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Showing posts from June, 2007

Nostalgia

Barbados ,home again.I knew it when I saw the deep blue sea.I knew it was Barbados when I saw the pretty faces of Bajan girls that I had missed for so long.The whistling frogs,the green monkeys,the Christmas worms,it was that time of the years.That was twenty years ago.Barbados is still my home

I is Bajan!

We speak Bajan.Some say it is a corruption of the English language and that the children shouldn't be encouraged to speak it. I know a popular talk show host Tony Marshall who said that Bajan was never spoken in his house. Unfortunately or fortunately I grew on a diet of 'rank Bajan'. We had a lot of wunna although we tended to stay away from the unna and inna. The problem I think comes with spelling.Children would tend to spell some English sounding words just as how they would pronounce them in Bajan and that would be a problem.During my school days correct English Grammar and was emphasized continuously both orally and written in the English language classroom.

He Thought He Saw

I saw a white elephant today.Some people told me that it could be unusual to see a white elephant in this part of the world, as even in the Asian countries they are extremely rare.Then I remembered a favourite poem of mind.He thought he saw."He thought he saw an elephant that practiced on a fife,he looked again and saw it was his sisters' husbands' wife.' Only I didn't think I saw,I did see one in the vicinity of Kensington Oval.The sighting of a white elephant is a good thing even in a non Buddhist society such as ours.

Face to face with a vicious Akita

I came face to face today with a vicious Akita,me and my little girl, luckily I had her in my arms while we were about to walk through the West Terrace district.We came around a corner and there was this huge Akita.It was actually taller than my little girl.She would have been looking it straight in the face. Now I am naturally afraid of dogs even the smallest of Chihuahuas.I avoided eye contact with the dog although peripherally I could see that he stopped and looked up at me.I continued walking calmly as though there was no threat about. Why do I say he was vicious? That is what I am hearing from people living in the area.Maybe he was just out of his territorial zone but I hope his owners keep in fenced in a lot better.That is something that I wouldn't want to happen again. Just a few months ago a child was mauled by an Akita.There was a time when the main dogs you used to encounter was the 'lowly' salmon tot retriever;A unique Barbados mongrel.Such is not the case now.To
I am not one of those Bajans who are proud to hear Barbados being referred to as Little England.I am sorry, but it is the truth.I know statements like that would be shocking to most Barbadians who are infinitely proud to think of England as their homeland or motherland as they like to call it.It says a lot about our identity seeing that Barbados is over 90% African. When Rastafari came to Barbados sometime in the 1970's it was like a breath of fresh air to me.At least it brought aspects of our culture that we needed to the fore even though as you could well imagine it was horrifying to the majority of Bajans,who actually believed that it was a sign that we were in the last days. I think even more amazing was the discrimination in the workplace where once you were Rastafai it was certain that no one would employ you.As a matter of fact it is only within the last few years that dreadlocks could be worn in the work place.People have really short memories but there was rampant discrimi

Is the green monkey still considered a pest?Or is it a star.

I am just wondering if the Barbados Green Monkey is still considered a pest? I know at one point the Barbados government was offering $20.00 for a tail. The assumption being that once you have the tail then it means that the monkey is no more,although I have been asked if you couldn't get the tail and release the monkey. The reason I am asking this question is that the Green Monkey becomes a star when Barbados is producing its tourists brochures and for companies producing their tourist oriented marketing.

A bunch of terrorists!

I remember when they blew up Cubana Flight 455 on October 1976.I was a youngster at secondary school.I remembered when two CIA agents were arrested for the crime.I understand that one was a man called Luis Posada Carilles . I remember when Apartheid existed in Africa based on a system of racial supremacy,I remember when Ronald Reagan did all in his power to help using a unique strategy called constructive engagement. I remember when the ANC fought and won against the vile system of racial rule. I remember when a woman by the name of Margaret Thatcher called the ANC nothing but a bunch of terrorists.