J'aime Paramin

Paramin Story in Newsday

I saw this story today so I am posting it.  

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,91157.html

Paramin Harvest and Family Reunion

Imagine if you will a cool bright summer’s day, possibly the third of August. It is eleven o clock Sunday morning and you’re at the first ever-annual Paramin Harvest and Family Reunion. There are game stalls for parents, adults, and children, good food, and music too. An old school rounders fete match is scheduled for two in the afternoon and you will be playing. There is also a Harvest night fete beginning at seven tonight, and you know just how good you plan to look. Tomorrow is a holiday so you don’t have to rush home early. Surrounding you are family and friends you may not have seen for donkey years. In the back of your mind you know that every penny you spend today will help uplift the life of a Paramin family in need, as well as provide scholarships for some of our young and brightest students.   

   Ah mean to say is look de Canadian Paramin posse all deck off by so.” Lord dat music sweet” if de DJ doh behave himself ah go end up shaking meh tail in de people place yuh know. Aye Aye allyuh ent see how de London Paramin posse playing hoity toity over dey.  An ah done know de New York Paramin posse go be making a bacchanal on de other side. Look neh child doh come an bother meh wid no foolishness about more money for no bran tub you hear. Ah see some members of de Paramin Boogie posse bring dey own captain chairs to sit down in de people park wid. It even have ah true Paramin Paramin posse dat come up for de ting yes. Oh gorme look over dey dat is Doyyo I owe he ah shoday since nineteen eighty-one.

Now I ask you, can you see yourself there? If so, leave a comment and the numbers will surely start the wheels to turning. I often think that we are not cognizant of the enormous impact we can have on the lives of others once we open out hearts to the charity of truly caring about them. This to me seems the best way to give back to my community.                  

Who are we

Every culture has what is sometimes called a birthing myth. It is the story that seeks to explain just how they the people came to be. I have been thinking lately about the Paramin birthing myth, does one exist? If it does, I do not know of it. What story explains us? What is the mystery of our own beginning? Who was here first? I know the Emmanuel clan came from Morne Coco right behind Campbell, but where did the Romany clan come from, or any of the other families that now call Paramin home. Who are we really? What of the Paramin tree? If Paramin does really mean for me who is me and why did he choose this land as his own. Someone out there speak to me.How many families make up the tribe Paramin.

Paramin Maroons

Sometime ago I posted  a little thing about Paramin Maroons. Click the link for more

http://www.panafricanfestival.org/activities/index.php?pid=lectures&id=caves

Things ah does miss

Taking a cold bath in Streakers on a dry season Saturday afternoon when you have to make up ten mind to jump in de water fus it cold, but when you done you have to make up ten more mind to come out fus de water nice.

Ah good rounders match in de formage on a Sunday afternoon.

Full moon on a clear August night with the moon hanging high over Valero and you walking home from up Paramin village after a lime and it’s two in the morning.

A good wake wid bamboo knocking and people praying and some singing and card game going and the smell and taste of strong black coffee and vat to drink.

Hoping ah jeep instead of walking up de hill

A hike to Saut d’eau beach early in the morning in May when the air is cool and dry.

Reaching Bar La vigie after hiking up from Saut d’eau beach in the afternoon

Body riding waves in Maracas on a Sunday afternoon

Making Zebbie on a cold Friday morning with dew still on the parsley an de sun jus rising over Santa Cruz.

Harvest Night.

Ah Friday afternoon beer drinking lime in Fatima. Ah Sunday morning after church beer drinking lime in Fatima.

Paramin Women

Bathing in de rain in rainy season while fixing de gutter an fulling de drums an water tank

Going for mango calabash and pomarac right after de rain.

Carnival Monday afternoon up de hill.

         

Who Are We

Today I choose to celebrate who we are, and where we came from. Today I choose to salute those who have taken the name of Paramin far and wide. Today I choose to honor the men and women who have affected my life simply by living their own.

We are the sons and daughters of Paramin proud, resilient and true. To those who farm the hilly mountainsides of home and live their life independent and free, beholden to no one but themselves. I salute you.From the heights of Bar La viegie to the cool waters of Jahn, and over the hill all the way to Paragran. From the top of La Belle Vie to the hilltop ridge of Valero I say, stay strong my people. To the pioneers who ventured out and created Paramin colonies across the globe I salute you. From that beautiful Atlanta outpost where a light is always left on for this Paramin traveler. To Iconj. We are the heart and soul of Paramin in the USA, New Jersey I salute you. From that hectic, crazy, ah want ah roti and ah red solo, never say sleep city of Brooklyn New York where we make our mark everyday, to the few of us that must live and work in that windy city of Boston by the bay I salute you.

From Canada calling Toronto's Paramin posse who say, we could make it in the cold and still look good. To jumping over the pond they call the Atlantic to say a big top of the morning to the brave ones trying to conquer the motherland I salute you.

To those of us on the high seas working on the cruise ships and seeing the world I salute you.

