{"id":198,"date":"2009-10-03T21:10:11","date_gmt":"2009-10-03T21:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/?p=198"},"modified":"2010-01-01T04:34:48","modified_gmt":"2010-01-01T04:34:48","slug":"the-ramoutar-family-from-lower-mc-bean-couva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/?p=198","title":{"rendered":"The Ramoutar family from Lower Mc Bean, Couva"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerrie Ramoutar is one of the young members of the Lower Mc Bean Ramleela and Cultural Group. She is considered to be a professional dancer with sixteen years of experience behind her. Kerrie has danced with most of the major dance teachers in Trinidad such as Krishna Persad, Michael Salickram and a few others. Having covered just about all of the Indian dance styles like Classical, Chutney, Folk and so on, Kerry feels confident that she is ready to have her own group called the Nritya Dance Company which she will manage from her home in Lower Mc Bean, Couva. Kerry and her parents Celia Nath and Sookram Ramoutar were eager to share some of their personal experiences with Triniview.com.<\/em>
\n
\nTRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> What do you do in terms of this community group? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> I am the secretary of the Ramleela group. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> What exactly is this Ramleela celebration all about? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> It is the story of Lord Ram, taken from the Ramayan. Historically, it is the only open air play that is still being performed in the Caribbean. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> The structure that was built, describe it for us. <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> It is supposed to be someone called Rawan. He is the evil person in the play. Usually, Rawans are built with bamboo and they are covered with newspaper. They are stuffed with things like diesel and pitch oil so you would be able to get sparks and so on. I have never been with the boys to cut the bamboo but they have a ritual where they have to do a puja when they go to the bamboo patch to cut the bamboo. They need certain lengths and a certain number of joints and things like that. They have to strip it and leave it to dry and then who ever is building it will come with wire and paste and they will put it together. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> In terms of this community group what is the aim and function of the group? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Our main function for the past fifty-two years has been Ramleela. We are now getting into the other aspects of culture and so on but our main thing is Ramleela and we are trying to bring the youths from the community into the group which is pretty hard; but we are trying. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> What are some of the challenges in bringing more young people on board? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Young people today are really not interested in it and the fasting thing because a lot of them want to go and party on a Saturday night. We will fast for probably a month or more before we do this so that is a big deterrent. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> In terms of the actual Ramleela, how involved is the wider community in the Ramleela? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> They are not involved. It is mainly just us who are in the group. This year, we got some support, but other than that, we do not really get any support. Whatever support we get is what we have to beg for. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> Do you think that more information about these types of cultural activities needs to be available in the mainstream? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Yes, definitely. Because the events that are covered mostly around this time will be the Divali Nagar we don\u2019t really get them to highlight the community stuff which is what they should really be focusing on. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> What plans do you all have in terms of the committee for the future? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> We are trying to get a portion of land set aside for us specifically for Ramleela where we will be able to erect a building for our stuff, have our own place that we can fix up the way we would like to and have everything in a more professional manner instead of having to run around every year. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> From working with young people you would have been exposed to a lot of the challenges that they would have to face. What do you see as some of the main challenges facing young people in this community? <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Being young people asking for support, the adults look at you like, \u201cWhy? You all are young. All you all want to do is lime around and just play. You all are not serious.\u201d That is our main challenge really. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> Mrs. Ramoutar can you tell us a little bit about your daughter Kerrie? <\/p>\n

CELIA NATH-RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Kerrie was born in the San Fernando and she lives here in Lower Mc Bean, Couva ever since. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> Are you and your husband Mr. Sookram Ramoutar originally from Mc Bean? <\/p>\n

CELIA NATH-RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Yes.
\n
\nTRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> How did you meet? <\/p>\n

CELIA NATH-RAMOUTAR:<\/b> [Laughter] I originally lived about half a mile from here. My mother was ill at one point and this young man (her husband, Sookram Ramoutar) decided that he was coming to visit her with some neighbors who were his friends. Every day, tediously he would come down the road to visit my mother. He wouldn\u2019t see my mother but he was visiting (laughter) and that is how I met him. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> Mr. Ramoutar you mentioned that you lived here for thirty years? <\/p>\n

