Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has just returned from India where he signed an agreement, among other things, to assist in the establishment of a cricket academy at Trincity in northern Trinidad. 

He became the first prime minister of Indian descent since the arrival of Indians in this Caribbean nation as indentured labourers from India between 1845 and 1920.

Of the 1.3 million population of Trinidad and Tobago, about 40 per cent are of Indian extraction, descendants of people who were brought here by the British as indentured labourers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dookeran pointed out that a journey for freedom, is what ignited the 'Yatra Jaaree Hai' (the journey had begun). In India in modern times, that freedom was given political expression in 1947; it was not only the freedom of India, and it soon spread to all places that was called the British Empire in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean"

It is about time that celebrations to mark Indian Arrival Day, whether in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Mauritius, or Fiji, take on a new format and a more scientific approach

Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Randall Mitchell, said that Divali Nagar has made citizens more aware of the tradition associated with Hinduism and East Indian culture.

Yoga has its roots in ancient India. Over the centuries, it has spread to other parts of the world including East Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe

Lata Mangeshkar redefined culture as we knew it for she was a citizen of the world

Divali Nagar has now become the eternal flagship of Hinduism and Indian culture of various strains in the Caribbean

For Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago and beyond, the Indian diaspora must aggressively pursue excellence in science, business and politics as these ideals could better define the Indian identity and reinforce the virtues of culture and values