Pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al Coun­cil of In­di­an Cul­ture (NCIC) De­ok­ien­anan Shar­ma has an­nounced that new hours for Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions at the Di­vali Na­gar Site will be from 5.30 pm to 9 pm be­cause of the state of emer­gency. The cel­e­bra­tions runs from Oc­to­ber 16 to 25. In an in­ter­view yes­ter­day at the Di­vali Na­gar site, Shar­ma al­so an­nounced that Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar would be the NCIC's chief guest and would de­liv­er the fea­ture ad­dress at the for­mal open­ing of Di­vali Na­gar 2011.

Theme of this year's Na­gar will be Lord Ra­ma, His Life and Time which will be ex­tract­ed from the Hin­du Holy book, the Ra­mayan. Shar­ma said more than 100 booths would re­flect the many facets of the In­di­an di­as­po­ra in such items as cloth­ings, jew­el­ry, cui­sine and home fur­nish­ings.