Growing up in Belmont, Port of Spain, all I knew of ‘Indian’ culture was its food and music. The first I loved; the other I had no particular taste for. Indian families in Belmont were either creolized or privately well-off and secluded. We all knew of the Muslim Hosay in St. James, but the life and customs of rural Indians were worlds away, filtering through unflatteringly in calypsos or the catchy tunes of Sundar Popo. My first encounter with Ramleela, therefore, was during my graduate research in the mid-70’s. In exploring the idea of a national theatre, I contested the […]