NCIC: Divali Nagar successful, incident-free

Khalnayak Academy of Dance, perform to Pinga during the final night of the Divali Nagar in Chaguanas, on October 19. - Ayanna Kinsale

NATIONAL Council for Indian Culture (NCIC) president Surujdeo Mangaroo said he was pleased with the amount of people who turned out to the final night of the Divali Nagar, despite bad weather that led to a short period of flooding.

Speaking to Newsday by telephone on October 20, he said he was surprised to see the number of people who turned out.

“The Nagar was a huge success. I’m very happy and encouraged by the amount of young people, young children and families there, especially familys coming together. I felt pleased that we are doing something right, despite the weather challenges, everyone found their way to Divali Nagar yesterday.

“Once again we had an incident-free Divali Nagar, and I really mean incident-free Divali Nagar, and we try to maintain that year after year. We always try our utmost best to provide a safe and comfortable environment for all our patrons and 2025 wasn’t different.”

Mangaroo said while there was some flooding at the site due to the bad weather, it subsided quickly.

“We have incidents like that before, with the drain and the low tide, the water subsides pretty easily. It didn’t happen for the first time yesterday, it has happened a couple of times before. The thing about it, within about 20 minutes, everything was back to normal, there was a little mopping up to do, which we did.

“We didn’t have complaints from vendors, other than one and that was solved. Other than that, no, everybody knew that we are going through some bad weather so they prepared themselves and their booths in the event.”

Mangaroo said it was unfortunate that the Prime Minister did not attend the closing night of the Divali Nagar.

“I’m sure there might be some plausible reason for her not attending. This is the first year, usually for many years she would attend the Nagar, when she was Prime Minister and when she was Opposition Leader. But unfortunately it didn’t happen this year, and we have to understand the situation as well. We missed her a lot last night, I must say though, but that is it, so be it.

“She did send her Divali message which we placed in our annual Divali Nagar magazine. I know her heart has always been with culture, whether Divali Nagar or Emancipation, she always loves culture.”

Mangaroo thanked everyone who participated in the event and wished TT a happy Divali.

“I want to thank all our corporate booth holders, all our commercial booth holders, all our food booth holders, I want to thank all our service providers, I want to thank the government, I want to thank all our media houses and I want to thank most importantly all our patrons who came and had a wonderful time.”