More than 80 tertiary students of varied ethnicity and nationality from the Wellington region and Palmerston North participated in a Diwali function held at the Police Headquarters in Wellington on October 14, 2012.
Organised by the New Zealand Hindu Students Forum of the Hindu Council of New Zealand (HCNZ), the students were from several countries New Zealand, India, Fiji, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa, Vietnam and Syria.
Indian High Commission Second Secretary and Head of Chancery Sanjay Verma released a Brochure on ‘Diwali Guidelines’ produced by HCNZ to assist organisers of Diwali festivals in following the customs and traditions associated with the observance (see separate article in this Special Report).
Wellington Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon, Inspector Rakesh Naidoo, other police officials, National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Wellington Mutamizh Sangam President Selva Ramasami were among those present on the occasion.
The event included invocation by Rudri Vyas, speech by Monika Shukla (students), interactive sessions by Ruth Woodward, Stephanie Gilchrist (Immigration New Zealand), Dr S Latha Vasan (HCNZ), safety tips by Inspector Rakesh and his colleagues (Police), Dr Pushpa Wood (Director, Financial Education and Research Centre), Vesna West and Marilen Mariano (Settlement Support) and Huong Nguyen (Office of Ethnic Affairs).
Tanvi Sharma Thomas and Sadhana Shrestha presented respectively Hindu classical and Nepalese folk dances.
Victoria University PhD student and Event Coordinator Udbhav Ojha said “The programme covered a range of topics of concern to international students and we hope to organise more such events in future.”
HCNZ Public Relations Officer Dr Rajiv Chaturvedi described the increasing number of Diwali celebrations in New Zealand as ‘positive progress towards unparalleled diversity.’
“The Council is available to give culturally appropriate advice to any organisation celebrating the Hindu Festival of Lights,” he said.
Emails: hindu.nz@gmail.com; hinduyouth.nz@gmail.com;
Website: www.hinducouncil.org.nz
