The 'double up' challenge

Last Monday morning, while riding home on my bike after tending to animal-related matters, I was struck by an unexpected sight at one street corner – a small group of people gathered around a vendor who was stationed under a large umbrella.

As it had been quite a while since I had seen such a congregation in that (or any) spot, it took me a while to realise what was happening. Of course..it was Monday July 19, that day long awaited by many people in TT, when restrictions were lifted on street-food vending.

The visibly lighthearted spirits of those gathered and the deft, purposeful, at-last-I-can-work-again movements of the doubles vendor spoke volumes of people who had been freed from their culinary incarceration.

On the days that followed, I saw many such small gatherings or lines, as people were drawn to doubles vendors in particular, like moths to lamps.

On Wednesday morning I observed a noticeably long line of masked, socially-distanced people standing in the sun, eager to sink their teeth into their long-yearned-for bara and curried channa staple.

Was there anything else in life they might they have waited for so patiently in intense heat with an unknown length of time stretching before them? All that must have mattered was the moment when they would finally be able to clutch the iconic, sometimes slightly oil-stained brown paper bag in their hands...and sink their teeth into their favourite local "delicacy."

At after nine in the morning, did it matter that some or many of them would be late for work (that is, if they still had jobs or had been called back out to the trenches of livelihood after a long pandemic respite)?

Then again, this being TT, maybe their bosses were in the line too, or, if they weren’t, might understand and accept an employee who called to say in that characteristically dry local tone: “Hear nah, boss, ah runnin’ late today. De doubles line long.”

In the aftermath of the opening of curbside and take-away-food borders, I noticed various articles, posts, photos, videos, interviews, memes and songs about doubles...and, not surprisingly, also KFC.

“Whatever you do, just don’t let your next article be about doubles,” a friend of mine requested, half joking, half dreading seeing yet another ode to doubles.

When the covid pandemic swept onto the scene in 2020 and local restaurants and street food vendors were closed down by the Government, doubles-loving citizens of TT entertained themselves and tried to satisfy their withdrawal symptoms by creating home-cooked doubles. This “challenge,” as it was called, included posting photos of their culinary experimentation on social media. Hopeful chefs were applauded, envied, criticised or ridiculed by others.

On that note, I am offering a Doubles Challenge of another kind. Although inspired by the word "doubles," it has nothing to do with the food item.

Your challenge, should you decide to accept it, is to "Double Up" with anyone of your choice and, together, do any or all of the following good deeds, each of which begins with a letter of the word "doubles." These suggestions are designed to help, support and/or uplift you and/or others:

Donate time, energy and/or money to a charitable organisation whose work you and your "double" find meaningful, necessary and worth supporting.

Organise a hamper of food and household items for at least one family in need, and deliver to them.

Undertake the responsibility of beautifying an outdoor public spot (with permission, if necessary) to create an "oasis" of sorts, where people can go to feel uplifted, inspired and at peace

Build a spacious, comfortable house for an underprivileged dog that has no shelter during rainy season. Please ensure that the house has no doors (in the event that the owner is likely to lock the dog in it for extended periods).

List 26 good deeds, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet and commit to doing at least one a week together, over the next 26 weeks (or, latest, by the end of 2021).

Exercise together a few times a week (in person or via Zoom) and support each other in achieving personal fitness goals.

Shop together for affordable, meaningful items and give them as surprise tokens of appreciation to loved ones.

It would be wonderful if more TT nationals could be as excited about performing acts of kindness as they are about consuming and discussing bara and curry channa.