SOOKRAM RAMOUTAR:<\/b> I used to live at Couva and just before I got married I came to live here with my grandparents. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> How different are things now from thirty years ago? <\/p>\n

SOOKRAM RAMOUTAR:<\/b> It is much harder to get things done now. Long ago, if you go next door you could have always gotten something but not anymore. Even if they have it they would say they don\u2019t have it. You don\u2019t borrow anything again. People are not lending you anything again and they are not willing to give anything, so you have to look for your own. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> What was the social life or the community life like thirty years ago? <\/p>\n

SOOKRAM RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Basically, as youths growing up in Couva, everybody would get together and we would always go down by the grounds from school on a Saturday or Sunday morning and play as a group together. Everybody would go at one home and have something to eat and drink. Whatever the parents prepared everybody would partake in it. But you don\u2019t get that again. You don\u2019t have family bonding anymore. Long ago, where we used to live, we were like a family with the neighbors and everybody; it didn\u2019t matter really. When one home-cooked and you were going home to eat, everybody would follow you and we would all have something to partake of. But you don\u2019t have that family bonding anymore because everybody has their own agenda. <\/p>\n

KERRIE RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Even girls I knew growing up, they are like strangers to me. It\u2019s just like, \u201cHi\u201d and that is it. <\/p>\n

CELIA NATH-RAMOUTAR:<\/b> I remember growing up about half a mile from here and I could tell you then, when I was small, who lived in every house on the stretch. But now I don\u2019t know who lives next door to me. People have been migrating into the community and you have lost that knowledge of who is who and this is one of the problems we are facing in the community. This is why we are so burglar-proofed and locked in now because you don\u2019t know who is who. <\/p>\n

I remember when we were married, we had no fence for years. You find now that a whole family is working. And if it is an extended family, the grandparents are working also, so no one is at home during the course of the day to socialize with. <\/p>\n

SOOKRAM RAMOUTAR:<\/b> Long ago, usually a housewife was a housewife at home so they will know the neighbors and get together and talk. So when you come home in the evening they will have something to share with you. But now, we as parents are too busy. We do not take the time anymore to sit down and tell stories to children. As we get home, we shower, look at television and that is it. You go to bed, get up in the morning and you gone again. You hardly find parents spending time with their children now. That is why you find the children are moving away from their parents. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> Yes, because even though technology has brought certain benefits in a sense, it has changed a lot. <\/p>\n

SOOKRAM RAMOUTAR:<\/b> If you take away the television you would find that everybody would go in one house and share stories about what happened during the day. <\/p>\n

TRINIVIEW.COM:<\/b> I guess previously the forms of entertainment were more social, but now it is more personal.<\/p>\n

Kerrie can be contacted at the following:<\/p>\n

Phone Numbers: (686) 763-6092 or (868) 320-4786<\/p>\n

Email Address: kramoutar89@89hotmail.com <\/em><\/p>\n

Also Read:<\/b><\/p>\n

Mc Bean Ramleela and Cultural Group celebrates Ramleela<\/a><\/p>\n

Ramleela (Ramdilla) Festival in Mc Bean Village, Couva 2009 in pictures<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kerrie Ramoutar is one of the young members of the Lower Mc Bean Ramleela and Cultural Group. She is considered to be a professional dancer with sixteen years of experience behind her. Kerrie has danced with most of the major dance teachers in Trinidad such as Krishna Persad, Michael Salickram and a few others. Having covered just about all of the Indian dance styles like Classical, Chutney, Folk and so on, Kerry feels confident that she is ready to have her own group called the Nritya Dance Company which she will manage from her home in Lower Mc Bean, Couva. Kerry and her parents Celia Nath and Sookram Ramoutar were eager to share some of their personal experiences with Triniview.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[69,21,3,1],"tags":[62,64,33,63,61,65],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281,"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triniview.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}