Tag Archives: Vaneisa Baksh

Do your ears hang low? Every night, as I lay my head on my pillow, I pass my hand under my earlobe to smooth it out. It’s uncomfortable otherwise. As I do it, the words to a children’s song flash through my head, a soundtrack to the motion. You might …

In one of his final interviews, at the end of the tour of England in 1963, Frank Worrell laid out his plans for the future to Ian Wooldridge. I quoted some of it in my biography, Son of Grace, where he refers to the background of hostility he had faced. …

There’s an immediate challenge in compiling a biography of someone who was a legend during his lifetime. Inevitably, myths spring up—so that even if you can separate fact from fiction, it is almost sacrilege to bring balance to the scrutiny because people prefer to hold on to their folklores. Frank …

Last Sunday, my friend, Franka Philip, invited me to pop over to her home to sample the leg of goat we had procured from Ali’s Meats on Pasea Main Road in Tunapuna. We had been talking about how she planned to smoke it, and she had bought some kindling from …

How about mixing it up a bit? Two West Indies cricket T20 encounters last Tuesday. The men played their second match against Sri Lanka, and the women challenged England for a semi-final spot in the World Cup. At the tenth over, the women were 89-0, with openers Hayley Matthews and …

Early one Sunday morning, around dawn, I drove to Macqueripe Bay for a photo shoot. It was five days before I gave birth, 31 years ago. There, as daylight cast her yawning gaze upon the empty shore, I unclad myself and let Skye and Corinne wrap me in two beautiful …

The day after the end of the T20 World Cup, my daughter and a friend of ours were at my home, and as I was talking cricket, he suggested we have a lime to watch the final. I burst out laughing, explaining that the final had already gone and the …

On Republic Day, some friends—mainly from the journalism world—reconnected at my home for lunch. It was a delightfully memorable afternoon, recalling stories of the craziness of the newsrooms and their eccentric characters. We drank a toast to our departed colleagues as we reminisced. But that’s not where I am heading …

I turned 58 last Thursday. Never one for fussing about my birthdays, I didn’t make plans. But it turned memorable of its own accord, starting with a couple of people coming to my home to watch the CPL match the night before. Three, actually. Two of whom I had not …

Last Sunday, Queen’s Hall was the venue for Dawad Philip’s Sunday with the Warlord, a play about the calypsonian Lord Blakie (Carlton Joseph). Blakie was perhaps best known for his two Road March wins, “Steelband Clash” (1954) and “Maria” (1962), and the play is a sort of narrative about his …

I came across this column I wrote in 1998, and for some reason it felt so relevant that I thought I would share this trimmed version (with a Billy Joel headline). When I quit full-time work, a major factor had been the desire to spend more time with my infant …

Not long ago, a couple of letters to the editor appeared where the writers complained about extremely long waits at public health institutions. I had immediately thought that this is why I walk with a book whenever I have to go to any institution, public or private. But then I …