Sto­ry and pic­tures by

Shas­tri Boodan

Di­vali Na­gar is back with a bang come Oc­to­ber 15.

Su­ru­jdeo Man­ga­roo, the pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer of the Na­tion­al Coun­cil of In­di­an Cul­ture (NCIC) and In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor De­oroop Teemal, the NCIC’s sec­ond VP, gave Guardian Me­dia some in­sight as to what will take place.

Man­ga­roo said, “Di­vali Na­gar which be­gan way back in 1986, has now be­come a na­tion­al, and prob­a­bly, an in­ter­na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tion in terms of its to­tal pre­sen­ta­tion, glam­our, orig­i­nal­i­ty and con­tent.

↓FILE: Members of the Shiva Shakti Dance Company perform at the Divali Nagar

SHASTRI BOODAN

“The year 2022 has giv­en us all the much-longed-for op­por­tu­ni­ty to stage a full-fledged Di­vali Na­gar once again. Con­tin­u­ing in the trend of Di­vali Na­gars held in 2018 and 2019 when the themes were Hin­du Sant (Hin­du Saints), and Hin­du Granth (Hin­du Sa­cred Books), the NCIC has cho­sen Hin­du Panth (Hin­du De­nom­i­na­tions) as its theme for the year 2022.”

Man­ga­roo said Di­vali Na­gar—a nine day event that pre­cedes Di­vali each year and will close on Sun­day, Oc­to­ber 23.

Man­ga­roo said most like­ly there would be no fire­works since the NCIC in­tends to avoid the lev­el of noise pol­lu­tion cre­at­ed by the ex­plo­sive de­vices. He said there would be new booths; as some tra­di­tion­al busi­ness op­er­a­tions that dis­played their goods and ser­vices would no longer be there.

FILE: Susan Mohip, left, and her daughter Sunanda Mohip perform at the Divali Nagar

SHASTRI9 BOODAN

He said the NCIC is al­so mind­ful to play its role in con­trol­ling the spread of COVID-19, adding pa­trons would be ad­vised to vol­un­tar­i­ly wear masks. The NCIC would al­so be plac­ing hand sani­ti­sa­tion sta­tions through­out the venue.

Man­ga­roo said the event would be free to the pub­lic, “There would be no charge at all.” He said 2022’s show would fea­ture on­ly lo­cal artistes, “We have lots of tal­ent in this coun­try.”

Sen­a­tor Teemal said the or­gan­i­sa­tion rais­es most of its funds from busi­ness­es who rent booths and spon­sor­ship. Sen­a­tor Teemal said the NCIC has ap­plied to the State for fund­ing.