Members of Brandon’s East-Indian community came together at the Keystone Centre on Saturday to celebrate Diwali in their own way.
This inaugural event, dubbed “Disco Diwali,” gave local families of similar backgrounds the chance to bond over the five-day Hindu festival of lights that originally started on Oct. 27 this year.
Event organizers tried to make up for a slight delay in the festivities by filling the facility’s Canada Room with plenty of food, games and music, with the highlight of the festivities being the choreographed dance numbers performed by various members of the crowd.
Kushang Patel told the Sun that he and the rest of the team at Desi Beats put this party together to bring local Diwali celebrations out of people’s homes and into a more public venue.
KYLE DARBYSON/THE BRANDON SUN
Reema Negi dances to “Nainowale Ne” during Brandon’s first-ever Disco Diwali event, which took place Saturday at the Keystone Centre’s Canada Room.
“During Diwali, we always go to our relatives’ homes, especially to the elders, and get the blessings from them,” he said. “Instead of goings to everyone’s house we wanted to meet in a single spot where we get to say ‘Happy Diwali, Happy New Year’ and get blessed.”
Patel went on to say that the event received so much local attention and support that they had to change venues and abandon the Keystone’s MNP Hall for the larger Canada Room.
As such, Patel said the Desi Beats team is looking to make “Disco Diwali” an annual tradition in Brandon moving forward.
»The Brandon Sun
KYLE DARBYSON/THE BRANDON SUN
The husband-wife team of Kushang and Falguni Patel tear up the dance floor during Saturday’s Disco Diwali celebration.
