I’ve always felt fortunate to have grown up in Trinidad’s multicultural society, in the small village of El Dorado, halfway along the East-West Corridor. But, being something of an introvert, I preferred to watch rather than participate in the continuing saga of village life.
Carnival, Hosay, Divali all came and went, part of the ordinary rhythm of life.
My grandparents’ upstairs porch was a perfect vantage point for observing activities in the Hindu temple just across the road. One of the events I most looked forward to was Ramleela, the folk theatre spectacle performed annually in the weeks leading up to Divali, the festival of lights. To my child’s eyes it was a marvellous fairy story brought to life, with all the right ingredients: heroes and villains, danger and bravery, and rollicking fight scenes.
Ramleela is based on the Ramayana, the Hindu epic recounting the story of Lord Rama, whose wife Sita is abducted by the ten-headed demon king Ravan. With the aid of Hanuman and his monkey army, Rama besieges Ravan’s kingdom; after an extraordinary battle the evil king is destroyed and the beautiful Sita rescued. Over a sequence of ten nights, each starting with a pooja, or prayer session, the performance brings the ancient verses to life for an enthusiastic crowd. The grand finale is the defeat of Ravan, burned in effigy to the accompaniment of whoops and cheers. Unsurprisingly, people of all beliefs can identify with the themes espoused in Ramleela: the triumph of good over evil, and the importance of faith and courage.
The vivid memory of pundits chanting and amateur actors dressed in bright costumes performing on the open-air stage has stayed with me. Ramleela celebrations seem more elaborate now than they were when I was a child — or maybe my memory has been coloured by time. But I know this for sure: once again this year, at the climax of the Leela, Rama will shoot off his flaming arrow, the towering figure of Ravan will burn to a crisp, and the world will be safe again, at least until next year.
