Paras Ra­moutar

Plans for Cou­va Car­ni­val 2013 is mov­ing in­to full gear, ac­cord­ing to Ram­c­hand Ra­jbal, chair­man of the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee.He said the theme for Car­ni­val 2013 will be Let's Keep It Clean and this em­braces all as­pects of hu­man be­hav­iour, in­clud­ing road safe­ty, drug-free en­vi­ron­ments and peace­ful com­mu­ni­ties.

"We are ask­ing the gen­er­al pub­lic, both mas­men, band­lead­ers and the pa­trons to pro­mote Car­ni­val in Cou­va as a peo­ple's af­fair, in which pa­trons from all parts of the coun­try could come and par­tic­i­pate and en­joy them­selves," he said."At the same time, pa­trons must ob­serve the tal­ent and cre­ativ­i­ty and orig­i­nal­i­ty of our mas­men in all their forms and glo­ry."

Ra­jbal has been at the helm of Cou­va Car­ni­val for more than 25 years, and is pro­mot­ing this year's pre­sen­ta­tion as "a mod­el for all times."Ra­jbal said that the J'Ou­vert com­pe­ti­tion on Car­ni­val Mon­day will start at 5 am and the Pa­rade of Bands will take place on both Car­ni­val Days.

"Car­ni­val in Cou­va must be viewed as an in­te­gral part of the na­tion­al cel­e­bra­tion as at­trac­tive cash and oth­er prizes are at stake," he said.

Among the pub­lic shows are:

�2 Mo­tor­cade of Car­ni­val Queens–Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 2

�2 Ca­lyp­so Monarch Ju­nior/Se­nior/Ex­tem­po, Cou­va Car Park–Fri­day, Feb­ru­ary 8

�2 Chut­ney Ex­plo­sion, Cou­va Car Park, Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 9

�2 fi­nal of the Miss Cen­tral Trinidad Queen Pageant, Cou­va Car Park, Sat­ur­day Feb­ru­ary 9

�2 Kid­dies Car­ni­val at Cou­va Car Park, Sun­day, Feb­ru­ary 10.