Celebrate Like TTians

I was getting high and I hadn’t so much as touched narcotics or quaffed rum. It’s the Island, y’know. TTians — people of the Caribbean twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago — had drawn me into their enchanting circle of ecstasy, brimming with joie de vivre, grabbing life with both hands and releasing it, taking deep breaths of the salubrious ocean air.

What are they celebrating? Life, stupid. Life, that we tend to take so much for granted. Their life includes living cheek-to-jowl with humming birds, coral reefs, roti-curry, Doubles (their version of chana bhatura), and jammin’ an’ limin’. Jamming, as in moving to a medley of rhythms — chutney music, jazz, rock and bhajans — and liming, as in hanging out with friends and family, surfing, swimming, eating and cracking jokes.

Yes, they do work in between, plunging themselves into projects, deadlines and spreadsheets or instructing surfers, divers and paddle boaters. Others run eateries, work as tourist guides or practice medicine, law, etc, doing all the stuff we usually do to make a living, but chilled out. What’s the secret?

Perhaps it’s their rainbow history with its patchwork of cultures, faiths and races, language, cuisine and music — of colonisers and locals, indentured labour, immigrants, entrepreneurs and visitors — that lets you dive into a comfortable, multi-hued quilt, leaving you feeling confident and secure, free of the obsession most have with their identity, lineage, religion, community, class or roots. Unsurprising, considering that the most popular god here is Brian Lara!