Many of us will never forget the weekend of the 19th to the 21st October, 2018 and the days that followed. Like the ‘kaalaa paani’ that threatened our forefathers’ long journey to Trinidad, the dark flood waters engulfed myriad homes in several communities, posing a serious threat to our very livelihood and continued existence. Homes, furnishings, appliances and other household items were completely destroyed. Lives were threatened. Never had I seen or heard of situations in the past where persons had to burst-open their ceilings to seek refuge on rooftops.
Those who were able to vacate their homes were marginally more fortunate. They hadn’t time to take up anything with them, even less to gather up things that were loosely lying around.
I recall the passage of Edgardo Sanabria Santaliz’s “After the Hurricane” as translated by Beth Baugh: “…Leave or you won’t wake here tomorrow!’ Now, facing all this, he understood that the fisherman had been right. But he wasn’t thanking him, he would have preferred a thousand times more to disappear with his possessions than to face what he was seeing. Nevertheless, at the crucial moment, he didn’t believe so much destruction was possible. He thought on his life, and that it was better to run the risk of some adequately reparable destruction than to lose the only thing that couldn’t be replaced. Never had the idea of a similar devastation passed through his mind, that in one night what had taken him so many years to construct had been demolished…”
Disastrous images circulating in the media and horrific stories of persons having to spend the night on the roofs or in unfamiliar shelters rather than the comfort, safety and inner sanctity of their homes struck internal chords of sympathy, sorrow, confusion, desperation and fear. Most people harboured these feelings. But after all these feelings had sunk in, they quickly curled up under one motivating feeling of love. The effect of the natural disaster was a natural outpouring of love.
In my article dedicated to Divali 2017, I wrote, “Every year, when Divali is celebrated on a national level, it brings immeasurable blessings and rewards. People lose their selfishness and self-centred nature. No person pleads their individual case without first thinking of others. They become proud of their community, society and nation. History and heritage are cherished in a much deeper way. In this way, the economic, as well as the spiritual development of communities, can be seen as the Goddess’ grace and blessing. Trinidad and Tobago is indeed fortunate that every year, Divali is celebrated with such magnanimous pomp and ceremony.”
Divali celebrations commenced on the said Friday 19th October, 2018. One of the Hindu epics associated with Divali, the “Samudra manthan” describes an event when opposite forces united to churn the ocean for a good cause. Just as the churning of the ocean elicited various divine articles, so too did the rising flood waters cause a humanitarian and positive effect on us. Citizens irrespective of race, creed and colour were out in their numbers gathering up supplies to assist those in need.
It was Ramlila season on the waters of the Caroni floodplains. Curry aloo and channa, mango amchar, spicy pommes cytheres, pumpkin, murtani, paratha and even dhalpuri were but a few of the meals prepared at the Munroe Road Hindu School shelter. These were cooked largely by the said persons who had gathered there themselves. Lots of these foods were delivered hot and fresh by caring and heartbroken citizens to flood-stricken brothers and sisters.
We, the people of T&T became lighted deyas, shining bright and stamping out the darkness of the murky lagoon waters around us. The qualities of the Divine Goddess Lakshmi were awakened in each and every one of us. As a people, we became more united than ever before. Out of tragedy came new life and hope again.
“…Acisclo Aroca will walk alone through the ruins of his house. With his rubber boots he will move dead fish, fragments of tile, remains of objects. He will recognize them if he pays careful attention to retain some trace or appearance of yesterday. Painstakingly, he will travel from one room to another, from the first to the second floor, stopping now and then to bend over and pick something from the floor, and to contemplate it in his fingers, stupefied, as if he were dealing with a prehistoric tool or with something he might have seen in his childhood and that he just now came to remember. It’s not possible, he will murmur, lost, as if he carried a useless compass in the middle of an infinite forest. In the last room he will turn in circles, already tired of the chaos, and he will begin the path again…”
Have no fear. A united nation stands with you. Happy Divali 2018 and may Mother Lakshmi bless us all!