Environmentalist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh yesterday ate his first home cooked meal after ending his 21-day hunger strike on Wednesday. For breakfast, Kublalsingh devoured fried bake with pumpkin and bhagi. Lunchtime he consumed a small bowl of vegetable soup and last night he ate a piece of fruit.
"I had to chew a lot because my stomach still can't take the hard foods. My stomach is making all kinds of growling and strange noises." In the last three days, Kublalsingh said, he has gained two pounds and intends to return to his normal weight. Kublalsingh said he will repeat his hunger strike all over again once the Government continues to bring calculated suffering on its people.
As long as any Government, "berates, mocks and scorns its citizens," Kublalsingh said, he would stand in solidarity with those affected and stage another hunger strike. "I would do it all over again." Speaking via the telephone at his sister's home in San Fernando on Friday, Kublalsingh said T&T needed a new vision, philosophy and a cosmopolitan republic.
"I think I would use myself to engender new ideas for change in Trinidad and Tobago. The most important thing I need to consider is going into deep meditation and think about a new platform for development for the country," Kublalsingh said. Kublalsingh said when the late Dr Eric Williams came into power, he did a tremendous injustice by inflicting on the people a two-party system.
"Where you have Africans on one side of the island and East Indians on the other side. It should have never been like that." Having ended his 21-day hunger strike on Wednesday, Kublalsingh said his medical bills were a tidy sum, which his siblings have offered to pay. Kublalsingh's relatives have paid for a standby doctor, two attendants, a driver and a nurse who stayed with him around the clock for the latter part of his hunger strike.
They also retained the services of an ambulance which was stationed outside the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair. Family members have also agreed to pay for his care at St Clair Medical Centre. "I don't know what the amount is...I could only assume it's a tidy sum."
Kublalsingh said he will not repay his siblings because of lack of finances, having spent $60,000 to $70,000 from his pocket in the rental and purchase of items for the Re-Route Movement in the last few months. "That is what families are for...in times of distress to take care of you. My family is well educated and well positioned financially and they have taken that responsibility on their own. I did not ask for it. They love me and that is what they do."
Kublalsingh said his family grew up poor and now they help each other. As a part-time lecturer with University of West Indies, Kublalsingh said most of his salary is spent on activism, telephone cards and gasoline for his car. In the next few days, Kublalsingh said, he will try and rest to rebuild his strength.