DIVALI, the festival of lights, has always been a special time for Anna Sookram.
Growing up in Lime Field Village, Cedros, a predominantly East Indian community in south Trinidad, Sookram said Divali was not strictly a Hindu celebration as people of other faiths and ethnicities also joined in the observance.
She said it was not uncommon to see non-Hindu villagers helping with the preparations, lighting deyas and partaking in the delicacies.
“There was a lot of Hindus around so there was a lot of cleaning, preparation and the other children from the village would come home and help us light the deyas, whether they were Hindu or non-Hindu,” Sookram, 53, told Sunday Newsday.
She said in those days the community lived in unity.
“The villagers would eat whatever meal we prepared and lime an hour or two with us and then they go to their respective homes. Divali then was about togetherness, even among non-Hindus. Everybody lived like one.”
Sookram got married on August 1, 1993 and moved to Tobago with her husband, Anthony, four years later. Relocating permanently to the island was not their intention at that time.
“My husband came to work for three months as a crane operator on a project and fell in love with the place. We never looked back.”
Anthony later started a small contracting company with an uncle.
Sookram said establishing roots in Tobago during their early years on the island was difficult for her.
“In the beginning it was lonely because when you are in Trini you have family. Then I started working and making friends. Tobago is home now. When I go to Trinidad, I long to come back.”
But Sookram, who worked in the tourism sector, quickly observed there was a marked difference in the manner in which Divali was celebrated in Tobago.
“It is quieter than it is in Trinidad.”
With a population of just over 60,000, Tobago has a very small Hindu population. Estimates suggest there are only about 150 Hindus on the island.
Sookram said when she and her husband came to Tobago, some of her friends from Trinidad used to visit to celebrate the festival with them.
But that changed as time wore on, especially during the two years of the covid19 pandemic when the government instituted a lockdown on non-essential activity.
“I still do have friends who come across but everybody else just get caught up with life. So not many people come by me for Divali any more.”
In addition, Sookram, who lives at Stewart Avenue, Lowlands, said they no longer have elaborate Divali celebrations at their home.
“I do not work in tourism any more and my husband has reached retirement age so we close down shop. We do little stuff but nothing on a big scale.”
[caption id="attachment_1044924" align="aligncenter" width="462"] Anthony Sookram during a previous religious event. -[/caption]
But over the years she observed that despite being a national festival, there are still myths among some Tobagonians about Divali, particularly in relation to the prayers that are offered when the food is prepared.
“When you hear
