Yesterday, students of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus traded their studies, notepads and pens for an afternoon of “wukking up”, “pushing back” and “pelting waist”.
They were dressed in colourful costumes of all designs, some including T-shirts, leggings and fishnet stockings.
Spring Garden was blocked for a couple of hours; the usually busy highway was taken over by revellers who participated in the UWI Carnival or KadUWIval, as it was rebranded this year.
The music started at 2:30 p.m. and so did the action in the 18 bands. Charged up masqueraders wasted no time in “mashing up” the road in the warm afternoon sunshine.
Moving to the beat of old and new, fast and slow soca tunes, the revellers indulged in elaborate wining as they dropped on the ground and rolled along the way to the Cave Hill Campus.
Most found a partner to demonstrate their “strokes” and some of those who did not ended up holding on to any object to dance, with fences and poles along the way the “partners” of choice.
About an hour into the jam, some revellers complained of being thirsty; the drinks truck was not in sight. Others could not care less; they were too focused on chipping up the road.
But when the truck finally appeared, and the deejay announced its arrival, it was rush hour. Scores of revellers surrounded the truck, many shoving and pushing, in an effort to collect a drink.
Soon everybody headed back behind the truck; those who did not receive a drink did not allow that to stop the partying.
Sade Sundar told the SUNDAY SUN why she was there: “I came out to dance, party, have a good time and, most of all, get rid of some of the stress from school. Although there’s a lot of energy on the road, this atmosphere is kind of a relaxing one. I love KadUWIval.”
There was a heavy police presence on the road.
