Guyanese in New York gear up for Diwali
For the first time New York City public schools will excuse Hindu students from classes next Thursday in observance of Diwali. And many American companies with a large number of Hindu employees in New York will give them the entire day or part of the day off with pay to celebrate the festival. In other cases, American-owned businesses on Liberty Avenue, Queens, plan to close early as a mark of respect to their Hindu employees. This weekend, a number of temples also plan to have concerts, Diwali pageants and plays to celebrate the occasion. It is evident that Diwali is in the air with the myriad number of multi-coloured diyas and other festival decorations that are on display in front of Guyanese stores on Liberty Avenue, Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn, Hillside Avenue in Queens and Westchester Avenue in the Bronx. Meanwhile, the two radio stations owned and operated by Guyanese, RBC and WICR, as well as other Indo-Caribbean oriented radio programmes on other radio stations have been broadcasting Diwali songs as a prelude to the event, while the Pradeep Kumar TV and the Eshri Singh TV programmes have been airing Diwali clippings from various movies. (Vishnu Bisram)
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