From Royal Borough to banana republic

THE EDITOR: It is shameful that a borough, once named the Royal Borough of Arima, a model of good stewardship, of notable and noble mayors, has now deteriorated into the Rotten Borough of the East. It is shameful that the name Arima should still be assigned to this once beautiful town. If one has to have a model of lawlessness, licence and latitude in behaviour, then one must visit Arima.

Start with the streets. Unpaved and unmarked, some resemble the floors of dried up rivers, the worst being the main thoroughfare around the Savannah. Then glance at the traffic — the maxis forcing their way to form three lanes where there should be one. The taxis parking anywhere they choose and on both sides of the main street, PH cars competing aggressively with them for passengers. The school children stand in untidy groups one foot on the pavement, the other on the street, some, no doubt, looking for the transport with their favourite music of mass destruction. Then there are the cyclists with their defiant “mind yusself” look, peddling madly against the flow of traffic on a one way street.

Now for the pedestrians. They cross traffic which is going through a green light and are mad at you if you blow your horn in anger as they amble across in their own sweet time. And they will do the same thing when there is a legitimate pedestrian crossing a car’s length away. Most hilarious of all (if you can’t laugh, you can only cry), the driving test site occupies what was supposed to be the Bus Terminus. “But that’s not all” (as the TV American commercials blast out) — the entrance and exist to this Test Site allows for the passage of only one vehicle at a time. “And there’s more” — this entrance/exit is not more than twenty yards from the junction of the PBR and the O’Meara Road which takes all the traffic between Arima and the CR Highway! Add to that, the taxis stopping after crossing the PBR, holding up traffic behind them and, soon after, holding up traffic along the PBR because the lights have now turned green, but a line of vehicles block the road!! As I said, laugh, because if you are in that situation you are likely to commit unpremeditated murder, especially if, just ahead you see a learner driver crawling out of the designated exit.

Now you ask the ridiculous question — so what about the police? Well, a good question, but don’t expect an answer. I must say they make their presence known (the Borough Police that is) every so often — sorry, not so very often. Their main role appears to be to stand in the vicinity of the market holding a large note book in hand. I have actually seen one hand papers (presumably tickets) to an illegally parked taxi driver who appeared mildly amused. And I almost forgot the Mayor. I believe we do have a Mayor and perhaps we even have councillors. And I know somewhere, sometime, there was some event in which we stained a finger, and someone was said to be our “representative.”

So perhaps (if you believe in fairies) there is someone, somewhere who, somehow, at some time, may try to look after our interests. Meanwhile, Arima rapidly degenerates into a sorry “banana republic” type of state, much as we see on the South American continent. But who cares? There must be more serious matters to be taken care of, such as providing friendly CEOs with “adequate” remuneration and “suitable” transport commensurate with their exalted status. AMIRA (Arima gone into reverse gear).

B CHAPMAN BOYD
Arima