THE New Amsterdam/Canje District came alive last Sunday evening, when the East Berbice Praant of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha staged another successful motorcade.

In what could be described as an evening of colourful display of artwork to depict the Hindu Gods and Goddesses, the Betsy Ground Mandir stole the thunder of crowd favourite, Golden Om Dharmic Youths, to take top honours for putting up the best float in 2013.
Dharmic Youths settled for second spot while the Number 19 Village Vishnu Mandir won the third prize. Other participants were the Palmyra Mandir, the Seawell Temple and the Safe Neighbourhood Action Group, a non-governmental organisation of Angoy’s Avenue in New Amsterdam.

The procession rolled off from in front of the Church View Hotel and continued through New Street in New Amsterdam and ended at the Rose Hall, Canje Welfare Ground, where an action packed cultural programme was performed to usher in the ‘Festival of Lights’, which will be celebrated on November 3.
A large gathering was entertained to dancing, tassa drumming and singing and the evening was spiced up by the presence of renowned Bollywood playback singer Jeffrey Iqbal, who wowed the vocal crowd with the hit tune ‘Mere Maste Maste’.
The cultural performances were punctuated by presentations of regional officials and greetings from the Hindu community.
People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)) Member of Parliament (MP), Dr. Vindhiya Vasini Persaud, who is also the President of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha, in her address to the gathering, encouraged one and all to celebrate the

coming festival with sincerity and take note of the lessons of the occasion.
“Deepavali is the occasion where families celebrate together and that celebration is extended to communities, mandirs and the country as a whole. I wish you and your family well, as we celebrate another Deepavali and, that Maha Laxmi showers her blessings on each and every one of you,” she offered.
True meaning

Persaud lauded the support of the public for the events of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha and challenged those gathered to take note of the true meaning of the festival.
“I urge you, at this point in time, to find the light within your hearts, light that lamp of knowledge, spiritual enlightenment and find the divinity within yourselves and extend it to those who you come into contact with,” she appealed.
Chairman of Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne), Mr. Permaul Armogan also took the opportunity to extend greetings, on behalf of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), to the Hindu community and emphasised that mankind was born with the nature to do good.
“I believe that human beings are intrinsically good, every person wants to be good and do good things but, sometimes in our lives, we allow the forces of evil to enter into us and, when that happens, we begin to do bad things. The philosophy behind Deepavali, is that we must always welcome Maha Laxmi which will enable us to triumph over the vices of evil that sometimes overcome us,” he stated.
President of the East Berbice Praant of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha, Mr. Narine Datt Dhanraj observed that their motto ‘Action thy Duty, Reward not thy Concern’, is being put into practice by his group as they continue to portray the concept of Hinduism.
He added: “We look forward to you gracing this occasion where we show love, peace, harmony and friendship.”
The praant heartily extended gratitude to individuals and companies for making financial contributions towards the successful staging of the motorcade and cultural show.

By Michael Khan