Vernon Khelawan
Does the fact that Massy Trinidad All Stars steelband has won back-to-back Band of the Year titles send a subtle message to bandleaders to bring back 'real mas' with real costumes like All Stars did with their genuine sailor mas? The other group that is trying hard to bring back costumes into the Carnival is Word and Associates, also dubbed the Catholic Band. They placed third in the Small Band category during the parade of bands in downtown Port-of-Spain.
The Carnival is over and the near naked masqueraders are now in most instances completely covered up and going about their regular business, probably thinking about next year's festival. I overheard a comment on Ash Wednesday about Carnival 2015. It went like this:
The best thing the National Carnival Commission (NCC) could do is spread sand along the parade route, sprinkled with a few palm trees (the bake and shark sheds are already in place) and our Carnival can become the world's biggest beach party, so boring and disgusting was the constant stream of bikinis, mokinis (they tell me that's the name given to those bikinis, even smaller than usual–a cross between a bikini and a thong).
From the greatest show on earth, T&T's Carnival has sunk to the very depths of debauchery and wretchedness and can now be safely described as the greatest flaw on earth. The lack of interest is manifested in the dwindling number of spectators and the increasing numbers that flock to the beaches here and in Tobago, with many still able to travel abroad–just to escape the Carnival.
Today's bandleaders would not admit it, but they have transformed our once beautiful Carnival from creative street theatre to a bacchanal-type street party. It has become a Cepep–Carnival Empty of Pomp, Entertainment and Pageantry, if I may borrow an acronym, truly a stain on our rich heritage and culture.
And the reason is simple. As a society, we have, over the years, succeeded in continually lowering our standards in everything, not least those of Carnival. It is as though we make great effort to dilute our values, which have endured for decades.
This dilution of the Carnival should not strike us as strange. It has been building for decades and representative of the increasing decadence of the society. It is a society which has been allowed to deteriorate. So what do we have? A litany of woes, daily murders, indiscipline in schools, at home and in offices, unwillingness to give a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, the vulgar display of lawlessness at all levels of the society, across-the-board corruption. The list is really lengthy.
That is what happens to any society which fails to maintain high standards, to teach our people the need for a proper set of values and most of all, respect for human life and the dignity of the human being. These are all absent in a large way in T&T today, created by the used Japanese motor car, which has become the great equaliser at one level of the society, and the huge mansions and million-dollar cars at the other level.
All this is perpetuated by the 'Me' syndrome. At every level the question is always, "What's in it for me?" That is the hallmark of the society in which we live, maybe exist is the better word, and unless and until we demand change, then God help us and that's when he will stop being a Trini.
�2 Vernon Khelawan is media relations officer of Catholic Media Services Ltd (Camsel), the official communications arm of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain. Its offices are located at 31 Independence Square. Telephone: 623-7620.