Latest update August 5th, 2026 1:26 AM
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Can we remember during the festivities that Diwali can be about hope for better?
Dear Editor,
The name change of the Miss Diwali pageant to the Miss Guyana Sari Pageant is the response of the organisers to the calls for the disassociation of the festival from the event.
What is unfortunate is that the committee continues to call itself a National Diwali Committee.
The diya remains dominant in all of their advertising and promotions and they will host the event during the time of Diwali.
The sari is supposed to be the dominant theme, or rather the wearing of the sari as the defenders of the pageant have said.
It is interesting, from the photographs in the media of the launch ceremony, that none of the ‘young, attractive and unmarried girls’ which the National Diwali Committee called for and selected wore any sari at their launch ceremony. In fact it is even more fascinating that none of the members of the Diwali Committee wore any sari…but then those of us who apparently are not Indian enough or who have never been to India probably do not understand our cultural traditions and expressions.
Gitanjali Singh reminds us in her letter in Monday’s SN that every samskar has its purpose. In reclaiming Diwali from the pageant, we have an opportunity to understand that the rituals and festivities are not separate from real life.
A real life which is bound up by violence and savagery; more recently, the attack on Budhia and her family in Canal Number Two, is an attack on all of us. Can we remember during the various rituals, festivities and celebrations that Diwali can be about hope for better?
Vidyaratha Kissoon
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