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Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
As Cool as Gokool Haji Gokool Meah
How many of us would have known that the expression “cool as Gokool” referred to Haji Gokool Meah (1847-1939) who came on an indenture ship when he was just six years old and grew to be businessman, cocoa proprietor and cinema magnate, builder of the Globe and Empire cinemas in the 1930’s? Gokool drank his cup of dhal every day, and in the face of racial prejudice conducted his business with an icy calm that became proverbial, hence “cool as Gokool”. [Extracted from Caribbean History Archives]
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Haji Gokool Meah (1847–1939) was an industrialist and philanthropist. He was born in Kashmir, in what was then British India. He was originally named Modhoo. His father died shortly before his birth and his mother remarried.
As a small child, his family left Kashmir and ended up in Calcutta where in 1852 they signed up as indentured labourers bound for the sugar cane fields of Trinidad. On January 25, 1853 they arrived in Trinidad aboard the Benares. They were indentured at the Concord Estate in Pointe-à-Pierre. After three months, his mother died of malaria and his stepfather took little interest in him. He was informally adopted by a Hindu couple who gave him the name Gokool.
Haji Gokool Meah Mosque
Once he was old enough, Gokool secured his own indentureship contract with the Concord Estate. He renewed his contract once it expired, and then went out on his own. He purchased a donkey cart and made a living hauling sugar cane to the factory at Usine Sainte Madeline, then the second largest sugar refinery in the world. After a few years of this trade, he sold his cart and established a shop in Danglade Village on the road to San Fernando (now part of the Petrotrin oil refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre).
He married Rojan Boodhoo, a Muslim in 18781, and had 17 children, 11 of whom survived. From shopkeeping he moved on to cocoa cultivation, establishing one of the early cocoa plantations in the Diego Martin valley. From cocoa he moved on the real estate, becoming one of the major landlords in Port of Spain. He also established himself as a cinema magnate, establishing the Metro cinema in collaboration with MGM. He later split with them and renamed his cinema the Globe Cinema, eventually operating a string of five cinemas in Port of Spain and San Fernando.
In 1922 he performed the Haj (Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca). In his will, he established the Haji Gokool Meah Trust, a trust to continue the charitable works which had earned him the title Meah (benefactor). [Extracted from Wikipedia] In 1923 he joined Kazi Syed Abdul Aziz, Haji Ruknuddin Meah and Abdul Ghany to set up the TIA, and was a generous donor to their projects. When he died he left $1million in a tust fund to his son Noor to administer to the poor. Noor passed it on to an institution which established the Haji Gokool Meah Trust Fund in 1967 for the poor, needy and education in general, then valued at $1.93 million.1
The Cinema
On Thursday February 2nd 1911, Trinidadians got their first taste of the new-fangled technology of moving pictures. The London Electric Theatre was constructed at the corner of Baden Powell St. and French St. in Woodbrook. Built by Marcus and Reginal Davis, the opening was eagerly anticipated as crowds braved a rainy evening to see the first show, entitled “The World Before Your Eyes” . The matinée was a series of stills, rapidly flipped before a projector to give the illusion of motion. The rates charged for admission were for the gender and age classes, and not for house or balcony as with later cinemas.
Another pioneer in the local cinema industry was Gokool Meah. Born in 1848 in Kashmir, he came as a child to Trinidad, and was subsequently orphaned with the deaths of his parents, Caulloo and Puddoo. Adopted by a childless Hindu couple, who did not mind the waif’s Islamic heritage, he grew up in labour on Concord Estate, near Pointe-a-Pierre, then owned by Dr. J.B Phillippe, a prominent coloured medical man and well-known public figure.
By 1870 he was driving a mule cart, and later bought one of his own with which he did a thriving trade, carting canes to the refinery at Usine Ste. Madeline. His career as a carter abruptly ended when the mule kicked him, and using his savings, Gokool opened a small shop near the estate.
