Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
Cindy
Breakspeare said she knew the King of Reggae, the man who would later become
the father of her love child, because they would say hello to each other in
passing.
"Yes I knew him, but to be
a devotee of the music, part of an elite group of spiritual rebels was one
thing. But to be intimate, involved personally with this man, be the woman who
would stand by his side and reflect all that he was about was entirely
something else."
Breakspeare wasn't a
Rastafarian, didn't fit the bill, and wasn't sure she wanted to be one.
"Once again was that word
religion, full of rules and regulations -just what I
wanted to be free of," Breakspeare told the gathering who sat transfixed
by her revelations at the Undercroft of the University of the West Indies,
Mona, last Thursday during the Annual Bob Marley Lecture.
In her mind, it was uptown
meets downtown. "How on earth was that going to work," she
questioned.
However, that questioned was
answered by the charming Bob Marley, who made her feel special with small gifts
like a freshly picked mango and an invitation to walk in the cool night air.
This became the norm, she reminisced.
"And I could not deny that
we were fiercely attracted to each other. Fascinated and separated
simultaneously by our differences, so we began to build a bridge. The same
bridge that has brought me here today. Bob was strong, fit and virile. Tough as
nails and boyishly charming, all at the same time."
She describes him as a man's
man who wore denim and khaki, frequently used chew sticks to clean his teeth
and smelled of phetamine soap, superconfident and more driven than any human
being she had ever met.
INTIMIDATING FELLOW
"He was not only
attractive, but intimidating for a young girl like me. I knew instinctively if
I were to enter into this relationship with him, it would change the trajectory
of my life forever."
Cindy and Bob would stroll out
to the fence at the front of the yard and stand there talking for hours about
life, Rasta, consciousness and whether or not one knew what one's purpose on
earth was.
"It was unsettling for
sure, the company of this man, who was different from anyone I had been
involved with thus far."
She said he was so serious
about his own purpose in life that she didn't know "how and where [she]
could possibly fit in".
During their tentative dance
around each other, Marley went off on tour for 10 to 12 weeks.
Allan 'Skill' Cole and the gang
continued to visit her from time to time at the nightclub in Northside Plaza
where she worked, to check if she was behaving herself and to bring greetings
from her suitor.
"Greetings to let me know
that he was always thinking of me while away and would return soon - a return
filled with expectation and anticipation. Finally, he was back, I knew the day
was imminent. I heard the VW bus come through the gate and I just knew he was
in it. His footsteps up the stairs to my front door confirmed this not long
after. He was back. The waiting was over. There were no more questions which
seemed to matter. It was what it was, and it would become what it would
become."
Another piece of the bridge
fell into place.
"Naturally, I had
continued to pursue my own career goals and that pursuit led me to a job at
Spartan Health Club as an instructress in June of 1976. She took to the job
like a duck to water. To be totally immersed in physical culture was a
wonderful way to spend every day, which fit in perfectly with her
now-vegetarian lifestyle, as a result of Marley's influence.
Her involvement at Spartan and
the encouragement of Mickie Haughton-James led her to compete in the Miss
Jamaica Body Beautiful. The prize for winning that was to compete in the Miss
Universe Bikini in London.
"Again, I won, and I
remember being in New York with Bob at the Essex House where he often stayed
waiting for the call from Jamaica to say whether or not I had been accepted to
compete in the Miss World, also held in London."
The phone rang and the answer
was yes, she had to compete in the ultimate beauty pageant, Miss World 1976 in
London.
"The Miss World
competition for me was an opportunity more than anything else. With no family
backative and no university education, I made a conscious effort to exploit my
God-given talent."
It turned out to be the best
job she ever had.
"I told them to work me as
hard as possible. I would go anywhere in the world they wanted to have me, and,
consequently, had an amazing year getting to know the world as an unofficial
ambassador for Jamaica."
Unparalleled & unforgettable
Being Jamaican was the thing
she was most proud of when it came to facing the microphones. That exotic blend
of cultures, colours and ethnic backgrounds, a melting pot that was truly
diverse, was now sprinkled with a heavy dose of Rastafari, she said.
The night she won stands out in
my memory as an overwhelming moment, unparalleled and unforgettable.
"Until this day, watching
the videos of it, still fills my eyes with tears and floods my heart with
emotion."
Wherever she went, Jamaica was
the subject and, of course, Marley.
"The tabloids went
crazy," she quipped, adding that her chaperone, Nancy Burke, was convinced
she would be terminated for the scandalous press her relationship with Marley
was receiving.
The age-old adage proved to be
true - The only bad publicity is no publicity.
The Jamaican community,
including those of the Rastafari faith, she said, supported her wholeheartedly
through the length and breadth of the United Kingdom.
A few days after winning, her
exploration of London took her down to Porto Bello Road, where in search of a
restroom, she made her way into a Jamaican restaurant called Back-a-Yard.
"As I pushed the door
dressed in full regalia, having just come from a personal appearance, the two
Jamaican women who were tidying the place looked up in total disbelief,
elbowing each other. 'See her yah, see her yah,' they whispered loud enough for
me to hear. Says me now brightly. 'Wah a gwaan in yah, me ears a ring unno een
yah a chat me'. 'Yes,' one of them stated unapologetically, we want to know why
when you have so much black girls in Jamaica, Bob would a tek up with
you?'."
"Well see it yah now, a
say to miself, baptism of fire. I took a deep breath, swallowed my spit and
prayed for courage. Within five minutes, I kid you not, every Jamaican in a
five-mile radius was in that restaurant to witness the impromptu trial of the
newly crowned Miss World."
Source: jamaica-gleaner
