Compass Confusion

I fully support the hosting of Panorama in San Fernando. I also fully support the decentralisation of Carnival as a whole to other parts of Trinidad & Tobago, to other towns and cities of our beautiful country, our island for too long divided by obscure compass points, an ‘east man’ ostensibly coming from Arima or ‘Grande, and not from, more accurately Manzanilla or Radix, both Arima and Grande being in the north. Of course that is not to ignore the obvious point of reference, Port of Spain, an ‘east man’ only being labelled such as he resides east of Port of Spain.

So what if Port of Spain is the capital city? Port of Spain is a dishevelled embarrassment to any Trinbagonian who understands the true essence of our patria, most notably not Movie Towne, TGIF or 6am ‘spinners’ at Ellerslie Plaza’s gym. Please. Port of Spain, like most other capital cities is an attraction, I hesitate to say tourist attraction, for I have not met a tourist yet, (I reside in London and work within the travel industry) who has told me the beauty of my country is in its capital city – au contraire, the beauty, they say, is everywhere but Port of Spain, more like Toco, Nariva, Caroni, Mayaro, St Joseph hills, some even venturing to that quaint village of Lopinot upon the behest of other seasoned travellers.

There has been a decision to give the Queen’s Park Savannah a facelift, for environmental, commercial or commercially motivated, political reasons. I think it is absolutely commendable on the part of Mr Regrello, and hopefully the rest of Pan Trinbago’s staff for recommending Skinner Park as an alternative venue, and possibly one that can be alternated, year in year out, to host the wider carnival celebrations, to give the country a more balanced feel, to ‘ease up’ the Savannah ‘lil bit’, to widen the geographical knowledge of our deprived ‘western’ kindred, whose world, as the old joke goes, ends at the lighthouse.

Living abroad gives one perspective. I was born in Diego Martin, but I grew up in Arima. I am an ‘east man’. London, funny enough, is just as compartmentalised as Trinidad, the capital city being home to people from the ‘west’, ‘north’, ‘south west’, ‘east’, each area’s ideology different to that of the other, specific cultural traits heralded as ‘local’ to the area, most probably inherited by the diverse immigrant population, but we’ll save that for another time. One thing that London succeeds in is the efficient management of its very limited space. The Olympics will be hosted in east London, in the borough of Hackney, (the borough with the highest crime rate in the city), however, Christina Aguillera will perform at Wembley Arena this week, in north London, Guns and Roses in west London. Trinidad has the space, the visionaries and the political will to develop the country, and maximise our tierra to the benefit of the entire population, yet, the stigma of Port of Spain persists.

The development of the off–Churchill Roosevelt Highway (isn’t it time for a name change? I propose the Aldwyn Roberts Highway) neighbourhoods, mainly Trincity, are proof that with a little forethought, the land can be developed profitably for the populace and share holders alike.

I fully support and entire re-shuffle of carnival events on a whole, and I leave the planning and logistics to the masters of their fields, waving my flag in north or south, central and Tobago! Are there ‘east men’ in Tobago?