When I was in the 5th form at Queens Royal College in Port-of-Spain, I think it was in 1948, I used to go with some of my classmates to where the 6th formers gathered during lunch hour to talk among themselves and express their considered opinions on the school, Trinidad, the world and the universe. We fifth formers were expected to keep our silence but as an audience we were tolerated. Foremost among the talkers was V.S. Naipaul. I have read somewhere that he was pretty much an anonymous figure at school in Trinidad but that is not how I remember him. He held forth on many subjects and was particularly eloquent in assessing the films he saw. He seemed to attend the cinema all the time and had become a connoisseur and acerbic critic. I remember enjoying his sarcasm and wit as he sat balanced precariously on the stone ledge overlooking the school courtyard. I also remember with what certainty he proclaimed his view that he would surely win the Island Modern Studies Scholarship which would enable him to escape imprisoning Trinidad and enter the greater world of opportunity which awaited him.
