President wants community involvement to curb domestic ills
–  refers to relevance of Diwali message
THE message of Diwali is an enlightening lesson which President Bharrat Jagdeo said should be used by every Guyanese to take a proactive stance against the many ills in society. The Head of State expressed this view while addressing a large gathering at the La Bonne Intention (LBI) community centre ground on the East Coast of Demerara during the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha’s motorcade on Thursday night.
President Bharrat Jagdeo travelled directly from the airport on his return from Prime Minister David Thompson’s funeral, just in time to present the trophies to the winners of the motorcade competition.

Briefly addressing the audience, the President stressed the importance for vigilance in ensuring that the nation’s children are protected. 

He said the celebration of Diwali should not be a superficial observance, but should encompass the underpinning philosophies and strictures. 

President Jagdeo said: “Every year I urge that we use this festival to enlighten our own lives; not just treat it as another celebration on our calendar of events, but to use it to enrich our own lives and the lives of our families and to bring light to our nation.

“This is particularly needed because the progress that we have made  is often challenged by the forces of darkness, and there are many who wish to sow confusion in our society, who are obsessed, and are obsessive about negative things; so we need to use Diwali and this wonderful Hindu philosophy to ensure that we remain positive, because it is essentially a positive philosophy, and I hope that we use this to also make changes…Over the recent days we have seen some horrific  murders in our society…some of the most callous killings of young women, and every year I come here and ask that we pay attention to our children, because it is not just rhetorically we speak of them as being our future, but they actually are, and the way that we prepare them would determine whether this becomes the society of our dreams or not.”

President Jagdeo said it is very depressing to note the numbers of women and children being subjected to constant brutality in the society, saying that society has failed those victims.

He encouraged everyone, including the religious leaders, to fulfill the role they are duty-bound to play in ending abuse in every form, because these abuses are alien to Hinduism and the enlightenment that this festival speaks so eloquently about.  He urged the menfolk of Guyana to ensure that they discontinue such practices that destroy families and take a vocal and visible stand against these evil acts in society and not just be mere silent spectators to injustices and abuse meted out to innocent and vulnerable persons, especially the women and children.

Saying that although we should be proud of our beautiful traditional attire and our culture, this should not be enough and that there is a responsibility on the part of everyone to contribute to changes that would evolve into a better society where everyone is respected and protected.

President Jagdeo adjured the audience to ensure that the progress made in Guyana is not circumvented by negative forces, especially during next year, which is a critical elections year. 

He lauded the efforts that are constantly being made by the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha to address, in innovative and dynamic ways, the ills of society and initiate positive programmes, such as the Diwali motorcade, which helps to bring people together in good and resourceful ways.

BEST EVER
The motorcade was described as phenomenal – of a surpassing magnitude. Over the four decades since the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha’s first Diwali motorcade, the calendar event has assumed a life of its own to transform the Diwali celebrations in Guyana into pageantry delight rivaling the celebrations in any part of the world that are held to honour and propitiate the great Mother of light, wealth, and love – Mahalakshmi.

Every year, throughout Guyana, Hindus have invested time, resources and artistic energy into creating magnificent masterpieces, inspired by the sublime message underpinning the Festival of Lights, ingeniously transforming, in the most inventive ways, ordinary vehicles into heavenly chariots to transport the symbolical deities of Hinduism. 

They do it out of supreme love for their religion and the propagation of dharmic principles as delineated in the Hindu and sanskritik scriptures, and not necessarily for the prizes and trophies, because they are fully aware that the competition is tight and not everyone can win, although the pleasure is magnified when an entry wins a prize.

As usual, Dharmic Sabha has held countrywide motorcades to celebrate Deepavali 2010.  The motorcades of regional Praants always precede the Central motorcade of Region Four and this year proved no exception, with three motorcades being held simultaneously on Saturday, October 30.

The Essequibo motorcade left from Affiance and Sparta and converged at Anna Regina Community Centre Ground. West Berbice Motorcade moved off from Bush Lot for the Blairmont Community Centre Ground, while the Upper Corentyne motorcade left from Number 36 Village and Crabwood Creek and converged at Tagore Memorial Ground, Number 63 Village on the Corentyne.

