Growing up, our luxuries came from the natural island itself – the sunshine on my back, the sea breeze blowing in my face, the fine sand on the beaches.
As the Calypsonian David Rudder eulogises in verse, I am ‘Trini to de Bone’. And it is a Trinidadian’s belief that your connection to the country of birth cannot be broken if you fulfil two main conditions – your navel-string (umbilical cord) is buried there and you have eaten cascadura, a small local catfish with tough scaly skin.
I treasure the memories and this place, where as a child I would still have time to make mischief with friends or playing cricket on the streets of my beloved Trinidad.
THE SEA
Whoever gazed upon the sea Upon the broad deep sea, Where the wild waves play Upon the watery plain Where many fleets swept oe’r in vain. Come with me, come with me Come with me, out to see Its rolling foams, its bubbling groans, Its bubbling, boundless profound groans.