Naipaulian Awardees IV: This Season’s Grand Finale.
This odyssey into the world of the Indo-Trinis has been so mythical in nature that it ranked in transcendence and excitement with readers’ Homeric journey into Greek mythology; as easily I found the equivalent of Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Venus and Aphrodite in towns and villages across South and Central Trinidad in the many scholars and achievers scattered like confetti as if greatness was such a common quality among them that they treated it as not something to crow about.
The saturation effect of this omnipresence of so many glitterati being assembled in one place, among one ethnicity, might be responsible for our people treating it as commonplace. One house with three PhDs from a village that is hardly recognised by our cartographers is mind boggling enough for those sitting in the epicenter of our power base to comprehend, let alone acknowledge.
Sunil Gavaskar on passing through Haryana, a non-playing cricket state, came across a strapped young cricketer whom he cherry-picked as a potential player for India and that is how Kapil Dev went on to become a cricket phenomenon.
To find a natural pearl in an oyster ranks between 1 in 10,000 to I in a million and thus, my success in unearthing so many gemstones among Indo-Trinis is quite miraculous. While we in T&T might say it’s a miracle, in America most of the top executives heading the largest, high end corporation are Indians; and that the PM of Britain is Rishi Sunak and the VP of the US is Kamala Harris, cap it off in terms of the global recognition people of Indian origin have.
This project that has been undertaken to bring to the fore Indo-Trinis who are pearls hidden in our country’s oysters is a necessary first step to moving this country forward via the proper utilization of so much talent. For instance:
For academia, the winner is Bhoe Tewarie for achieving the esteemed status of a Fulbright fellow courtesy being awarded a Fulbright scholarship – one of the most widely recognised and prestigious scholarships in the world and later to become the Principal of UWI and a Minister in the government of T&T among so many other achievements of his.
For Judicial excellence, the chosen one is Larry Lalla for being the youngest Supreme Court judge ever in T&T at age 35 and for being a distinguished legal luminary in countries outside of Trinidad – in Guyana and the US, for instance.
For Music, the winner is Raymond Ramnarine who has become something of a legend as leader of his Dil-e-Nadan band and recognised as a superstar in the world of entertainment. He is the local Kumar Sanu and a Chutney Monarch.
For Writing, the winner is, Ira Mathur, although Indian-born, she has become an Indo-Trini and via her writing about her adopted homeland, she sounds more like a born native proving that her writing skill as a columnist and author is of the highest diverse level and is of international quality.
For global Entrepreneurship, the winner is Kama Maharaj founder of Sacha Cosmetics for creating a product that has acquired global interests and sales and, consequently, for being among the country’s winner at Ernst &Young World Entrepreneur of the year Awards 2017.
For entertainment, the winner is Neval Chatelal for his 2006 Mastana Bahar victory, for his 2010 Digicel Rising Star victory and for his 2018 and 2019 Chutney Soca Monarch victories. Also, for the fact that he is considered one of the most versatile and talented artistes in the country.
Finally, the genius Award goes to one who proves that what you do with what you have might matter more than the qualification you have so that Shakespeare and Einstein did not need graduate degrees to be the geniuses they were and that although Churchill was an academic failure, he went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature simply because his inspirational speeches lifted England to stand up to Hitler and which made him Britain’s choice of their person of the millennium
However, because we all have a sense of theatre and dramatics, one holds back that final name to tantalizingly keep everyone guessing who might that specially chosen one be who is one of us and from among us?
Please note that these are not just names on a paper as an actual ceremony is scheduled to be held where medals will be handed out to recipients to celebrate the moment and for posterity. However, because this is a first endeavour, there are logistics that have to be worked out for that which might be challenging and be the cause for some delay. Better late than never?
L. Siddhartha Orie