An award for Mr Kumar

When awards were instituted by the Drama Association in the 80’s for the best actor, best director et cetera, I made it clear to the Association that the Strolling Players Theatre Company was founded on June 14 1957, and was not in theatre to compete with any other group, so please leave us out of your competition. Anyway, I did thank them sincerely for recognising my contribution to the theatre in our country.

Standing tall, 22 inches at its highest point, between the two Caciques, is the beautifully designed glass, copper and wooden “Icon of the Nation” award. On the frosted glass circle are engraved maps of Trinidad and Tobago, and etched on the brass triangular plate is the large figure “40” indicating the fortieth year of Independence in 2002, this is followed by the Coat of Arms, and below “For Distinguished Service to Trinidad and Tobago Mr Freddie Kissoon”.

Now, the fourth award is a gold coloured legal-size scroll, tied with a green ribbon and resting at the base of the “Icon”. It reads, “trinidad and tobago film/12 festival” This is followed by, “bp,” their logo, and “Trinidad and Tobago” Next comes “bp TT ttff film pioneer 2012,” then “Harbance Kumar” and finally a signature under which is written “bruce paddington, festival director.” Modest guy that he is, he did not write PhD behind his name

How did Mr Kumar’s award end up in my house? On Tuesday August 14th a luncheon was held at Hyatt Regency Hotel to honour pioneers of local film production I was ill and simply couldn’t make it but SPTC was represented by Sunil Maraj and Sharon Drysdale who received the award for Harbance Kumar as he had requested the Film Festival to pass it on to me.

In 1970, a gentleman who identified himself as Harbance Kumar from India rang me. He said he was going to make a full-length feature film in Trinidad and he had already written the storyline but needed a scriptwriter to create the dialogue for his characters. Mr Kumar went on, “I understand that you have won playwriting competitions and you run your own theatre company I would like to meet you to discuss writing the filmscript.”

At that time, I was seconded from St James Secondary to the Division of Culture and had to teach Drama in six Teachers’ Colleges plus the fact that Strolling Players had performances all over the country. The original story was The Rape of the Coloured dealing with a cruel sadistic slave master. I turned night into day and worked feverishly on his manuscript.

On Friday June 19, 1970, Trinbago saw its first home-made full-length movie The Right and the Wrong in which forty-one members of Strolling Players acted. Subsequently, Harbance Kumar made Caribbean Fox, Man from Africa and Girl from India. He migrated to New York but from time to time, he would send me post cards from South Africa, the Cannes Film Festival in France and other countries

Years later, Mr Kumar visited us. He talked about his tour to India with his new “mother” Lotte Nivelli and her husband. After Dr Harindranath Chattopadhyaya read Kumar’s manuscript of the Holocaust survivor Lotte, the renowned 90-year-old Indian poet uttered, “Let me set your words into rhyme. It will be the crowning glory of my life.”

“Dada” started but died before the job was completed. Lotte’s spiritual son, put on the poet’s mantle and finished the most amazing unforgettable episodic rhyming love story.

On the inside page of his book, Harbance Kumar wrote, “Dear Nesta and Freddie, I hope you are able to glorify your own divine dimensions with — ‘ECHOES of LOVE from heavens above’ Mickey Nivelli,” followed by his signature and “Dec 14 2002.”

Robert Frost (1874-1963) wrote in Collected Poems 1939 —

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.”