady lecturer who turns out to be de wife of the St. Lucian Prime Minister. De man fly across one time… dey coo-coo cook! At leeast so ah did t’ought, but up to now de man eh make no grand charge yet!
Look, if dat was my wife, ah woulda turn beast on dem….! Dey had de woman barefoot, sittin’ dong on de pavement an’ rough handlin’ she…. what dey t’ink it is atall?!
An’ de icin’ on de cake is dat de woman is ah Trinidadian! Well, ah turn all kinda color….. blue-black-purple! Is one ah we dey touch dey, yuh know! It have have no Caribbean unity in dat situation……! Yuh touch one, yuh touch all.. yuh raise de jep nest, an’ we comin’ out stingin’ hard……
An’ de woman was actually tryin’ to control de t’ing an’ advise de students how to protest so dey wouldn’t break de law….. dem police want meh to fly ah squad over dey an’ MASH UP Bridgetown or what?!
We eh easy in de South yuh know, we near to de equator, de sun hot an’ we blood close to we skin! Somebody head have to roll for dat situation, man.. ah awaitin’ de outcome.. an’ yuh know how we bad mind… ah bet yuh not ah nex’ flyin’ fish come from Tobago nex’ year tuh get eat in B’dos!
Haaa-haaaa! If alyuh see we boy Walsh de Warrior las’ week… becomin’ de firs’ man to take 500 wickets in Test cricket…. we was on de edge of we seats… now since de match was playing in Trinidad, de TV stations eh broadcast it live (people stupid, eh?!
If I want to go cricket, yuh t’ink I go stay home an’ watch it on TV… if ah cyah afford to go, ah wouldn’t be able to go anyway, so meh eh see what de big deal is….!)But as was ah landmark, when Walshy take 499, dey decide to bring de 500th wicket live…. so ah sid dong upstairs workin’ an’ ah tell one ah meh people… wen yuh hear 499, call meh, because ah have to see dis live (ah end up seeing it replayed about 45 secs. after it happen, but anyway….).
Hear nah, if yuh see we 38 (38 ah say!) yr. old war horse.. runnin’ up to bowl wit’ he normal smooth strides….. he eyebrow raise up in he peculiar quizzical manner.. den he bite he lip as he han’ come over he head, he eyes focus on de cricket pitch an’ de batsman, de rotation of de arm.. effort showin’ on he face as he deliver de red ball……. de ball leave an’ give one bounce an’ cut into de batsman, hittin’ him on de pads…
Walsh halfway dong de pitch by dis time wit’ de follow through… as de ball thudded into de pads.. he straigthen up, an start jumpin’ up an’ dong appealing for LBW (leg before wicket for non cricketers… alyuh eh from here or what?!)…. de res’ of de team follow suit, man lookin’ like dey doin’ ah Mexican wave… Walsh glance back over he shoulder squealin’ to de umpire… AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!
De dreaded finger upraised and de batsman have tuh walk…
an’ de celebrations begin, de high five, de soca music blastin’ from de
speakers, de small crowd jumpin’ up an’ dong, people runnin’ dong to de
fence to get shake han’ , to shout congratulations… radio announcers
goin’ crazy wit’ superlatives.. congratulations pourin’ in from
overseas… 500 wickets, my gosh, after
18 years! Dat is commitment… ring de bell! Ring de bell!
Well done, Walsh…. Caribbean Ambassador…. Caribbean man….. ah sure all dem great fas’ bowlers of West Indies Cricket alive an’ dead was dey in de Oval.. Wes Hall an’ Griffith, Marshall (law), Garner (de Big Bird), Holden (Whispering Death), Roberts, Ambrose (Ambi)… watchin’ anodder soldier get decorated at the 50th Test match at Queen’s Park Oval… ah occasion fit for Royalty indeed….!
But yes, dat is what de WI contrive to do after dat feat… lose de match! Man, we had 200 runs to make in one day, with 9 wickets in han’… easy breezy, smooth sailin’..
Well dem boys make ah storm outta de calmest of seas…! 200 runs! After eh winnin’ in more dan 20 Tests, victory was in sight… announcers tellin’ people after lunch to come dong an’ cheer de team on to victory… take ah half day an’ come an’ see we win ah historic Test match… tribute to de Oval….
I tell you…when wicket start to fall so, ah start to pray for rain… ah say, NO!… dis eh happenin’ dem fellas cyah be doin’ dis to meh… not to Walsh too…. have ah heart.. have some pride.. an' when de final bitter stab was delivered, we had to lick we wounds an’ crawl away……
When, Lord, when we go finally get it right…?! Like dey fraid to win….?! Yes, we get not one, not two, but 3 bad umpiring decisions, but at de same time, I eh see no fight, ah jus’ see some relaxed cricket… no stick it out to de finish, no, like we decide to coast…well de train run of de rails while de driver was sleepin’…an’ yes, what ah miserable wreck it was……..!
Like we goin’ full speed.. in reverse… for de knowledgeable limers.. alyuh know Upper Level Club in de Wes’, right… de club dey 20 years now…. de owners of de Mall want it out of de place an’ las’ week dey lock de managers an’ dem outta de club.
For months dey askin’ “Why yuh want we to move? We doh keep de place dirty, we have dress code, security, ah nice crowd.. we jus’ makin’ we way… what is de problem?” No answer.. is like shoutin’ into de ocean.. not even ah echo!
