Reflections
from Kingston, Jamaica (23 November, 2014)
The University of West Indies, Kingston is
a sprawling campus nestled among little hills, somewhat a secluded oasis in
this otherwise busy but laid-back harbor city of Kingston. Much of Kingston
holds harsh but forgiving memories of the horrors of slavery, indentured labor,
and European colonization.
Even today, although independent, free, and
democratic to a fault, Jamaica remains under the British Queen, and the streets
and buildings still carry the names given to them by the colonial masters, who
were reminiscing their own England in such distant foreign lands or worse were
using the symbols of names and culture to dominate the innocent natives of
these lovely islands and the slaves brought there.
Regardless, the place has begun to change
and is now witnessing the American influences of KFC and McDonalds, not any
less the creeping presence of Chinese trade. People are nice and innocent, and
there is something in-built in the culture to be laid back and to enjoy life -
perhaps, coping mechanisms that have helped them survive so many centuries of
oppression, while the colonial masters lived a life of luxury feeding off the
greed for sugar and rich mineral.
Now the population faces unprecedented
levels of obesity and diabetes, and even on a morning walk one cannot miss this
epidemic. Of course, it is easy to blame a single evil - Sugar, but is it that
simple, I wonder?
Venkat
