Shas­tri Boodan

Free­lance con­trib­u­tor

The burn­ing of three Ra­vana ef­fi­gies, in­clud­ing one stand­ing 85 feet tall, will bring this year’s Ram­leela cel­e­bra­tions at the Pierre Road Recre­ation Ground in Char­lieville, Ch­agua­nas, to a dra­mat­ic close to­mor­row, as the an­nu­al Hin­du the­atri­cal por­tray­al of Lord Ra­ma’s life con­tin­ues to draw pa­trons from across Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The free, open-air event con­tin­ued on Wednes­day night, with pa­trons gath­er­ing to wit­ness scenes from the Ra­mayan, the Hin­du epic re­count­ing Ra­ma’s bat­tle against the de­mon king Ra­vana.

Kim­c­hand Sa­hadeo, pres­i­dent of the Pierre Road Ram­leela Com­mit­tee, said this year’s cel­e­bra­tions cost ap­prox­i­mate­ly $315,000, with the com­mit­tee re­ly­ing on com­mu­ni­ty con­tri­bu­tions, fundrais­ing ac­tiv­i­ties and pri­vate-sec­tor as­sis­tance to meet ex­pens­es.

Sa­hadeo, who has served as pres­i­dent for 23 years, said the event be­gan with mod­est fa­cil­i­ties and de­vel­oped through the con­tin­ued ef­forts of vol­un­teers and the rein­vest­ment of funds raised an­nu­al­ly.

He at­trib­uted the growth to the ded­i­ca­tion of the ex­ec­u­tive and com­mit­tee mem­bers, many of whom leave their dai­ly re­spon­si­bil­i­ties to work at the recre­ation ground with­out pay­ment.