Well word is dat some people feel dat dat is not de kind of establishment dey want in ah place like dat… apparently Level doh discriminate.. once yuh properly dressed, behavin’ yuhself, yuh could come in… Apparently dat is offensive to SOME people who would prefer a more “discriminating” code (ah choosin’ meh words carefully!) as obtains at some other establishments (an not callin’ names..!).
Den ah fella was killed in de car park some weeks ago.. dey say de fella was in de Club partyin’ before he get kill…. strange dat a couple years ago when ah young fella was cuff down wit’ brass knuckles in front of ah nex’ club an’ died, their was no hullabaloo to close dong DAT particular club… need I indicate dat dat particular place of relaxation has a noted policy of allowin’ certain persons in on one night an’ not on others?!
Did I hear echoes of colonialism, even (my gosh!) charges of racism?! No, surely not in TnT.. remember we anthem say ….. “every creed and race find an equal place..”, so dat cyah be happenin’ here… an’ after all Level do for entertainers in dis country….. many comedians and popular bands could ah depend on de Level to get ah l’il cacada during de off Carnival season, because dey had ah Caribbean night on Thursday… dey popularise de after work Friday lime.. when ah tell yuh ah nice place.. yuh could take in ah evening show, yuh could go on de dance floor or sit dong by the bar area an’ chat without being disturbed by de music……fair an’ equitable treatment… all welcome, none turned away… an’ for 20 years, no trouble… but apparently DAT is de problem!
What can I say.. I echo de words of David Rudder in ah TV clip when dey ask him to comment on de situation… .. “Self contempt is ah big t’ing dong here.. ah mean, dis is Trinidad”. How sad…L
A classic last week in Parliament…. de Opposition Chief Whip (he shoulda take de whip an’ beat heself!) made it clear dat information reaching him was dat de PM and also Min. of National Security had taken de list of rercruits from de Army, scratched off names and issued a new list because, dis is de Valley’s words “it didn’t have enough East Indians on it”.
Take ah deep breath……yes, because de storm is about to break…! De Army denied any such t’ing ever took place, so ah few days later after de PM le-le he tail for attemptin’ to cause racial strife, Valley say he meant de Coast Guard, not de Army and repeated the accusation outside of Parliament an’ defy de PM to take him to court for defamation!
Now, if I was Valley, I woulda keep quiet for 2 reasons.. one, how many public servants go take ah stan’ gainst de PM on dis issue (if dey want to keep dey jobs?!) an’ how can you really prove dat? Better to keep dat for a later date, produce evidence, bring copies of the approved an’ “new” list an’ take it from dere…!
No dat would take tooooo much common sense (remember is Valley we talkin' bout!).. better to make ah rum shop accuation that is loaded with ammunition to ignite ethnic strife..!
Go to de top of de class, boy… de dunce cap is yours! Yuh play right into de PM’s hands an’ he squash yuh like ah bachac…. yuh beg for dat one…!
An’ it good! An’ he suppose to be in insurance.. well he shoulda know dat was ah serious risk he was takin’…. an’ it eh have no premium to cover stupidity! Why bother…….?!
20 years on.. yep, 20 years since Eric Eustace Williams died and the battle rages on. Father or tyrant? Benefactor or dictator? Statesman or conniving manipulator? I refer to article above. .. “Self contempt is ah big t’ing dong here.. ah mean, dis is Trinidad”.
Based on academic and scholarship alone, this man would have been revered in any real nation, but yet still we let pettiness and division blind us to the reality. The US has no such hang ups about George Washington (if he was ah Trini, we woulda say he was ah slave owner…ah cruel wretch!) or President Kennedy (poor fella, we woulda say he send de nation into de Vietnam war an’ get many young innocent men kill for nothin’ an’ how he couldn’t see ah dresstail…!) or Thomas Jeffreson (remember he had ah slave mistress an’ never free she or de children he had with she… he was ah no good, eh!)…yep, t’ank dere lucky stars dey were American, they have monuments, museums, volumes written about them, public holidays, etc..for them.
Not us! Nope, by elevating someone, dat makes him better dan us, an’ it eh have nobody better dan we, yuh know! So on an’ on we go on de merry go round. Dr. Williams made mistakes and had his human failings like everyone else, but I believe history will and in fact has judged him kindly.
Even the Nobel Laureate , Prof. Sen who was here to give a couple of lectures this week acknowledged the greatness of the man. But then again, he is from India (what does he know of Trinidad?!). Maybe nex’ year it will be different (ha! Ha! Ha!)…
The t’ing is that students who are now in or have left University have no memory of the first Premier and Prime Minister of the nation, the man who brought Trinidad to Independence, post colonial and imperialist era….. he had his time on the stage and he occupied it to the max.
What about Rudranath (hoped I spelled that correctly!) Capildeo? Who? Oh, just de fella whom Eric had to contend with in terms of brokering a deal to get England to grant us Independence and one of the greatest mathematical minds of his time in the WORLD! See what I mean….? check meh nex’ week, we ah go have ah special commentary on wey we going… an’ why we get to dis state…….. an’ some humor too, because if yuh eh laugh…. hmmm well lemmeh jus’ laugh, eh…!
Dat’s all for dis week folks… remember any queries, questions, comments, hail outs etc… jus’ write to we anchorman Cobra at ttcobra1@hotmail.com an’ we go get back to yuh… Take care care, alyuh, ah gone…. Peace….. Rum an’ coca cola… goin’ dong Pt. Cumana……. (background music)
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