RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian co. tt

Por­tray­als of Black Stal­in, his mes­sages, songs and his pic­tures bobbed up and down through the air as stu­dents from sev­er­al schools in San Fer­nan­do paid trib­ute to the leg­end, dur­ing his fu­ner­al pro­ces­sion on Thurs­day.

Out­side Na­pari­ma Col­lege, the school or­ches­tra set up on the pave­ment play­ing ren­di­tions of Stal­in.

Griev­ing wid­ow Pat­sy Stal­in hap­pi­ly greet­ed the stu­dents as they screamed and waved with ex­cite­ment.

A sim­i­lar scene un­fold­ed ear­li­er along Har­ris Prom­e­nade when stu­dents of St Joseph Con­vent, San Fer­nan­do Boys RC and St Gabriel's Girls RC lined the Prom­e­nade.

Act­ing prin­ci­pal of San Fer­nan­do Boys RC Melis­sa Scout said the school ded­i­cat­ed their Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions this year to Stal­in.

She said stu­dents were al­lowed to do plac­ards and por­tray­als in his ho­n­our.

A teacher at St Joseph Con­vent Chris­tian­na Far­row said Stal­in al­ways had pos­i­tive mes­sages for the youths.

" His best mes­sage will al­ways be Bet­ter Days are Com­ing," Far­row said.

At In­de­pen­dence Av­enue, se­nior cit­i­zens from the JC Mc­Don­ald's home al­so came out smil­ing. On all sides of the streets, cit­i­zens waved, sang, danced and honked their horns in sup­port.

Guardian Me­dia will bring you more as the fu­ner­al con­tin­ues.