Dear Editor,
Timur Mohamed and I were childhood friends. We are the same age and lived a few houses apart on Ganges Street in Prashad Nagar. I called him Timmy, as did everyone else. We wrote the Common Entrance Exam in 1968 and we passed. I remember him coming over to our home to celebrate. We shared a joyful hug. We were ten years young.
For high school, I chose Queen’s College. He chose St Stanislaus College. Timmy had a cricketing lineage and pedigree. His father, Edwin Mohamed, a land surveyor with Bookers, had played for the national side as a spin bowler. His other family members were his mother, Aunt Kulsum, elder brother Sherwin, younger sister Kaslyn and, the youngest, Karen.
Shortly after starting high school, Timmy motivated some of the neighborhood boys to play softball cricket. We played bottom house and, later, on an empty house lot. Even at that tender age, we recognized that he was a stylish player and had exceptional talent. It was hard to get him out. I fancied myself a spin bowler and actually got him out a few times. Emphasis: a few times.
He used to tell us about the importance of having “ball sense”. You can’t stop Guyanese from making up nicknames. I had two: “Shully” and “Bakes” (origins unknown). In our little cricket group, Timmy became “Timotes”, then “Motes” – which morphed into “Motez”. The lads changed Bakes to “Bakez”. So, for a time, Timmy was “Motez” and I was “Bakez”.
An incident comes to mind. We boys were running barefoot on the grass. I was just behind Timmy. I stumbled and fell. I got up, brushed myself off and did not think much of it. When I got home and looked in the mirror, I was horrified to see that one of my front teeth was broken clean in half, horizontally. In a day or two, Timmy came down with a high fever.
When he went to the doctor, it was discovered that the missing half of my front tooth had lodged in his heel! How would I face the world with a broken front tooth? My parents sent me to that wizard, Dr. Makepeace Richmond. The good dentist put a crown on the tooth that lasted for decades, until it was eventually replaced by an implant. So, to this day, I have a reminder of Timmy in my mouth.
Timmy applied the same laser focus he had in cricket to high school – and he did well. Then he did engineering at the University of Guyana. Whenever taking a break from studies, he played Elvis Presley records at fairly high volume. He captained the cricket team in the 1975 Benson and Hedges under 19 Championship and also played for Guyana in the Shell Shield tournament. A classmate of mine, the late Peter Gonsalves, was an encyclopedia of cricket. No one ever bested him in a debate about cricket.
I once asked him why the elegant left hander was never picked to be in the West Indies team. His comment was “Timur Mohamed was the best cricketer who never played for the West Indies.” Peter did not blame the selectors but said that – at that time – the West Indies team had an abundance of outstanding players, so there simply was no room. What do readers think?
Timmy acquired some trawlers and ran a successful operation, trawling for shrimp and sea bob in the Atlantic, off of Guyana’s coast. At one time, he lived in Eccles and had a seafood processing facility on the East Bank. The product was exported to the US. His family had emigrated to Florida and he later joined them there. I heard he made a fortune in real estate. He also played county cricket in England, for Suffolk.
He approached the celebrated luxury yacht builder Palmer Johnson to build a yacht for him; to be aptly named “Cover Drive”. At that point in time, he was already a multi-millionaire. The company was in financial difficulties and there were delays in completing the order. Long story short, Timmy took over Palmer Johnson and, thereafter, put his own stamp on the design of the superyachts. Here is an example of his handiwork; the sea trial of “Khalilah” in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin:
There may be Guyanese who are wealthier than Timur Mohamed, but none have his outstanding cricketing ability and history, twinned with the design and building of beautiful yachts with international name brand recognition. Despite that (apart from some cricket related information) he is practically invisible on the internet! There is a lesson in that for those – with a fraction of his ability and achievement – who are puffed up, arrogant and boastful.
Timmy, you did Prashad Nagar, St. Stanislaus College and Guyana proud.
Yours truly,
Sieyf Shahabuddeen
