Shas­tri Boodan

Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo says the role of the fam­i­ly is cru­cial to the de­vel­op­ment of Trinidad aPres­i­dent Kan­ga­loo: Strong fam­i­lies cru­cial to na­tion’s de­vel­op­ment­nd To­ba­go. She made this state­ment while de­liv­er­ing the fea­ture ad­dress at the Di­vali Na­gar cel­e­bra­tions and dance com­pe­ti­tion on Tues­day. Kan­ga­loo not­ed that fam­i­lies that ex­tend love and sup­port can sig­nif­i­cant­ly in­flu­ence the lives and be­hav­iour of in­di­vid­u­als. She re­marked that those who live in homes char­ac­terised by sup­port, safe­ty, and love are far less like­ly to en­gage in acts of vi­o­lence and abuse to­wards oth­ers.

“They are far less like­ly to grav­i­tate to­wards vi­o­lence and crime as a means of feel­ing val­ued and re­spect­ed; they are far less like­ly to need the false sense of pow­er or se­cu­ri­ty that comes from wield­ing a weapon. They are more like­ly to be self-con­fi­dent and cre­ative, and are more like­ly to be open and giv­ing. That is the kind of per­son that build­ing a true home pro­duces,” she said.

Speak­ing on this year’s theme of the Na­gar, “Gri­hastha Ashram – Build­ing Fam­i­lies and Homes,” the Pres­i­dent ex­plained that build­ing a home goes be­yond cre­at­ing a phys­i­cal liv­ing space. “It is about putting to­geth­er a psy­cho­log­i­cal en­vi­ron­ment in which we feel safe, se­cure, and sup­port­ed. It is about cre­at­ing a phys­i­cal space in which we can tru­ly be our­selves. The home pro­vides a sense of sta­bil­i­ty and helps peo­ple build trust and feel com­fort­able. All of the el­e­ments that go in­to build­ing a home are al­so the el­e­ments that go in­to build­ing a na­tion,” she added.

Kan­ga­loo as­sert­ed that a suc­cess­ful na­tion con­sists of in­di­vid­u­als who trust and feel com­fort­able around one an­oth­er. She point­ed out that peo­ple liv­ing in “lov­ing homes” can re­late bet­ter to their wider com­mu­ni­ties, schools, work­places, and pub­lic spaces.

The Pres­i­dent em­pha­sised that if Trinidad and To­ba­go is to rise above the chal­lenges it faces, each in­di­vid­ual must com­mit to be­ing part of and ac­count­able to a fam­i­ly unit. “That com­mit­ment re­quires us to be present for oth­ers. It re­quires us to be avail­able to lend sup­port and as­sis­tance when need­ed. It re­quires us to be present and not ab­sen­tee fa­thers. It re­quires us to be de­vot­ed moth­ers, re­spect­ful chil­dren, and car­ing sib­lings. In Trinidad and To­ba­go, we some­times pay lip ser­vice to what it means to be a fam­i­ly; we ex­pect oth­ers, in­clud­ing the State, to be there for us with­out mak­ing time for oth­ers.”

Kan­ga­loo al­so called out in­di­vid­u­als who refuse ap­point­ments to state boards and bod­ies that serve the com­mu­ni­ty. She paid trib­ute to the late Dr De­ok­ien­anan Shar­ma, the im­me­di­ate past pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al Coun­cil for In­di­an Cul­ture, say­ing that his in­valu­able work in pre­serv­ing In­di­an cul­ture in Trinidad and To­ba­go has made him a cul­tur­al icon.

“Through his work, he has left an in­deli­ble mark on our cul­tur­al land­scape, cre­at­ing a plat­form for all of Trinidad and To­ba­go to come to­geth­er and ex­pe­ri­ence this beloved fes­ti­val. He has made a space for all of us to learn more and im­merse our­selves in a crit­i­cal part of our his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al her­itage. On be­half of a grate­ful na­tion, I say thank you to Dr Shar­ma and his fam­i­ly.”

She not­ed that Shar­ma’s lega­cy lives on in the spir­it of the Di­vali Na­gar.