SHAS­TRI BOODAN

The time has come to put aside racial and oth­er prej­u­dices, says Ash­worth Jack, mi­nor­i­ty leader of the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly. He was de­liv­er­ing a fea­ture ad­dress when the Bago-In­dia Cul­tur­al So­ci­ety, the To­ba­go arm of the Sanatan Dhar­ma Ma­ha Sab­ha host­ed Di­vali Cel­e­bra­tions at the Tropik­ist Ho­tel, Crown Point on Fri­day night. Jack said if peo­ple stop look­ing at the dif­fer­ences amongst them and start­ed look­ing at the sim­i­lar­i­ties we would all have a greater ap­pre­ci­a­tion for each oth­er's cul­ture. He said de­spite eth­nic dif­fer­ences all peo­ples share the be­lief of a supreme be­ing.

Jack said T&T was blessed to have such a di­verse cul­ture that on­ly serves to en­rich the peo­ple of this land. He urged To­bag­o­ni­ans to wit­ness for them­selves the beau­ty of Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions by trav­el­ling to the var­i­ous vil­lages that cel­e­brate Di­vali in a col­lec­tive man­ner. Rayan Ra­moutar, head the To­ba­go So­ci­ety, said the SDMS was do­ing its role in ed­u­cat­ing the peo­ple of To­ba­go about In­di­an cul­ture in a bid to dis­pel what­ev­er myth peo­ple may have about Hin­duism. The pro­gramme fea­tured dances and tas­sa mu­sic by artistes who jour­neyed from Trinidad for the event.