Panday calls on Indians in the diaspora to unite

Panday was addressing the Indian Arrival Day programme organised by the National Council for Indian Culture (NCIC) at the Divali Nagar Site in Chaguanas on Sunday. He noted that someone had said that the sleeping giant was "paralysed," but he issued a call for East Indians living outside of India to unite and find ways to bring about positive change in today’s world. Panday was accompanied by his wife Oma and Fyzabad Member of Parliament Chandresh Sharma at the function. While thanking NCIC president, Deokienanan Sharma, for the enormous amount of work the group was undertaking to promote art and culture in TT, Sharma also brought Indian Arrival Day greetings to the people on behalf of the NCIC.

The crowd gathered at the NCIC’s auditorium was treated to Indian classical singing by Sam Boodram, Solo Gildharie, and Haniff Mohammed. The Shakti Devi Dance Company led by Lisa Samlal and the Shri Devi Dancers led by Ria Soodeen entertained the crowd with dances.

Executive member of NCIC, and Master of Ceremony for the evening, Surujdeo Mangaroo, said the art of classical singing must be preserved since it is one of the few East Indian based art forms that are indigenous to this country. He noted that the traditional ghazals and tumrees of India now have a unique Trini flavour.