Art of Doing Nothing in the Land of the Calypso

Apr 12, 2007

Art of Doing Nothing in the Land of the Calypso

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by Khamati Shilabuka

The Cricket World Cup could have passed unnoticed by many Kenyans in one of the host nations, Trinidad - a country a widespread urban activity, liming, is a sight to behold.With the Port of Spain as a natural hub, the urban corridor dominates public life. Crucial institutions in the Trinidadian definition of public self, such as steel bands, calypso and carnival, as well as the most important economic and political institutions, are located at the Port of Spain and the surrounding area.

The origin of 'liming' is obscure. It means 'hanging around', but there is no exact linguistic or cultural equivalent to liming in the cultural contexts with which most of us are familiar. The concept encompasses any leisure activity entailing sharing of food and drink, telling stories, jokes and anecdotes, provided the activity has no explicit purpose beyond itself.

Whereas idling and inactivity are shameful and slightly immoral, liming is acknowledged as a performing art, an activity one would not hesitate to indulge in proudly. Verbal improvisation, ingenuity and straightforward aimlessness are highly regarded, provided one follows the rules, which, however, are nearly all implicit.

It took me a long time and effort to learn how to lime; many of my acquaintances were of the opinion that I never really mastered it, despite many determined attempts.

Liming is not subjected to a formal set of rules. Its value is entirely for the shared meaning that can be established spontaneously.

A typical lime begins when two or several acquaintances (neighbours, colleagues, relatives or friends) meet more or less by chance - in the street, at the grocer's, outside a home or in the rumshop. It is impossible to lime alone: Liming is inherently a social activity and cannot be reduced to the individual.

A second condition for liming is relaxation and leisure. Limers should relax (recline in chairs or lean against walls) in a manner enabling them to converse at ease. Thirdly, the situation should assume an air of openness: A lime is in principle open to others who might want to join. Liming is, in other words, a social and public activity. Groups of people meeting in one another's living rooms are, therefore, not true limers unless the context allows for the intrusion of gatecrashers.

Not just anybody can lime together. The Trinidadian lime refers not only to the activity, but also to the group, which is frequently an informal one. Often, groups of four or five men lime together on a regular basis. In this way, it involves social integration and differentiation not provided by professional and domestic careers.

There is an overlap between professional and liming careers. From a structural point of view, there is no doubt that the correlation between class and liming is high. In other respects, however, distinctions relating to class are not clear-cut. Liming is not restricted to members of the lower classes although daytime limers are wholly or partly unemployed. Starting in the late afternoon and lasting well beyond midnight, thousands of small groups of men gather at regular places: Rum-shops, pool halls, recreation clubs, restaurants, street corners, parks and people's homes.

Much is communicated about the social identity of an individual through his liming habits. People who lime together tend to belong to the same age group, rank and ethnic group. Usually, they live in the same neighbourhood. Liming is largely a male activity.

It contributes to the reproduction of principles for social differentiation, which have significance in the division of labour and ethnic and domestic organisation.

From a different point of view, liming contradicts rather than confirms social institutions. Activities resembling liming exist in most societies. A distinguishing trait of liming is that aesthetic criteria are applied in evaluating the activity. It is common to distinguish between a good and a bad lime.

A lime is good if there is plenty of money for beverages, interesting or amusing information flow among participants, and if nobody is seriously offended.

Tense and exciting games of poker, pool or dominoes may also add to the success of a lime. A lime can also be memorable if an unexpected opportunity for enjoyment emerges, if somebody appears in a car and invites everybody to lime on the beach at Maracas or Carenage, invites the lime to a party or film, knows about available women nearby, news arrive that there is a stick-fight or cockfight or a job offer is made. But a bad lime is characterised by boredom, inactivity, irritation and sour argument. A lime with no juice is truly dreadful.

The carnival, the calypso and the steel band are key symbols in Trinidad's national culture. They are institutions linked with the urban working class of Port of Spain. It is true that the institutions are associated with mythological concepts about the loose and free life of the proletarian, contrasting this with the phlegmatic and boring Protestant virtues of the European-influenced middle-class.

Urban Trinidadians regard enjoyment and the tendency not to worry about tomorrow as characteristic of themselves. The most spectacular example is the carnival, an erotic, rhythmic and colourful party with hundreds of thousands of slightly dressed and intoxicated participants. The sexual element is dominant. Sexual themes are omnipresent in discourse. Sexual infidelity is evaluated as partly legitimate, but there is always a minor scandal whenever a 'respectable' man or woman is caught at it.

The writer is a research fellow at the Institute of Anthropology and Gender Studies at UoN