RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt 

As the new year ap­proach­es, there is a change in how res­i­dents in south Trinidad mark the changeover, with many opt­ing for gath­er­ings at home in­stead of ven­tur­ing out to grand-scale fes­tiv­i­ties.

Seam­stress Liz Ann Hamil­ton, of Point Fortin, who was shop­ping at Sama­roo’s at Cross Cross Cross­ing, San Fer­nan­do, yes­ter­day said many of her cus­tomers and friends have de­cid­ed to cel­e­brate qui­et­ly at home.

“We are not see­ing peo­ple shop­ping be­cause most peo­ple are stay­ing at home to ring in the new year and cel­e­brate more with fam­i­ly,” she said.

“Peo­ple are afraid to go out be­cause of crime and in­no­cent peo­ple are get­ting in the mix of it so even for me, even to go to work, I am afraid to go out there.”

Hamil­ton said she had been robbed a few times.

“I am trau­ma­tised so for me go­ing out there is dif­fi­cult for me. I pre­fer to stay home with fam­i­ly and friends to ring in the new year. This year we are hav­ing a lit­tle fam­i­ly get-to­geth­er and it will be food, fun and fire­works,” she said.

An em­ploy­ee at Sama­roo’s, Ker­ron Kalloo, said sales have been brisk at the store.

“It has been busy and I think the new year will be suc­cess­ful,” he said.

“We have dis­counts. These se­quined hats sell­ing for $15, glass­es are $5 and flutes are al­so $5 so we are cater­ing for the cus­tomers.” 

He said many peo­ple have been buy­ing par­ty stuff for the new year. 

“Dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, peo­ple stayed home but now many are ea­ger to go out for New Year’s,” Kalloo said.

Pres­i­dent of the Greater San Fer­nan­do Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce Ki­ran Singh agreed that more peo­ple were stay­ing away from large-scale par­ties, opt­ing for small­er fam­i­ly get-to­geth­ers.

Singh said the pref­er­ence for in­ti­mate fam­i­ly gath­er­ings and close-knit friend cir­cles re­flects a de­sire for safe­ty and fa­mil­iar­i­ty.

“Our in­cli­na­tion to­wards cel­e­brat­ing with­in the em­brace of our fam­i­lies is a cher­ished tra­di­tion,” he said.

Re­flect­ing on the busi­ness land­scape, Singh not­ed a con­trast be­tween the sub­dued sales of the New Year week com­pared to the live­li­er Christ­mas Eve pe­ri­od. He ex­pressed op­ti­mism for the up­com­ing year.