Phagwa/Holi Celebrations March, 2009-Trinidad

I left a gap in showing this footage to mark the death of the wife of the Secretary of the Sanathan Dharma Maha Sabha(SDMS)-Shanti Maharaj who died admist the Phagwa celebrations.I felt it only fitting as all of my footage/coverage was taken of the SDMS Children's Phagwa celebrations. While I was there attending I had no idea that she was ill and her husband Sat Maharaj was the Master of Ceremonies at the event- a very dutiful and brave act of seva I'd say to carry on with his Dharma/duty although his wife was ill. Later on I would find out that she would normally oversee the preparation of the approximately 10,000 lunches that are made for the kids that attend from all the SDMS schools across the island. However that was the first time in how many years she was too ill to do so or attend the function. Anyway death and leaving the mortal coil and perhaps again returning is part of the way of the Universe and so also all part of Universal Collective Prayer but for those of us that live on the earthly plane the dance that is Universal Collective Prayer must go on...no choice in the matter really...Subsequent to that delay I prepared a draft of this post on Mar 23rd but then went into a kind of hibernation meditating with the Shiv man as you will see mentioned on my two previous posts...so finally...here it is the footage of Phagwa Celebrations in Trinidad for 2009!

I attended the SDMS Children's Phagwa celebrations on Sat 14 Mar 2009 at the Simbhoonath Capildeo Tunapuna Hindu (SDMS) Primary School. I'm sorry to report that I'm not yet ready to give up my day job as an engineer to become the roving reporter for the prayers and so you will just for now until the prayers who knows expands and I can hire a roving reporter of my own have to bear with me! So me as a not true roving reporter kinda made it to the event late...but I was good enough to listen to the opening remarks on the radio while I made my way to a friend's house where she lives when visitng the island from UK. We actually had the good fun of walking to the school from her house which was about half a mile or so away.

Here is one of the reasons I was late! I was mixing abeer last minute and putting it into these little contraptions I put together using empty Coke Zero 20 oz bottles and a little spray gun thingy I bought at a pooja store...made in China have you not India! However the abeer for mixing in liquid and the scented powder were made in India. Here is my therefore made be a Trini ChinIndian contraption! :)

After mixing up my abeer and putting together the contraptions I drove to Tunapuna and listened to the kick off of the celebs on the radio-The SDMS's radio station Radio Jaagriti 102.7 FM. The main guest at the event was the President of Trinidad and Tobago the His Excellency Prof. George Maxwell Richards. The thing about him is that he is I think the first ever chemical engineer to become a head of state of any place and so was honoured by IChemE- The Institution of Chemical Engineers in the UK. He attended the University of Cambridge and used to teach at the University of the West Indies and was also the principal there for many years. He used to teach the dreaded Transport Phenomena courses and yep he also taught me! :) So was pleased to hear his excellent speech in many ways. I can't quote it and as I just told you I'm not a good roving reporter as yet but here's the gist of it:

He spoke about how it was admirable that the festival was being held even 164 years after the first arrival of Indians to the island and about how although the festival bore resemblence to the carnival celebrations that were just concluded it should be noted that it was very much a religious celebration unlike carnival. He spoke to the children about not being led astray in society and about being focussed and values and all of that. He lamented the absence of the High Commisioner of India to Trinidad at the event but noted that he had a prior event to attend to in Tobago and he had only just taken up his office in Trinidad a few weeks prior. He however noted the presence of Mr. Santosh Mishra at the festivities on behalf of the High Commission and his particular role in attending to matters of religion and culture while attached to the Commission. Those of you on the prayers here would note Mr. Santosh Mishra from my previous blog post on the launch of the Pundit Parasram School for Hinduism. Mr. Mishra also gave a brief speech. The head of the Pundits too was there-the Dharmacharya Pundit Utaam Maharaj.

President Prof. George Maxwell Richards


Pundit Utaam Maharaj-The Dharmarcharya

So by the time the speeches were done I was at my friends and they and this is how we looked before:


My friend was pretty excited to be going to the event as she had attended a SDMS Hindu primary school when she was young and remembered taking part back then- Chanka Maharaj El Socorro Hindu School. Here are some pics of us getting to the event from above the highway cross over (up high)





And as I told you my friend was really excited about her past school! :) So much so that she took a picture in front of their tent! :)


My old school was somewhere there too but I live right next to it so I literally see it every day! :)

And now I leave you to the sights and sounds...of various culture groups and the school kids themselves performing and playing and at the very end my friends and I at the end of it...not very coloured I'd say which is why I played again on Sunday not at any event but just at home with my nieces and nephew...and well I got more coloured.! :) One point to be noted is the girl in blue and gold outfit dancing with the Sharda Dance Company is actually deaf and dumb and I guess dances based on the vibrations she feels...and Mr. Sat Maharaj noted this and the girl was taken to meet the President personally! :)













The Sharda Dance Company


The Sangre Hindu Primary School



Me and the Neices and Nephew on Sun 15 2009....more coloured! :) Note the first bloom of my sunflowers...suraj mukhi in my garden in the foreground! :)
THE END!