An unending search

– Trinidadian journalist chronicles Caribbean identity and racism in debut novel

He has spent his entire life in the quiet, peaceful community of Princes Town, a small city in South Trinidad, but this avid writer and journalist is set to chart a new course beyond those familiar boundaries as he aspires to transcend further than the parameters of his neighbourhood.
Through his debut novel, “The Unending Search”, 35-year-old Ryan Bachoo, a multimedia journalist at Guardian Media in Trinidad and Tobago for the past 15 years, is making waves across the Caribbean literary scene, and more so in Guyana. His career has seen rapid rise through the ranks, from junior reporter to producer, and ultimately an anchor for several news and current affairs programmes.
“The Unending Search” paints the picture of a young boy named Tar, a character deeply personal to Bachoo, who is of East Indian descent. He revealed that Tar’s nickname stems from his dark complexion, an aspect of his identity that has shaped much of his life.
“My friends regard me as ‘black as the road’, and they make fun of me because I’m a black Indian boy,” he shared. “They say I’m black—black like the road.”
In the book, Tar’s struggles are intensified when he stops attending school at the age of 10. Unable to enter secondary school, he is left without an education, much like many young boys of his time who had dropped out of school.
A village elder takes Tar under his wing, leading him into the cane fields, where they cut cane to earn a small income. This elder has an outsized influence on Tar’s life, opening his eyes to the racial prejudices embedded within their society. However, Tar later began to realize that the village elder’s perception is simply an old-fashioned way of thinking, and the outlook of the world is not what the villager was painting for him.

Bachoo explained that the novel was born from a deep understanding of racial tensions in the Caribbean, and by extension Guyana, where the history of ethnic division runs parallel to what obtains in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I know this book will resonate with many Caribbean people, especially in Guyana,” he said. “Guyana has a history of racial conflict. We both have a large Indian and African population, and we’ve both encountered troubling parts of our history when it comes to racism,” he reflected.
Bachoo believes the experiences of rural communities in both Trinidad and Guyana reflect one another, making “The Unending Search” a deeply relatable novel for readers across the region.
“People in Guyana come from similar villages to that of Princes Town. They live similar lives to those in rural communities,” he noted.
“There are so many people in Guyana – much like those in this fictional novel – who are trying to find themselves; trying to find their way out. Given the racial divisions and ethnic divides (that) we have seen for a long time in Guyana and Trinidad, I think a lot of Guyanese people will be able to resonate with what they read in this book.”
Beyond the gripping storyline of this book, Bachoo had another gripping story of his own; he revealed that his journey began way before he ever stepped into a newsroom, and he took a stab at it to make the book.
“It’s an interesting story, because I started this book when I was not a journalist. I started it in 2009 and I became a journalist in 2010. I finished the first draft in 2014, then I put it down because I didn’t think it was good enough to publish, nor did I have the money to go through the publishing process,” he revealed.
When he picked up the manuscript again, taking another stab at the opportunity in 2024, he saw a clear evolution in both his writing skills and his personal growth. His experience in journalism married the writing in his book in unexpected ways.
“When I looked back on writing the second draft in 2024, I could see a distinct difference in my writing skills. I saw a lot of maturity in my writing, but I also saw a lot of maturity in my own life,” he said. “Journalism, in the 15 years I’ve been practising it, really complemented my novel-writing skills in a great way.”
However, the journey to publication was not without its challenges. Writing a novel, Bachoo admitted, was a deeply private endeavour — so much so that even his parents, to whom the book is dedicated, had no idea about it. “Nobody knew, not even my parents. It was a very private journey for me,” he recalled.
At one point, doubting himself and the work he had written, he even questioned whether his story would appeal to readers. “I didn’t know if people would want this type of story,” he admitted. “I thought it was almost like a bootleg version of West Indian literature. It didn’t sound like George Lamming, it didn’t sound like those famous writers, so I put it down for a long time.”
It wasn’t until late 2023 that he revisited the manuscript with fresh eyes and a professional copy editor. “The book was about 500 pages. We had to cut it in half and rework a lot of parts. When I read it again, I realized my writing was very amateur, very young; it wasn’t good enough to publish at that time,” he revealed.
With “The Unending Search” now finally in readers’ hands, Bachoo’s aspirations have expanded beyond his home country. “This is exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want it for Trinidad alone, I wanted it for the entire Caribbean,” he said.