Relatives, friends, colleagues: Rattan was a giant

NEWSDAY'S former chief photographer Rattan Jadoo, 60, was remembered by relatives, friends, colleagues and even public figures as a giant of a man who loved life, family, friends and his work.

He was also remembered as a perfectionist and someone who captured the essence of Trinidad and Tobago through his lens.

These were some of the glowing tributes paid to him at his funeral at the home of Johnny Bedasie, in New Settlement, Dow Village, California on Thursday.

Jadoo died on Monday after a month of illness and long-term diabetes.

He was a key part of Newsday's founding team led by former editor in chief the late Therese Mills and former news editor John Babb, now retired.

Family friend Arthur Ramsaroop said Jadoo was friends with the Bedasie family for many years. Jadoo had been living with the family for months before he fell ill.

Ramsaroop described him as a celebrity.

"He is a very famous person in this country. He was born in 1962, and he developed a skill. He decided to become a photographer at a time when hardly anybody did that."

Several of Jadoo's awards for photographic excellence and some of the photos he took were on display. Next to him in his casket lay his camera and a long lens.

Ramsaroop reflected on Jadoo's 13 years with the Trinidad Guardian and his teaming-up with Mills and Babb to launch Newsday.

"His name is littered in these two papers. Throughout the country, he was famous then...He is famous now."

Ramsaroop predicted that in the next 100 years, anyone studying TT's history would "have to reference his work."

He said the Bedasie family knew Jadoo "when he was healthy, when he was good," and when Jadoo came to live with them "all of us treated him as if he was a Bedasie."

In his time with the family, Ramsaroop continued, Jadoo was seen as a father figure, uncle and even a grandfather.

He remembered Jadoo as a sociable person who enjoyed a good lime.

"When he went liming, he was pulling out everything. All that had to be done was make sure that Mr Jadoo was the most important person in the party."

When Jadoo lived in Railway Road in Couva, Ramsaroop recalled, his house was well decorated for Christmas and he often welcomed friends and relatives for a meal. But while Jadoo was an excellent cook, Ramsaroop drew some chuckles from members of the gathering when he mentioned that Jadoo never quite mastered the skill of roti-making.

When he became ill, Ramsaroop said, "We (the Bedasie family), did not discard him when he got sick." He added that more than a simple room and bed in their home, the family gave Jadoo love and caring.

Ramsaroop said Jadoo would regale them with stories from his time in the media, including a trip to South Africa, when he became close friends with former West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara.

He also said Jadoo's expert photography was on full display from the images he captured in Germany in 2006 when TT participated in the World Cup for the first time. Apart from taking excellent sports photos, Ramsaroop said, Jadoo was knowledgeable about many sports, especially football and cricket.

Extending condolences on behalf of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and himself, Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said he knew Jadoo when he was a member of the now defunct All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union, and well after he entered politics in 2010.

Indarsingh said it was at a function at Persad-Bissessar's constituency office on Wednesday night that they learnt of Jadoo's death from some of his former colleagues.

"That conversation was also raised with the Leader of the Opposition, and she did ask me this morning to extend condolences to the family on his passing."

Indarsingh described Jadoo as a man "who would have told you as it is. He would have spoken to you in a very frank and a very open (way)."

Some people may have found Jadoo's conversations with them very brutal.

Indarsingh said, "As one of his former colleagues told me last night, that man could have buffed up anybody."

But this was never done to demean anyone. Indarsingh said Jadoo's comments always had at their core the hope that people would learn something and become better in all they did.

"That was the direction that he wanted."

Recalling his relationship with Jadoo, Indarsingh said, "He got the picture of many events in TT, politically and otherwise, to the wider reading public."

When people did not understand what was written in stories published in Newsday, Indarsingh said it was Jadoo's pictures which made that meaning clear.

"This is something we would all remember him for. This morning, we pay tribute to a giant."

Indarsingh hoped the thousands of photos that Jadoo had taken during his media career would be donated either to the University of the West Indies or some other entity "that will utilise it towards the continued documentation of the history of TT."

Newsday photographer Roger Jacob said Jadoo joined the Guardian in 1981, the year he was born. He described Jadoo as a mentor and father figure to many photographers during his career in the media.

"He shared with us."

Jacob said people who truly got to know Jadoo knew what a loving person he was.

"If you took that time, you would appreciate Rattan for the love that he had for everybody."

Jacob said Jadoo's legacy will live forever through the many photographers who learnt their skills from him.

Some of Jadoo's relatives and friends wept when his casket was carried out of the Bedasies' home and taken to the Waterloo cremation site. At the site, other relatives, friends and former media colleagues gathered to pay their last respects.