Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine July 2017

BOOK REVIEW BY J WYNNER
LIFE ON THE STREET
Miguel Street, by VS Naipaul. Penguin Books, first Penguin edition ©1971.
172 pages. ISBN 13: 9780140033021
Miguel Street, by Trinidadian
author VS Naipaul, was written
in London in 1959. In this,
one of his early works with a
Trinidadian locale, written long
before he started to explore the
world, readers begin to see the
quality of writing which led to
his Nobel Prize for Literature
in 2001.
But as witty and as outstanding
as the writing is,
Miguel Street is not a femalefriendly
read. True, one or two
men “get some good licks” in
the book, and one even serves
jail time, but it is the women
who get the brunt of the physical
blows, and some are portrayed
negatively, as promiscuous,
gold diggers, or unfaithful
partners. At the time the book
was written it was considered a
laughing matter when men
beat their spouses.
But you can’t fault Naipaul as
a writer. Naipaul shows his
amazing skill working the stories
from the point of view of a
young Indian boy whom his
mother had fetched from
Chaguanas after the death of
his father and brought to live
with her on Miguel Street. He is
the quiet observer, a narrator
who gives an insightful look at
the happenings on Miguel
Street, a fictional name for Luis Street in Woodbrook, where he and the book’s
colourful residents lived.
The stories are related in a conversational tone, and the readers hear these stories
as if listening to the author relating them verbally. Each of the 17 tales can be taken
as a separate story, with some of the characters reappearing in more than one.
Among the stories, first up is ‘Bogart’, so called after the hard-boiled actor. Bogart
knew a thing or two about disappearing. “The third time he went away and came
back he gave a great party in his room for all the children, or kids, as he called them.
He bought cases of Solo and Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola and about a bushel of cakes”
— until the party was interrupted by Sergeant Charles. “The charge was bigamy.”
In ‘The Thing Without a Name’, the main character is Popo, “who called himself a
carpenter,” yet whenever he was asked what he was building, always replied, “I making
the thing without a name.”
‘George and The Pink House’ relates that “George never became one of the gang in
Miguel Street. He didn’t seem to mind. He had his wife and his daughter and his son.
He beat them all. And when the boy Elias grew too big, George beat his daughter and
his wife more than ever. The blows didn’t appear to do the mother any good. She just
grew thinner and thinner; but the daughter, Dolly, thrived on it. She grew fatter and
fatter, and giggled more and more every year.”
The story of George and his son Elias continues in ‘His Chosen Calling’. Although
still at the mercy of his father’s floggings, Elias does not hold that against him, and
grows more serious and studious, always writing exams and failing until he realizes
his true calling. “He was driving the scavenging carts. ‘No theory here,’ Elias used to
say. ‘This is the practical. I really like the work.’ ”
‘The Pyrotechnicist’ is Morgan, a man who made fireworks and who also liked to
think of himself as a comedian. “He was the sort of man who, having once created a
laugh by sticking the match in his mouth and trying to light it with his cigarette,
having once done that, does it over and over again.” When Morgan’s house burned
down thanks to his fireworks experiments, it was the prettiest fire in Port of Spain
since the Treasury fire in 1933.
‘The Maternal Instinct’ is all about Laura and her eight children by seven different
fathers. Laura gave our narrator his first lesson in biology.
‘Love, Love, Love Alone’ deals with Mrs. Christiani, alias Mrs. Hereira, and Toni.
Boyee thought he saw Mrs. Hereira in one of the nice houses in Mucurapo when
he used to deliver milk. She was too well-dressed, pretty and refined for Miguel
Street. But when Toni began his beatings she would run out of the house screaming
and after a while she returned to her husband, Mr. Christiani, and the nice
house in Mucurapo.
Mr. Bhakcu, ‘The Mechanical Genius’, was obsessed with tinkering with cars, even
one straight out of the showroom. “Bhakcu was also an artist. He interfered with
motor-cars for the joy of the thing.”
In ‘Caution’, Bolo the barber is always playing games of chance and won’t believe
it when told that he had won almost 300 dollars in the sweepstake. He tears up
the ticket.
The American soldiers are in town in ‘Until the Soldiers Came’, and Edward turns
American, even marrying “a tall and thin white-skinned woman,” who eventually
leaves him.
Eventually, Hat, who has been fond of injecting his views in other people stories,
gets one of his own. ‘Hat’ is a poignant story. Our narrator is now 18, and
everything changes.
And in the last tale, ‘How I left Miguel Street’, our narrator is no longer a boy. He’s
a man now, and working at the Customs office. The story opens with his mother
telling him, “You getting too wild in this place. I think is high time you leave.” And
the story and the book culminate with him at the airport, about to embark on his
way to England to continue his studies.
And there ends the collection of short stories — or novel, take your pick — giving
diverse insights into the lives of everyday Trinidadians who lived on Miguel Street.
MERIDIAN PASSAGE
OF THE MOON
Crossing the channels between Caribbean islands with a favorable tide will
make your passage faster and more comfortable. The table below, courtesy Don
Street, author of Street’s Guides and compiler of Imray-Iolaire charts, which
shows the time of the meridian passage (or zenith) of the moon for this AND next
month, will help you calculate the tides.
Water, Don explains, generally tries to run toward the moon. The tide starts
running to the east soon after moonrise, continues to run east until about an
hour after the moon reaches its zenith (see TIME below) and then runs westward.
From just after the moon’s setting to just after its nadir, the tide runs eastward;
and from just after its nadir to soon after its rising, the tide runs westward; i.e.
the tide floods from west to east. Times given are local.
Note: the maximum tide is 3 or 4 days after the new and full moons.
For more information, see “Tides and Currents” on the back of all Imray Iolaire
charts. Fair tides!
July 2017
1 1835
2 1919
3 2003
4 2047
5 2132
6 2219
7 2307
8 2355
9 0000 (full moon)
10 0044
11 0132
12 0220
13 0308
14 0355
15 0442
16 0530
17 0620
18 0717
19 0808
20 0907
21 1008
JULY-AUGUST 2017
22 1110
23 1210
24 1309
25 1408
26 1455
27 1543
28 1629
29 1714
30 1706
August 2017
1 1928
2 2015
3 2102
4 2150
5 2239
6 2328
7 0000 (full moon)
8 0017
9 0108
10 0153
11 0240
12 0328
13 0417
14 0508
15 0601
16 0657
17 0755
18 0855
19 0955
20 1053
21 1119
22 1242
23 1332
24 1420
25 1507
26 1532
27 1657
28 1723
29 1809
30 1856
31 1943
JULY 2017 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 35