Shas­tri Boodan

Free­lance Cor­re­spon­dent

The role of the fam­i­ly is cru­cial to the de­vel­op­ment of T&T, says Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo.

She made the re­mark while de­liv­er­ing the fea­ture ad­dress dur­ing the cel­e­bra­tions and dance com­pe­ti­tion at the Di­vali Na­gar in Ch­agua­nas on Tues­day.

She said fam­i­lies that ex­tend­ed love and sup­port could make all the dif­fer­ence in the lives and be­hav­iour of in­di­vid­u­als. She said per­sons who lived in homes with sup­port, safe­ty and love were far less like­ly to en­gage in acts of vi­o­lence and abuse to­wards peo­ple out­side of their homes.

She said, “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 be in need of the false feel­ing of pow­er or of 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.”

Speak­ing on the top­ic Gri­hastha Ashram—Build­ing Fam­i­lies and Homes, this year’s theme of the Na­gar, the Pres­i­dent said build­ing a home went be­yond cre­at­ing a phys­i­cal liv­ing space.

She said, “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 as it turns out all of the el­e­ments that go in­to build­ing a home are al­so all of the el­e­ments that go in­to build­ing a na­tion.”

If T&T is to rise above the chal­lenges fac­ing this coun­try, each in­di­vid­ual must be­come com­mit­ted to be­ing a part of and be­ing ac­count­able to a fam­i­ly unit, she said.

Kan­ga­loo paid trib­ute to the late Dr De­ok­ien­anan Shar­ma, the im­me­di­ate past pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al Coun­cil for In­di­an Cul­ture. She said Shar­ma’s in­valu­able work in pre­serv­ing In­di­an cul­ture in T&T had made him a cul­tur­al icon.

“Through his work, he has left an in­deli­ble mark on our cul­tur­al land­scape, he has cre­at­ed a plat­form for all of T&T 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 said Shar­ma’s lega­cy lived on in the spir­it of the Di­vali Na­gar.

The dance com­pe­ti­tion was split in­to two parts—the se­mi-clas­si­cal round and the film dance round. Each cat­e­go­ry had eight fi­nal­ists.

The dance com­pe­ti­tion saw win­ners tak­ing home a to­tal purse of $36,000.