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By Pandita Indrani |
June, 2002: Namaste is a greeting meaning "I bow to the divinity in you" and Trinidad and Tobago is indeed divine country.
Returning to Trinidad and Tobago after five years, I see an impressive airport and some paved roads where once unpaved ones ran. It was awesome to see someone, after years of neglect, taking a simple, simple, logical decision to construct the north bound bridge on the old southern main road near the Valsayn Teachers College, greatly reducing road frustration. Oh what for a little brain and will power!
When education liberates it is good to see new schools in rural areas. Then, there are the exploding airwaves. Never mind the absolutely vacuous content of some radio stations; hopefully maturity in the media would bring about some change later down the road.
Some of the public issues debated since the 1980's seem to have gone nowhere. There is a lack of movement in our political and public discourse. There is the mayor of San Fernando looking "out of step" trying to invalidate Indian Arrival Day, from a western viewpoint. Government should facilitate, not hinder, the legitimate dreams and aspirations of the people. Just to reiterate what I said on this issue so many years ago: The Indian ethos leads one to see negativities as challenges to be surmounted. Far from celebrating slavery through indentureship, Indians celebrate the spirit of victory over adversity epitomized in the story of Siewdas Sadhu who built his mandir in the sea, in defiance of the British who broke it down when he built it on state lands. Attorney General, Glenda Morean looked quite gorgeous in her Indian attire, as did the numerous other citizens who donned ethnic Indian wear in keeping with the spirit of the holiday. This kind of thing can only happen in T&T.
It is good to see the Hilton following the trend first set by the National Council of Indian Culture to have an Indian Food Festival. But, it is not good to read that the Indian High Commissioner, Mr. Virendra Gupta thinks that our local Indian food is in a time warp. His elitist evaluation ignores the North Indian peasant origins of our food, the many Caribbean Creole flavors that have blended in by now, and the adaptations that local Indians made when spices were not as readily available as they are today.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning opens the Pandora's Box when he had removed from the Prime Minister's official residence the jhandis earlier consecrated by the rituals of his predecessor. Jhandis are flags that are hoisted after some types of Hindu ritual worship, and that declare the superiority and victory of God above the created. Mr. Manning claims that the jhandis are incongruent with his faith (though being an Anglican he was recently anointed as a shepherd by a religious body that is not Anglican). In pulling down a jhandi one is really asserting one's own superiority and victory over God (there is no Hindu God or Muslim God or Christian God). One of Mr. Manning's ministers also exorcises her ministry of what she considers the evil presence of her predecessors who were not of her religious persuasion.
In seeking to make mileage out of their ignorance, but ending up in only painting Hindu Dharma as some sort of black magic of which to be fearful, Mr. Panday then dares Mr. Manning to remove the coins ritually placed below the jhandis - the coins being the metaphoric eyes watching Mr. Manning; and also to remove the shiva lingam (a stone icon denoting the attribute of formlessness in God and used in some forms of Hindu worship).
Are you wondering how we must be sounding to thinking and progressive people both in and out of divine T&T? But Mr. Manning and some of his colleagues, along with Mr. Panday, could only indulge in this sort of puerility because too many of our citizens indulge in the kind of superstitious belief that makes them believe that a coin could actually be watching them or that a jhandi has some kind of magical power that could be inimical to their well being. Politicians only exploit our weaknesses.
In Mr. Manning's Pandora's Box, are the numerous Christian motifs that abound in public space like hospitals and government offices, and the Trinity Cross (another Christian motif), as the highest award to which citizens may aspire. Let's see where the current debate over the separation of state and individual faith will go.
Corruption dominates the political discourse nothing has changed. Given the PNM's years of experience in politics, they know just where to look for it in their successors, the UNC. And while, we are encouraged to fight each other about religion and race, the state coffers are being raided election after election. Criminalization of politics is a global phenomenon. White-collar criminals, with their political clout, always seem to transcend the judicial system. In Trinidad and Tobago the criminalization of politics began a long time ago.
It was with pleasure that I noted the open alliance by Indian Hindus (notably those of SWAHA) with the PNM. One note of disappointment, though: why have all prime ministers, so far, felt the need to have a Hindu, Muslim, and Spiritual Baptist voice to represent their communities?
I mean no disrespect to SWAHA personnel; but no single Hindu organization can claim to be a spokesperson for a group as heterogeneous as the Hindus! The challenge before the PNM is to go beyond mere tokenism and work for the cross-over just as the UNC started to do. Let the elected representatives represent the diversity of their constituencies without fear or favor. Are there some who, perhaps, feel unequal to the task because the faith of some of their constituents may differ from theirs?
On the horizon, Mr. Wendell Motley's "Citizens Alliance" seems like a fresh political breeze, almost like the NAR in 1996. What this country needs is more stateswomen (and statesmen, too) and less politicians, the latter having created a negative image all by themselves. Perhaps Mr. Motley should begin by popularizing the term "statespeople."