Thread by @gauravsabnis

Went to a Trinidadian icon in NYC - Singh's Roti Shop & Bar in Ozone Park near Kennedy for some doubles, roti, shrimp, aloo pie, dhalpuri, and off course Caribbean rum. Place was packed on a pleasant sunny Sunday afternoon. Lines almost out the door.

The bar was memorable...

Every Caribbean bar in NYC has some regulars who are usually retired well-off social butterfly men and women who have been in the city for a few decades. And this is there little slice of the islands.

Today we met Richie Fernandez, a Guyanese charmer full of stories & jokes.

Richie is in his own words "an Indian-African-Portuguese hybrid"b who grew up in Guyana, friends with Clive Lloyd and family friends with Gary Sobers. So obviously I grabbed a seat next to him after mutual confirmation of boosted status. Two hours of fun raconteuring followed.

He was telling @k_rupal the story of how a top Bollywood filmstar in the 70s was about to marry an actress but then he introduced her to the great Gary Sobers & she was so besotted, she left the actor. "I forgot her name" says he.
"Anju Mahendru" says I.
He smiles and hugs me!!

I said, hehe, even I would have left Rajesh Khanna for Gary Sobers and I'm straight. Richie was so amused to find someone who got a lot of his references that he paid our whole bill!! And told us many stories of Sobers, Lloyd, Kanhai, Kalicharan, Sunny, Viv, Imran, Dharmendra!

Apparently he made a lot of money in London and on wall street. Lives on the upper east side, "You will not believe, 40 years ago, many Gujaratis lived near Gracie Mansion! Many of them! The mayor and NYPD and landlords pushed them out."
Comes to Singh's almost everyday.

That's his life. Retired, chilled out, great health, divorced. Takes a cab from Manhattan to his old Queens haunts. Hangs out with old friends, eating Trini food and drinking Guyanese booze. "Trini people open restaurants, Guyanese open bars." Later goes back home.

Extremely well read and brilliant man. The range of topics he had an encyclopedic memory on was astounding! Total polymath, charmer, and a self-described ladies man. His younger girlfriend joined us soon. So much fun!

New York is so full of people with amazing life stories!

Going to any Trini place in Queens is like walking directly into some place in Trinidad. Some regulars "liming" (Trini for just chilling out and drinking). They hear my accent and something primal in their blood from their 200 year old ancestors brings them to me.

And then when I mention that I've been all over Trinidad and that too for a test match and so has Rupal and yes, we went all over South Trinidad too. After that we always get so much love & warmth. "Not too many people goin to Trini or Guyana for tourism you know".

We exchanged numbers. Imma return to hear more of his stories.

Rockaway Beach at sunset. Pic by @k_rupal.