SHAS­TRI BOODAN

Crime is a ma­jor de­ter­rent to per­sons at­tend­ing re­li­gious func­tions at night, con­tends Pun­dit Vish­nu Ram­sumair. He spoke with Guardian Me­dia on Tues­day night, when the Fe­lic­i­ty Ganesh Ut­sav Com­mit­tee held cel­e­bra­tions on Tues­day night at Ca­can­dee Road, Fe­lic­i­ty, Ch­agua­nas.

Pun­dit Ram­sumair said many peo­ple are now opt­ing to look at re­li­gious ser­vices on­line rather than at­tend events in per­son. How­ev­er, he said this may not be the best thing since vir­tu­al events keep devo­tees away from ac­tive par­tic­i­pa­tion.

Pundit Vishnu Ramsumair. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

He told Guardian Me­dia that Hin­dus will be pray­ing to Lord Ganesh to re­move the ob­sta­cle of crime.

“If we are to pray as a group for re­moval… to have the hate and the anger [re­moved] so that crime can find it­self at a low­er po­si­tion or a low­er ebb in this coun­try,” he ex­plained.

Pun­dit Ram­sumair said as many as 20 per­cent of peo­ple are not at­tend­ing night time ser­vices be­cause of the fear of crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty. 

“It cre­at­ed a fear and that fear [is why] a lot of peo­ple have avoid­ed com­ing out to the night ser­vices.” 

Lawyer Vera Bhajan, left, at Ganesh Ustav celebrations on Tuesday night at Cacandee Road, Felicity. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

Cel­e­bra­tions cul­mi­nate on Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 9, when tem­ples across Trinidad and To­ba­go would par­tic­i­pate in the im­mer­sion of the clay mur­tis or stat­ues of Lord Ganesh in­to the riv­er or sea.  Last year, be­cause of COVID-19 re­stric­tions, the mur­tis were im­mersed in­to an above-ground pool of wa­ter. 

L to R – Pundit Vishnu Ramsumair, Ganesh Ragoonanan and Pundit Atmanand Prabhu stand on either side of a large clay murti or statue of the Hindu God Lord Ganesh, at celebrations on Tuesday night at Cacandee Road in Felicity. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

Head of the Fes­ti­vals Com­mit­tee, Ganesh Ra­goo­nanan, said he ex­pects thou­sands of peo­ple to par­tic­i­pate on Fri­day in Cen­tral and oth­er parts of Trinidad.

Ra­goo­nanan said the im­mer­sion of the mur­tis would take place at the Cunu­pia Riv­er in Fe­lic­i­ty, next to the Lakan Kar­ri­ah Cre­ma­tion Site. He said pre­ced­ing this event, a pro­ces­sion through­out the vil­lage would take place, un­der po­lice es­cort.