N.Y Guyanese applauded for mainstreaming Diwali celebration

Nov 15, 2012 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Guyanese and other Hindus had a most joyous Diwali celebration in the New York environs (Upstate, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania) over the weekend thru Tuesday.
Over the last week, celebrations were held at several locations in the area at mandirs and at parks as far away as Central and South Florida and in Schenectady, where large numbers of Guyanese and Trinis are settled.  Elaborate preparation was made to celebrate the festival similar as in Guyana.
Several Queens neighborhoods have all the wonderful ambiance and decorations of a holiday – fancy, colourful lights that one sees at Christmas.  Mandirs hosted extravagant celebrations indoors with lavish dinners. Foods were unlimited. Celebrants everywhere had a most wonderful time feasting on goodies and enlightening their lives with the message behind the festival. Celebrants were well dressed in traditional Indian attire – Sherwani, Shalwar Kameez, saris, lahenga, and kurtas. It was a magnificent celebration among Guyanese and other nationalities.
I applaud the many community leaders and organizers who helped to make the public celebration a success and the mainstream of Diwali in the communities (like greater Richmond Hill, Jamaica, Hollis, Cypress Hills, Parkchester, etc.) where Guyanese are settled in large numbers. The celebration was brought to this country by Guyanese and others and now incorporated into the social, spiritual and moral milieu of vast parts of American society. For this achievement, I salute and applaud my fellow Guyanese.
Unlike in Guyana, Diwali is not a holiday but the festival is recognized and parking rule is suspended for the day.  In addition, students are given an excused absence and city workers can take the day off without submitting a medical excuse. Businesses gave heir Hindu workers excused time to prepare for the festival. Many workers took the day off to prepare for the evening ceremony and preparing meals for families and guests.
Many, including this writer, hosted non-Hindus for dinner after the lighting of deyas, serving a traditional meal (a variety of snacks, delicacies, curries and dhal puri) as it is served in Guyana. Almost everyone (regardless of ethnicity) in Guyanese neighbourhoods is familiar with Diwali and Phagwah.  My non-Indian students (Hispanics, Blacks), for example, in Brooklyn, took me by surprise when they asked me how was my “Diwali”? “Where are our snacks”, they asked?
In N.Y, the interior and exterior of businesses, stores, homes and temples were magnificently festooned with holiday paraphernalia and beautifully lit with deyas and electronic lights on Tuesday night. Even trees were well decorated.  Liberty Avenue was a spectacle to behold for the nights leading up to the celebration, with deyas in front of stores on the evenings of Monday and Tuesday.
The avenue was teeming with shoppers over the last two weekends. And on Tuesday night, temples held special poojas and concerts to mark the occasion.  Although it was a cold evening and it rained throughout the morning with dark clouds in the afternoon, the rain held up to allow for the lighting of deyas outdoors.
Diwali has slowly become a mainstream event, with large swaths of the country being given recognition by politicians who are courting the Hindu/Indian community that has been providing hefty donations to political campaigns. Politicians don’t want to be on the wrong side of the growing community, fearing a backlash.  As such, they join the Guyanese and other Hindu communities to celebrate the festival, particularly in Queens.
Around New York, politicians (of all stripes and levels), issued Diwali messages to celebrants.  The Governors of several states also issued messages extolling the virtues of Diwali. Some politicians even hosted Diwali dinners and or attended celebrations. President Barack Obama also issued a Diwali message.  He hosted dinner and has lit diyas at the White House annually since he became President – the first President to do so.  Under Bush, Diwali was celebrated at the White House but the President was never present for the festivities.  Obama will host a celebration before leaving for Asia for the APEC summit in Cambodia as the celebration culminates this weekend.
At the Diwali celebration on Liberty Avenue on Saturday, there was unbridled enthusiasm.  Deyas lit up the Cheddi Jagan Square.
Homes, businesses, streets, and neighborhoods, were spectacularly decorated and politicians recognized the importance of the festival to so many Americans, especially New Yorkers, and Jerseyans and Floridians. This was unimaginable just a decade ago thanks to the work of Guyanese individuals (Vishnu Mahadeo, Gyanda Shivnarain, Ramesh Kalicharran, Pandits Ramlall Upadhyaya, and Satish, Vishnu Bisram, Lutchman Budhai, Dr. Ramharack, Vassan Ramracha, etc.) and organizations (Indian Seva Sangh, mandirs,) as well as other groups to publicly showcase Diwali and Indian culture.
Nationals from India have done fantastic work among politicians to increase awareness of the festival in America as well as to lobby politicians to recognize the festival.
Without their contacts, Presidents Bush and Obama would never have accorded official recognition of Diwali and hosted celebrations at the White House.
When I came to New York as a student in 1977, Diwali was not even a blip on the calendar of celebration.  Myself, Vassan and Dr. Baytoram Ramharack organized Diwali celebrations at CCNY campus over several years, preparing meals and snacks for large numbers of students, including many from India, Africa and the Caribbean.
Today, Diwali has become somewhat mainstreamed on several campuses and communities.  More and more Americans are familiar with the festival and it is covered in the mainstream media. Several of us lobbied politicians to recognize the significance of the festival to the over two million Hindus (among the over three million Indians or South Asians, including Indo-Caribbeans) in the US. Many of us contribute to political campaigns and work to get politicians elected.
They reward us with recognition of our festivals issuing proclamation. Incidentally, a Hindu was elected to the House of Representatives last Tuesday from Hawaii.
Americans are learning that Diwali is infused with significance for Hindus and that it even transcends religion and race, as is the case in Guyana.
Even the casual non-Hindu observer is amazed by the scenes of lights and fireworks in Richmond Hill— bedecked with colorful lights hanging from rooftops and rows of small earthen lamps around yards.
None of this would have been possible without the significant role played by so many Guyanese especially those conscientious Hindus like Pandits Oumadatt, Jadonath, and Tiwari who began the tradition in the 1970s in Manhattan (and then the Bronx), Far Rockaway and Flatbush respectively.
Vishnu Bisram

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