So today is DIVALI ...... public holiday number 14 in Trinbago ...... and it rained all morning ...... and I got worried ...... worried fuh all the elaborate bamboo displays ...... that would have been set up around the country ...... for this spectacular Hindu holiday ...... the Festival of Lights ......

I am not a Hindu ...... and what I love most about Divali ...... is the Deyas ..... I remember ...... as a child ...... without fail ...... every Divali ....... my parents would always take me (and my two sisters) ...... tuh see Deyas ...... and at that time we lived in the East ..... a place where ..... most of de action was fuh Divali ...... with its many predominantly Hindu communities ...... I vividly remember the sights ..... scenes of literal light over the darkness ....... whole streets ..... street after street ..... full of houses and yards ...... covered with thousands of lit Deyas ...... in the most creative and artistic fashion ...... with the most amazing bamboo structures ....... and of course being children ...... such a spectacle was super awesome (oooops where dat yankee word slip out from!!) ...... and I remember too ...... later on ...... as an adult ....... still goin tuh see Deyas ....... and goin by people house tuh eat wonderful Indian food ...... and Hindu colleagues coming to work ...... all dressed up in Indian garb!..... I even did it once (LOVE Indian garb!!!)

Ahhhh ..... but those days are long gone ...... I no longer go out to look at Deyas ...... I no longer work with said Hindu colleagues ..... and I no longer eat Indian food on Divali ...... cuz ah doh get invited tuh eat none ..... an ah cyah be bothered tuh ...... run down Roti from Hott Shoppe ...... cuz Whoa ...... dat is ah drama!!!....... and it seems as tho ..... just as I no longer do a lot of stuff ...... where Divali is concerned ..... some stuff seems tuh be dying out too ..... cuz I understand ...... that some people no longer bother tuh light up Deyas ..... they use electric lights instead ...... Grrrrr???? ....... and then according to today's Express ...... fireworks too .... join de electric lights scene ..... with reports dat ...... fireworks was outselling Deyas dis Divali ...... Grrrrr???? ...... and other than de obvious reason ..... this revelation was kinda weird ...... cuz even tho they claim ...... dat is because of high prices ...... people no longer able tuh afford de Deyas ..... and de necessary coconut oil ..... then how they was affordin fireworks? ..... and isn't there symbolism ..... tuh de tradition of lighting Deyas ....... light over darkness ...... good over evil ..... knowledge over ignorance ...... yuh know ..... all dat good stuff??

I really hope ..... that that trend ..... of usin substitute 'light' ...... burn out quick!!! ...... and that diminishing Deyas ...... start to flourish again ....... cuz even as an adult child ...... Deyas ..... is still what I love most about Divali!

Anyway ....... hot sun out now ...... so like de rain stop fuh de day ...... and hopefully it'll stay wherever it came from ...... so that all the glorious Deyas ..... dat already set up wherever ...... will have time tuh dry out ...... so dey could light dem up tonight ..... and maybe ..... just maybe ...... I'll go see some in Adam Smith Square




As light dispels darkness, so should knowledge dispel ignorance. Through learning, man is expected to advance to the stage of enlightenment in which he realizes that God is the Light of lights, and that God brings warmth, love and illumination to all beings and therefore there can be no light greater than God.  Obtained from NALIS website