Kalloo's Christmas village shines bright

AIRCRAFT technician and train enthusiast Dexter Kalloo’s love for Christmas takes over his house and his compound during the season and even during the year. This year, his yearly Christmas display in Diego Martin has grown even bigger.

Kalloo’s train and Christmas Village display occupies a quarter of his living room at Morne Haven Condominiums, alongside assorted nutcrackers, snowmen, snow globes, lights, and more. The electric trains, each of which plays music as it runs, run through a Christmas village which was constructed by Kalloo. The outside of his house is decorated with lights, North Pole signs, and Christmas banners.

His wife Rampy Ramlakhan-Kalloo, who aids him in the construction each year said he researches designs year-round but this year he almost didn’t carry out his project due to the covid19 pandemic.

“He lives for Christmas. When covid19 came in he was a little down and wanted not to do it. But I said to him, 'this is what you love, are you going to let 2020 go by without doing it?'

“He did everything, the woodwork, the painting, he started from September. Covid19 gave him the time because we’re home, he wasn’t able to travel and bought nothing new this year. He’s such a perfectionist that everything has to be just so. He’ll be adding more stuff, and there’s more to go up. I did the tree, that’s my part of it, and I’d tell him what to adjust sometimes.”

Kalloo credits his mother with getting his train collection started, as she gave him his first electric train over 50 years ago, a Christmas Coca Cola Train which he still has today. He has six Christmas trains in total, the Polar Express Train, the Christmas Express Train, the Frosty the Snowman Train, the Disney Mickey and Minnie Christmas Train, the Christmas Coca Cola Train and the Orlando Monorail.

He normally flies to the US to buy the items used in constructing his Christmas projects. Most of the items, including the trains, were bought at Walmart. He was not able to do that this year, so created a new, larger set-up for the decorations. The collection of trains, houses, and other decorations has been amassed over many years, and currently occupies a bedroom, a bathroom and nine suitcases in the couple’s house. He said as far as he knows, it is the largest village of its type in TT.

Rampy said because Kalloo loves Christmas so much, the couple planned to visit the Koziar’s Christmas Village in Pennsylvania in the US this year for their 20th wedding anniversary, but were unable to do so.

Kalloo said he normally welcomes visitors to see the decorations, but this year that too is not possible.

“Families have to make appointments but we’re trying not to let any strangers come in because of covid19. It’s just people that we know that know I do this, because you can put it on YouTube but it’s not the same thing. It looks even better in the night. It’s not that we don’t want visitors, it’s just that you have to be careful.”

Kalloo said he hopes Christmas will help people rise above the feelings brought on by the covid19 crisis, overcome the virus and continue into the new year.