RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Deyas and flam­beaux lined Su­chit Trace on Sat­ur­day evenig, part of the colour­ful trans­for­ma­tion of Anand Low Price South Haven Mall in Debe for Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions.

Trucks adorned with mur­tis and im­ages of Hin­du deities drove through the com­pound, blar­ing de­vo­tion­al melodies from speak­ers led the gath­er­ing in Hin­di bha­jans, ac­com­pa­nied by the rhythms of tabla and dho­lak.

The di­verse gath­er­ing, dressed in East In­di­an at­tire and ac­ces­sories, rel­ished com­pli­men­ta­ry drinks and In­di­an del­i­ca­cies and en­joyed per­for­mances by Sat­nar­ine Ra­goo, Prakash Ram­cha­ran, Arkash and Shee­tal Carl, Chatak Shoot­ing Stars Tas­sa Group, Wood­land Dance Acad­e­my, Nritya Sangam Dance Group, and Kim­lyn Boodram.

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal who de­liv­ered the keynote ad­dress, ac­knowl­edged T&T’s chal­leng­ing times.

“Di­vali is cel­e­brat­ed in the dark­est night. Notwith­stand­ing all the dark­ness we see in our na­tion, the high crime, the pover­ty, suf­fer­ing, degra­da­tion, we must stand to­geth­er with hope and uni­ty,” he said.

Dr Mooni­lal urged cit­i­zens to let the light of good­ness and kind­ness shine amid the dark­ness of so­ci­etal is­sues.

“We are not liv­ing in the best of times, yet there is light. There is hope and uni­ty for the fu­ture,” he said.

He al­so ex­pressed con­cern about dis­uni­ty in po­lit­i­cal par­ties, fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties and na­tions.

“What we need is uni­ty and we must al­so stay unit­ed to deal with this,” Dr Mooni­lal added as he em­pha­sized the im­por­tance of uni­ty and urged the au­di­ence to em­brace hope and stand unit­ed for a brighter fu­ture.