From those ladies of Morne Cyril whose pepper sauce beating the pants off of anything the people in Texas could throw at it To los alacran whose La Rosa De Paramin can still be heard on the beaches of Rio in Brazil to San Juan Puerto Rico I salute you.

Yes Paramin people spread far and wide like chive does fullay in rainy season.

Paramin might be ah small place but leh meh tell allyuh we people heart big.

                                          

Blog Changes

Change is good so I have been told, so here's a couple of changes to J'aime Paramin. I have added a booklist of titles by Caribbean writers so let's start a book club everyone. Lets' find out what these voices have to say about us and the rest of the world. I have also made it easy for anyone who wants to travel to find just the right flight. last but by no means least I have added the top one hundred Netflex DVDs just in case you need some entertainment. Let have some fun people.

            

SNOW

Snow always comes gently at first.

Even through dark gray skies and a wet foggy landscape.

Clothing the trees with its heavy white coat.

Snowfalls can be such quite melancholy things.

Soft and comforting flakes dying against the glass of the huge bay window.

Melting, sliding downward into dark dispair.

Stearing out at the approaching storm,

I feel like a fuzzy ball wrapped deep in the comfort of a blanket

Thats been made soft by the warmth of many years.

It's not often I get to just sit like this and reminisce.

Filing past the memories,photographs living in my head

It's times like these that I truly miss home not just the family and dwelling into which I was born but the greater community to which I belong.

You may be able to remove yourself from your home but how can you wash away lifes' memories.

I wrote this in February when it was much colder and the lack of sunlight and the grayness of the days are sometimes too much to bear. The weather is changing Spring will soon be here. Time to dust off the blues of winter.       

Rounders

Rounders

Some say that football is the most popular game in the world.

Some say gave me cricket; lovely cricket all day for it fills my soul.

But if you really want to know what is the best game

ever played with either bat or ball. 

Come to Paramin to witness the greatest game of them all.

The game is called rounders, yes that's what these people play

Rounders now what is that you may say.

Well let me tell you its’ just about the most exciting game on earth.

It’s much faster than football and it’s played until the last man or woman falls 

Because it is played until the last man is more often than not hit with the ball

And if you think that the two wickets in cricket is just fine

Well I am here to tell you rounders have three times as many

So you see this leaves cricket far behind.

I wanted to write something about rounders, just a couple of lines, a short poem, but the words just will not flow. Whenever that happens I know it’s my inner voice telling me I am on the wrong track. So this is where my inner voice took me. Rounders is as old as humankind. It became popular in Tudor England, that’s about the time of Henry the eighth. It most likely came to Trinidad when the English gained control of the island from Spain. How did it get to Paramin? Your Guess is as good as mine. The thing is we took it and changed it and made it our own. In England where the game is still played mostly amongst schoolgirls the sport has about two million players. There are also mixed adult leagues. The racket looks like a short baseball bat. The ball is made of leather and there are only four wickets. Compare that with our rounders and you will see that the people of Paramin must truly love this game because we took it and adapted it and turned it into our own community pastime.                           

 

No Blasted Plane Yuh Hear What Ah Say

Look, doh tell me notting yuh hear. Ah still dam vex about dis private plane ting. Ah did tell mehself when ah did first hear about it, ah ent go say notting. After all is me self who call de website J'aime Paramin. Wid ah name like dat ah did tell mehself ah ent go involve mehself in dem people ting, ah go live an let live. But when dem so want to take de last piece ah saltfish from out your plate, an snatch your only  piece of fry bake from out your hand you ent go be no kind of man at all if you ent say nothing.Is what wrong wid some people dey really think we dat dottish? What kind ah brought up see is dat, to do dat kind of shameless crap right dey in front of people face. dem people so, brave or wattless dey ent even hiding you know. In case allyuh ent catch de zeppo leh meh show you how it working. Who own de national airline? De government.Who suggest to de government dey should get ah private plane for dey self? De national airline. Who paying for de plane? De government. Who dey paying? De national airline. But guess who paying for all dat bobyol? All ah we, because dem ent using dey money. No boy dey smarter dan dat is we money dey using.            

  An how come is only now dey making big big announcement but money did done pass since before election. Yes meh child, Parliament did have to approve dat kind of money spending, an is like de opposition didn't even know what dey was approving when dey was approving. All ah dem want to talk now but none ah dem did bother to read de fin print in de budget. Yes papa and we is de bunch ah koonoomoomoos dat vote dem bunch ah tief back in power. Ah mean is more dan four hundred million dollars just to buy de plane, an ah doh think anybody know how much it go cost to fix it up and keep it running each year. Ah mean to say is second hand blimp to fight crime,is second hand boat for de Tobago express,is second hand water taxi for we, but is first hand plane for Patrick de man Manning. An is how often he flying anyway. Ah sure it have some first hand Paramin soucuyant dat go be flying more dan Patrick de man Manning dis year. maybe he should try riding on dem an leave de plane money to pave we roads, or give we good drinking water in we pipe every day, or increase de old age pension ah little more. Now dat go be money well spent.