Who is popular today?

Last Saturday, Mummy called and asked if I was looking at the Miss World pageant. I said no, as I am not really interested in pageants, plus I thought it had already happened and that she was talking about a rerun.
When she told me that it was taking place as she spoke and that Miss TT had made it to the top 25, I decided I would tune in. From what little I had seen of Aché Abrahams via social media, she seemed attractive, poised, confident, well-spoken, humble and intelligent and, politics aside, stood a chance at being the overall winner.
Accompanied by one of my dogs, Venus, I popped in at my landlady’s (Mary’s) house to watch the rest of the pageant with her and her husband.
When it was announced that Aché had made it into the top four, we screamed out and clapped, causing Venus and Pebbles (one of Mary’s dogs) to go scampering, until they realised that nothing was wrong and they could once again settle into a dozing position.
At that moment I did not hear any other screaming from neighbourhood homes, so figured that no one else was tuned in. This reminded me of my childhood, when a neighbour once said to me: “We always know when Wimbledon has started because you all start screaming.”
When it was announced that Aché had made it into the top four, Mary, in the spirit of pre-celebration, brought out a bottle of sorrel wine, made by the family of one of my yoga students. While I did not have any, I imagined that many around the nation were probably doing the same. In true Trini style, various households most likely saw the pageant as yet another opportunity to have a lime and imbibe alcohol.
“Girl, you coming over for the Miss World lime?”
“Buh how you mean! I bringing the pelau.”
“Okay, we go have curry and buss-up too…and the boys and them bringing the ice and drinks.”
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Some may have draped huge TT flags as a backdrop to their gathering. Outfits may have been co-ordinated in national colours. Some, on the heels of Carnival, may have donned remnants of costumes.
In the aftermath, one social media friend posted a video showing the screen at a private pageant viewing (live CNC3 feed of the event) held at MovieTowne, Invader’s Bay. The video clip began at the point at which Aché approached the front of the stage to make her pitch to India’s Shark Tank team.
“It’s not good to be first eh, but she going and set the trend, so let’s see,” one woman, her voice piqued with pride and anticipation, is heard saying close to the phone camera. Aché begins speaking. The audience is silent, clearly hanging on to every word...until she mentions “May every creed and race find an equal place” – and a soft but audible ‘Woooooooo!’ rises from the quiet, then fades to make way for our representative’s subsequent words.
“In sweet T&T we acknowledge our similarities, but more importantly we celebrate our differences,” Aché says.
And from the limers: “Yes...” and “Wow...” (softly) “Jesus Christ!” (louder) “Yes! Yes! Yessssssssssssssssss!” (escalating in volume).
A loud: “Shhhhhhhhhhh!” abruptly cuts the vocal crescendo as Aché brings her spiel to a confident end. The unseen viewers erupt into screams, cheers and claps and the main female commentator near the phone shouts out “Jesus Christ! You can’t get better dan dat! Confidence is everything! That’s a wrap!”
One newspaper article reporting on the private cinema viewing said when Aché triumphed over Miss Brazil, copping (originally) the title of Queen of the Americas and the Caribbean, “Every Trini rose to their feet and screamed as though they had won. This was in contrast to the article’s later mention of the “sighs and steups heard amongst the crowd” when Miss Czech Republic was announced overall winner.
Over in Mary’s living room in Tobago, our excitement was dulled to a collective groan. No doubt most of TT felt that Aché should have copped the overall win. But we know these things are political. Congratulations to the winner, anyway. And to Aché – well done and thank you, if, even for a moment, you brought the beauty of unity to many across our nation, igniting excitement, pride, hope and patriotism. Whatever little glimmer of these things TT can experience, we welcome it.
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