Author: Bryan Virasami
Publication: New York Newsday.com
Date: March 14, 2004
URL: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-parade0315,0,2746944.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-manhattan
Tens of thousands of people turned
Liberty Avenue in Queens and a nearby park into a festival of color and
music Sunday in celebration of a major Hindu holiday.
People of all ages lined the avenue
to watch the annual Phagwah Parade, which has been organized by religious
leaders in the Queens Guyanese community for more than 10 years. As they
watched floats go by, people sprinkled white powder on friends and strangers
while others used water-guns and make-shift squirt machines to spray colored
water.
"I've been coming here many years
and it gets bigger and bigger," said Vhansham Singh, 44, of South Ozone
Park, as he watched floats with his three children and wife.
Pandit Tillack Seerattan, the religious
leader at the Shri Devi Mandir in Jamaica, relaxed in Smokey Park with
members after the parade.
"It's a festival of love among devotees
of the world," Seerattan said.
The festival, also called Holi,
is highly symbolic and based on an ancient Hindu story about the triumph
of good over evil. The red powder and water thrown symbolize the blood
of a tyrannical king who was ultimately destroyed by a fire.
The event drew several elected leaders
from Queens as well as foreign dignitaries, including Basdeo Panday, the
former prime minister of Trinidad. Organizers said the celebration attracted
up to 50,000 people.
"It's great seeing all the Indian
people coming together like this and having a good time," said Ricky Ram,
a customer service manager from Jamaica who brought his wife, two kids
and a niece.
Ram, who immigrated from Suriname,
said he's attended the event since 1992 in order to show his heritage to
his kids.
His niece, Tatiana Baksh, 11, interrupted
to offer her take on the festivities.
"You come to the park and play with
people you don't know, you get to dance with the music and everything,"
she said. "It's not just for one religion, it's for everybody."
One person noticably absent this
year was Det. Rudy Prashad, the community affairs officer of the 102nd
Precinct who is being investigated on allegations of kickbacks.
Prashad, a popular figure in the
immigrant Guyanese community, is credited with bridging the gap among the
immigrant Guyanese, Sikhs and longtime residents. He was a common presence
at the parade.
"He's been missed dearly," Seerattan
said.