There were also three motorcades on Sunday, October 31, 2010, with the West Demerara Praant motorcade moving from Parika and Ruimzeight, converging at the Ocean View Mandir Compound. The East Berbice motorcade left New Amsterdam for the Cumberland Cricket Ground, and the Central Corentyne motorcade moved from Letter Kenny and Number 1 Village and converged at Port Mourant Community Centre Ground.

One of the highlights of the celebratory activities of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha was the West Demerara Praant’s innovative effort in creating Hamara Gaaw, or Our Village, which recaptured the ethos and the angst of indentureship in all its facets on Saturday October 30 at the Ocean View Mandir compound.

At that event there were a number of exhibits and those in attendance were appropriately dressed like the original immigrants to demonstrate Indian arrival to Guyana. On sale were Indian delicacies, clothing, diyas, coconut oil and wicks for diyas.  A great draw was a tassa drumming competition for youths under 25 years, along with a live cultural show.

As is usual, the motorcade of last Thursday evening drew crowds numbering thousands from far-off distances to line the routes in waves. Entire families from the true Guyanese tapestry of cultures bond together on this one night to share in the spirit of the message of love, light and goodness that underpins Deepavali and enjoy a spectacle that is no more a Hindu phenomenon, but a Guyanese festival in the true sense of the word.

The resplendent brilliance of the floats, each outstandingly beautiful, outshone the heavens and the stars looked down in envy from the inverted bowl of a night sky to witness the magnificent splendour of Guyana’s Diwali motorcade.
Present in large numbers were visitors to this country, who were obviously delighted by the carnival atmosphere that precluded animalistic behaviour while seeming to draw the very best behaviour of most persons by the very nature and spirit of the Diwali celebrations.  The roads were near-impassable as vehicles and people jostled for space on the highways of the East Coast corridor leading to the LBI Community Centre, where the motorcade culminated in a grand cultural programme.

Featured at the programme were songs by several artistes, who performed with excellence, among whom were members of the Better Hope Mandir, who did a Vandana dance; a Lakshmi song and Dewana ko dil by Kamla Devi Singh of the Clonbrook Vishnu Mandir, Dosti’s Rahi Manwa by Pt B. Ramnarain of the No. 1 Helena Mandir, a Taan – Chait, West Berbice; an invocation and other dances brilliantly performed by Dharmic Nritya Sang; Tere Mast Mast and other songs by Rekha Singh; Baanke Chale gori and other songs by the evergreen melodic voice of legendary Mohan Nandu; Payieye Maini and other songs by Sookhranie Boodhu; Pehle Nazar by Andrew Busjith, and other songs by a medley of artistes.

AWARDS:
In the large vehicle category winning entries were Dharmic Naujawaan (4th place: 76.6%); LBI Hindu Temple (3rd Place – 77.2%); Better Hope Mandir (2nd place – 80%); and Mon Repos Satyanarayan Mandir (1st place with 84%).

Winners of the small floats category were Success Hindu Temple (6th – 75.2%); Rosignol Mandir (5th – 77.2%); Cumberland Mandir (4th – 77.6%); Balesar Family (3rd – 78%); Station Street Community (2nd – 80.4%); and Murti Shop (1st – 80.6%).

There was no doubt of the winner in the commercial category and once more Edward B. Beharry and Company swept away the prize (84%), with Regal Stationery and Computer Centre coming second (64%).

For the third consecutive year, Andrew Arts won the Best Designer trophy, while the prize for the Best Overall Mandir Float was copped by the Mon Repos Satyanarayan Mandir.

Judges were Pradeep Samtani, Deo Persaud, Philbert Gajadhar, Dr. Chatterdeo Seepersaud, and Nalini Vieira.  Judging was done on the following basis: illumination – 25 points; Appropriate depiction 25; Appropriate music 20; Dress and deportment 15; Overall presentation 10; punctuality – 5 points.

According to Chief Judge, Pradeep Samtani, every year the competition gets even more difficult to judge, with winners getting the nod by at times a mere .02% points.