CELEBRATING DIWALI WORLDWIDE AND AT U.N.
CELEBRATING
DIWALI WORLDWIDE
Sachi
(Sabyasachi) Ghosh Dastidar
Recently
we were honored to be invited to many Diwali (or Deepabali) celebrations in
many places in the United States. All of those were enjoyable, often with
delicious Indian food and Indian song and dance. The latest one was celebration at the United Nations
Headquarter in New York City, where we had to enter the building with a special
pass. The celebration was organized by a diplomatic couple. The
Diwali was celebrated as a symbolic struggle for nations “to remove darkness
for heading to a brighter world,” that Diwali stands for, which was reminded by
Trinidad ambassador to the U.N. He mentioned that in Trinidad it is celebrated
as a religious holiday with everybody joining so much so that roads get blocked
to traffic.
Our
journey to the U.N. became enjoyable when our Uber driver was a
Tibetan-Indian American who told us stories in fluent Hindi about his pleasant
refugee life in India, to refugees from East Pakistan-Bangladesh, while
listening to Indian music.
The U.N. celebration was
sponsored by the Nation of Georgia, and co-sponsored by a dozen nations
including Kazakhstan, Morocco, Trinidad, India and many more with flags flying
on the back.
Several leaders were
honored on that day.
We were lucky to be
invited as family members of my granddaughter Shriya (Lakshmi) who was invited
to dance.
Here are few pictures
from our travel:
U.N., New York City on East River
U.N. Ambassador of Trinidad
highlighting the True Meaning of Diwali
An Indian American Group is Dancing with Wonderful Gujarati Tradition
Shriya’s 2024 Diwali Dance Performance at school PS133 in Queens, New York City
And
on December 13, 2024, a Dance at Iranian Yalda Festival on Long Island, New York.
Award being presented to Shriya at the Iranian Yalda festival, somewhat similar to Diwali, celebration. Shriya danced on a song on Sri Ram with attachment to Mother Nature that was appreciated by the huge crowd.
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