In 1878 he married a young Punjabi woman, Rojan, who gave him 11 surviving children. The shop prospered and in 1892, Gokool was able to purchase Diamond, Greenhill and River Estates, comprising almost the whole Diego Martin valley, which he developed as cocoa plantations. He moved there with his family and lived in a large wooden house. His children were educated in the local R.C School, with the boys going on to prestige secondary schools in POS.
By 1918, Gokool was buying up properties in POS which were going cheap in the post WWI recession. Although known as a hard commercial man, he was a charitable, pious Muslim, who fed children at his home daily and gave a piece of land to be used as an Indian cemetery in Diego Martin.
In 1922 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca with his son Noor, and became known as Haji Gokool Meah. In 1927 he built a Masjid in St. James which bears his name. In 1933, Gokool dived feet first into the cinema business, where fellow Indians, Timothy Roodal and Sarran Teelucksingh had already made a fortune. He was particularly convinced when the first movie with sound, a ‘talkie’ was shown in 1930. Gokool, supported by his son Noor (business manager of the vast empire his father owned and a QRC grad) forged an alliance with the American film producer, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, MGM. The contract was so planned that Gokool could only show films produced by MGM.
In 1933 , he constructed at the corner of St. Vincent and Park Sts. the Metro Cinema. It opened on March 19th 1933 to huge fanfare and for good reason. The ornate classical building could seat over 1,000 patrons in balcony and pit, and cost over $80,000 to construct. By comparison, almost the whole of modern-day Aranguez was for sale at the time for $22,000.00 The Globe was also the first building in Trinidad to be air-conditioned, and the largest cinema in the Caribbean. It also had a stage for live theatrical performances.
In 1938, Gokool breached his contract with MGM by showing films from rival outfits like RKO and Paramount. MGM withdrew and signed with George Rosenthal, another cinema pioneer. Gokool changed the name of his cinema to Globe, which name it still carries today. He also opened other Globe cinemas in Princes Town and Chaguanas. Not above a little bobol from time to time, Gokool tried to burn down one of his properties for insurance, sending his son Anware to do the deed… the boy was caught and fined. “Insuranburn”, as Sir V.S Naipaul called it, was a popular crooked business practice at the time. Gokool died in 1940 aged 92. The cinema he founded is still extant in its original building and is a gem of period architecture.
The Cinema – contributed by
Angelo Bissessarsingh Siparia adapted from
1. Finding a Place by Kris Rampersad
2. http://www.naturetrektt.com/Trekking/25ThingsNotToMissAtAll/StJames/tabid/513/Default.aspx
Featured in Finding A Place. Help Us digitise
Grow Safeguard Preserve Create A MultiMedia Legacy
Featured in Finding A Place. Help Us digitise
Grow Safeguard Preserve Create A MultiMedia Legacy
With rapidly changing technologies in media, many of our knowledge resources are fast disappearing or becoming inaccessible. We are in the process of digitising our archives representing more than 30 years of contemporary Caribbean development linked to more than 10,000 years of regional pre and post colonial history and heritage. Make contact.
Haji Gokool Meah (1847 - 1939) in Caribbean Muslims
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
It's 'business unusual'... Triple whammy to hit energy sector | On the Frontlines of Climate Change
It's 'business unusual'... Triple whammy to hit energy sector | On the Frontlines of Climate Change
- also published at: http://www.guardian.co.tt/archives/features/life/2009/04/18/triple-whammy-hit-energy-sector#sthash.q7TwWsYw.dpuf
Triple whammy to hit energy sector
Fri, 2009-04-17 22:26
Article Date:
Sunday, April 19, 2009
• Rising resource costs • Rising energy costs • Rising food prices
It’s ‘business unusual’...
For the energy sector, it is not “business as usual,” not only because of supply factors, but also related to focus on more efficient and sustainable uses of energy and climate change-related issues. This is the message from energy researchers, ColinDale Marcelle and Ian Ivey, as heads of governments and policy-makers discuss the global financial crisis at the Fifth Summit of the Americas. “The energy sector does not operate in isolation. The major trends shaping its ‘big picture’ future are coming together for a ‘triple whammy’ effect—rising energy costs, rising food prices and rising resource costs,” said Ivey, of the research group NEXT.
