Rather than join the hordes jockeying for advanced position in Trinity Cathedral at his state funeral by rewriting the late Patrick Manning as the Stepfather of the Nation, and not the man who built a palace for himself with taxpayers’ money – and started work on a church likewise – …
Read More »An accidental leader: Raffique Shah considers the legacy of late ex-PM Patrick Manning
The end, when it came, brought relief from some five years of suffering, and pre-empted additional torture from treatment for cancer, which many have described as being worse than the disease itself. Patrick Manning’s sister, Petronella, who is a medical doctor, said as much in her grief-stricken state. And his …
Read More »Thanks Pa: Raffique Shah’s moving tribute to his late father, Haniff
Fathers like mine—ordinary men who are barely literate in most instances and worked hard to provide for their families—are remembered only by their immediate families and maybe some friends and people in the communities in which they lived and died. In a society where success is measured by materialism or …
Read More »The little boy that CLR James forgot: tribute to late cricket scribe Tony Cozier
Columnist Earl Best surveys the many tributes to dearly departed cricket icon Tony Cozier and seeks to make a river of the tributaries: “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.” (African proverb quoted by Chinua Achebe) In a 21st Century colonised by the …
Read More »Gone But Not Forgotten: NAAA honours late T&T sprinter Mike Agostini
The following tribute to late Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Mike Agostini was submitted on Saturday May 14 by the National Association of Athletics Administrations of Trinidad and Tobago (NAAATT): The National Association of Athletics Administrations of Trinidad and Tobago (NAAATT) wishes to extend deepest condolences to the relatives and friends …
Read More »Remembering Basil Davis: The 1970 Trinidad and Tobago Revolution’s first martyr
The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by ex-PP Minister and NJAC member Embau Moheni on the death of Basil Davis and the subsequent outpouring of emotion in 1970, which led to one of Trinidad and Tobago’s largest funeral processions: On 26 February 1969, the Chief Servant Makandal Daaga—then Geddes …
Read More »Humility was Jit’s hallmark; Raffique Shah pays tribute to late pan master
“I don’t know who Jit Samaroo was, but listening to others speak, he must have been a great man…my condolences to his family.” The Princes Town caller had phoned in to the TV6 Morning Edition show on Friday, which was devoted to pan arranger Jit Samaroo, who died the day …
Read More »An inspired passion: Tribute to virtual museum curator Angelo Bissessarsingh
Trinidad and Tobago author and historian, Angelo Bissessarsingh, passed away this morning—according to a Trinidad Guardian report—after battling for two years with pancreatic cancer. The following column on Bissessarsingh and his value to the two island republic was written by columnist Sunity Maharaj on 27 December 2015: That he is still …
Read More »Laughter over the tears: Remembering Raf’s struggle for pan and culture
We laughed a lot that last night. Mostly about the absurdity that Trinidad can be. On that cool night, with the air floating in and out of the open door of the Lloyd Best Institute, Raf Robertson was choosing to laugh instead of cry, to grin instead of grumble, his …
Read More »Remembering Alloy Lequay: Cricket’s antidote to Jack Warner
As Austin Jack Warner was to Trinidad and Tobago football so was Alloy Remigus Lequay to Trinidad and Tobago cricket. The two men give the lie to the old adage that insists that politics and sport don’t mix. They do, they did—felicitously in the case of Lequay, who devoted his …
Read More »Remembering Kevon Carter: In our words
The 30-year-old Kevon Carter got his wings long before his untimely passing yesterday afternoon. The barrel-chested Trinidad and Tobago and Defence Force flanker never ran; he flew. With an economy of leg movement, Carter propelled himself to scary speeds. And, although a quiet and assuming figure off the ball, he …
Read More »Chelsea’s tribute to my friend, Krystal Mitchell
If Krystal Mitchell was here, she would have celebrated 19 May 2012 as if it was her birthday. A passionate Chelsea supporter, Krystal would have been ecstatic at the England Premier League team’s dramatic European Champions League penalty shoot-out triumph over Bayern Munich. Krystal moved to France in September 2011 …
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