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It’s an aus­pi­cious time for Hin­dus across T&T, a cel­e­bra­tion of light tri­umph­ing over dark­ness. While the glow of Di­vali may have dimmed in some ar­eas, the Gan­garam fam­i­ly of Debe con­tin­ues to keep the flames of tra­di­tion burn­ing bright.

At the home of the Gan­garam Fam­i­ly Dra­ma Group, de­vo­tion and prepa­ra­tion are al­ready in full swing. Colour­ful ta­pes­tries of Hin­du gods and god­dess­es adorn the walls, the scent of oil and in­cense fills the evening air, and the faint echo of tas­sa drums res­onates in the dis­tance.

For more than 43 years, Sham­mi Gan­garam and his fam­i­ly have host­ed an­nu­al Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions, com­plete with dra­ma skits, danc­ing, drum­ming, and tas­sa per­for­mances—a tra­di­tion that has be­come a fix­ture in their com­mu­ni­ty.