“T&T needs to become far more focused on the opportunities associated with the entire renewable energy sector, because it has invested heavily in the development of considerable expertise in the energy field. “Once the country’s oil and gas fields enter into a decline phase—which may be little more than a decade away—that investment will have little long-term value to the country, unless it is redirected towards future rapid growth opportunity areas in the ‘new energy’ scene. “It is clearly going to be difficult for a small country such as T&T to be an internationally cost-competitive player in renewable energy sectors, such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel, as the land areas required are vast and the throughput volumes required to justify the capital investments needed are potentially large.
Along with Marcelle, Ivey is the co-author of the recently released Global Foresight Review on renewable energy and Renewable Energy Best Bets Opportunities for T&T (see Niherst.gov.tt), which focus on opportunities and alternatives for T&T outside the oil and gas sector. They were prepared by NEXT Corporation for the National Institute of Higher Education Research, Science and Education.
Increase by 2030
Foresight and innovation research identified several “best bets” for T&T’s energy sector that would lead to greater efficiency in use of existing energy sources and develop businesses built around alternative energy generated from environment-friendly renewable sources. Nine initial potential “best bets” were identified, including developing alternative energy sources by harnessing the power of wave, wind, solar and volcanic energy and growing business by tapping into existing research and technologies. “The potential ‘best bet’ opportunity areas identified could provide the basis of a significant new energy sector focus in T&T,” the authors say. The top three involved use of bio-gas, solar and energy-efficient technologies.
The Global Review cites trends and issues that have an impact on energy markets that point to higher prices for crude oil and natural gas, post the current slump and a 50 per cent projected increase in global energy demand by 2030. Sources referred to include the Annual Energy Outlook, the Medium-Term Oil Market Report of the International Energy Agency, Facing the Hard Truths About Energy Report of the National Petroleum Council and the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, among others.
The review was prepared to stimulate thinking about how the global sector is likely to evolve over the next ten years, and thus identify associated threats and opportunities for T&T in the long-term, drawn from a big picture view of what the world may look like in the near future, so as to inform decisions that need to be made today with regard to sector opportunities and threats. Among its findings were that the energy sector’s development is being restricted primarily by traditional attitudes and short-term thinking. A lack of understanding of how quickly the “big picture” may change in future years is hindering change to more sustainable alternatives and limiting the amount of investments being made into innovative opportunities.
'Peak oil’
The energy sector is being forced to revise its directions as the result of a growing awareness that current sources of energy are likely to fail to keep up with future demand, as the capacity to supply world demand is almost already at its peak. This was fed by growing pressure for cleaner and more environmentally sustainable energy sources. “People are now starting to realise that ‘peak oil’ is just a few years away, if not already here. This increases the need to speed up moves towards renewable energy alternatives where favourable conditions apply,” say the authors.
Among these favourable conditions are advances in technology, innovators with creative solutions, growing investment into green and sustainable applications (long-term) and decentralisation of the energy sector, down to a point where we may see total sustainable energy solutions in place for communities, or even individual households and businesses. These already exist in European communities, such as Jühnde in Germany and Güssing in Austria. “The global energy scene is now reaching a ‘tipping point.’ It is changing the balance between ‘old energy’ and ‘new energy.’
“It is easy to become blindsided by short-term blips such as the current low prices in fossil fuel prices and reduced investment into renewable energy. But this is unlikely to last long. “Once the world recovers from the current economic downturn, the major underlying trends will be back in play and ‘old energy’ is likely to face a challenging future as the ‘triple whammy’ effect comes back into play and global policy changes adversely affect the competitive position of fossil fuels, particularly in response to climate change and reducing global emissions by up to 80 per cent (eg, the new goal in the USA).”
Dr Kris Rampersad is
a multistakeholder multimedia multicultural sustainable development educator consultant and facilitator.
a multistakeholder multimedia multicultural sustainable development educator consultant and facilitator.
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