The Di­vali Na­gar serves as a vast re­source for In­di­an Cul­ture, ac­cord­ing to Min­is­ter of Tourism, Cul­ture and the Arts Ran­dall Mitchell.

He was at the time speak­ing when the 34th edi­tion of Di­vali Na­gar at the NCIC Na­gar kicked off on Sat­ur­day. Mitchell said the work of the NCIC (the Na­tion­al Coun­cil of In­di­an Cul­ture) has made cit­i­zens more aware of Hin­duism and In­di­an cul­ture, which has great­ly in­flu­enced the way of life in T&T.

Mitchell al­so spoke on Hin­du Panth, the theme for Di­vali Na­gar 2022, which is “Let us con­tin­ue to walk along a path of pos­i­tiv­i­ty, hope and light.”

De­ok­ien­anan Shar­ma, the pres­i­dent of the NCIC, who an­nounced that 2022 would be his last year as head of the 50-year-old or­gan­i­sa­tion, said the NCIC was de­light­ed to be able to stage a phys­i­cal Na­gar fol­low­ing the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic. Shar­ma al­so re­flect­ed on the Na­gar and its in­cep­tion in 1986.

He said the in­au­gur­al Na­gar’s tremen­dous suc­cess was not an­tic­i­pat­ed.

“The con­se­cra­tion of the pub­lic car park at Mid Cen­tre Mall was a glo­ri­ous event.”

Shar­ma said tears of joy fell from the eyes of many and the in­au­gur­al event raised a sense of pride among the East In­di­an com­mu­ni­ty not on­ly in T&T but wher­ev­er the di­as­po­ra had set­tled in the re­gion.

Shar­ma added from a glob­al di­as­po­ra of 25 mil­lion, the NCIC was al­so proud to have been cho­sen for the Pravasi Bharatiya Sam­man award from the Gov­ern­ment of In­dia.

The open­ing night of the Di­vali Na­gar fea­tured sev­er­al lo­cal artistes in­clud­ing Jagdeo Pha­goo, pan­nist Vick­ash Roop­nar­ine, Satru­pa Ses­narayan, Rooplal Gird­harie, First Cit­i­zens Drag­on Boys Tas­sa Group and ZeeTv Shiv Shak­ti Dancers.

Pha­goo de­liv­ered a per­for­mance of his com­po­si­tion Light a Deya in Your Heart, a song that asks cit­i­zens to pray for T&T and do their part in mak­ing this coun­try great once more. This de­light­ed the crowd on hand.

Pha­goo was a four-time fi­nal­ist in the Young Kings Com­pe­ti­tion and won the Pichaka­ree Singing Com­pe­ti­tion host­ed by the Hin­du Prachar Kendra six times.

The Zee Tv Shiv Shak­ti Dancers al­so gave two daz­zling per­for­mances.