By Raffique Shah
December 21, 2024

Over the past two to three years, I have destroyed two cooking pots, having forgotten them on the stove and not having adhered to the safety rules we had agreed to enforce. It was not deliberate, of course. I can easily explain how it happened and why, as we grow older, we should be very careful when dealing with doing things we did ten to 20 years ago. Hell, I have been multitasking all my life and very efficiently, too.

Simultaneously I would be making breakfast, writing a column, reading the day’s newspapers, monitoring an interview on one of the morning shows, and on and on. Tens of tasks with ease back then. As I went past 70, I realised I could easily forget the coffee I had on the stove brewing; and that more easily when Parkinson’s disease took away my olfactory senses, I could no longer smell my coffee, not even when it was burning, nor could I taste it.

Also, because of the advance of technology, with adapters for just about anything electronic, it is equally difficult to keep track of all these devices—laptop, tablet, etc. If your house was built prior to the 2000s, your electrical wiring needs upgrades to accommodate the proper charging of these devices.

As details of the recent fire that claimed the lives of Minister and MP Lisa Morris-Julian and two of her children occupy most of the media, many old people must be thinking: that could have been me. Most of the elderly have quite rightfully burglar-proofed themselves in their houses because of the obscene crime rate and, by extension, home invasions. So now, the one thing you employ to save you from an impending danger poses another hazard. It’s like a catch-22 situation.

As my mind wandered and my empathy glands simulated the horrors of death by fire, I could not help but notice that while most politicians reacted to the minister’s death, they managed to leave the politics out, at least one or two didn’t. PM Dr Keith Rowley wisely called for investigations into the tragic incident and my hope is that there would be a positive outcome and MP Julian’s death would not have gone in vain, especially if it results in all fire stations being equipped with at least one functioning fire truck.

It occurred to me, too, that we are in the season of merriment, with Christmas going straight into Carnival that comes in early March. Already motor vehicle accidents have increased, and so too did the number of road deaths. This grim outlook isn’t batting an eyelid on anyone because they are all too consumed by the revelry of the season. Trinidad and Tobago is the kind of country in which you are likelier to be killed by a bullet, stray or intentional, or maybe lying in hospital from broken limbs, missing digits, roasted body parts or a nervous breakdown, because how can we forget the fools who insist on setting off fireworks in wholly unsafe environs?

I thought, too, of the drunkenness that becomes almost chronic during this time of the year. Man no longer needs to find excuses to be drunk. Now, the women and even children in instances are joining them. There is no class or decorum in this season—those have been fully discarded, quite possibly never to be seen again. One of the biggest items on our import manifest is alcoholic beverages. We do manage significant revenue from the soft drinks, rums and beer that we export, but I feel sure that our import costs are significantly higher.

Coming back to my geezer’s dilemma: daily I’m seeing and hearing of age-related afflictions—and here I refer to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s—becoming widespread and, sadly, age isn’t a factor anymore. These are the people likelier to forget the coffee, the rice, eggs, etc, that they started cooking on the stove as they shift focus to try to recall what they were doing in the first place. These people are the most vulnerable because many of them do not want to admit they have problems. They refuse to admit to ageing and to their illnesses, thereby putting themselves and others in danger.

One last thing that bothers me this Christmas season is a contradiction someone needs to unravel. The business organisations insist it is a rough year for sales, but I am told there is not a part of this country where the roads aren’t jammed with vehicles, clogging up main shopping centres, mall car parks, groceries, etc. Surely all these people can’t be just visiting car parks, right? The countless bags say otherwise. What is the truth?

In this “silly season” let us endeavour to be mindful of our actions, their consequences, and who they affect.

Compliments of the season to my editor, colleagues, and readers. Be safe out there.