How Diwali was celebrated outside India this year?

The Celebration of  Festival of Lights, Diwali was no less enthusiastic outside India and there was equal passion for celebration this time among Indians and Non-Indians. Here we present a brief account of celebrations in some countries.

In New Jersey USA, a local Sweet Shop named Rajbhog Sweets gifted away packets of Narendra Modi branded Sweets called ‘Modi Magic’. The owner of the Shop plans to distribute 10 Lakh packets of Modi Magic till 2014 General Elections.

US President Barack Obama, in his message,  wished Indians “a Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak”. Like the previous years, the White House will have a Diwali celebration on Tuesday where the First Lady Michelle Obama will provide remarks.

It would bring together lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in a spirit of amity for the second time on a scale rarely seen in Washington since Barack Obama’s re-election as President last year.

At UK’s Leicester Town, the Indian and Britishers alike celebrated Diwali  with the annual ‘switching on’ ceremony of Diwali lights. The Diwali celebrations on Belgrave Road and Cossington Street recreation ground are called as the largest Diwali celebrations outside India.

At London and other parts of UK, Fireworks illuminated the sky in the night in most places as non-resident Indians distributed sweets and exchanged greetings to mark the festival that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness.

British Prime Minister David Cameron extended his best wishes to everyone on the occasion of Diwali today.

In the Town of Watford,  over 15,000 people came together at Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishna Temple, making it one of the biggest celebrations of Diwali in England.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the 27th annual Diwali Nagar was held between Oct 24-Nov 1. It was attended  by  over 100,000 people to attend not only from Trinidad and Tobago, but the rest of the Caribbean, the US, Canada, Europe and India.

Trinidad and Tobago’s President Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona, in his first Diwali message since assuming office last March, said that in the absence of light, darkness reigns supreme. This was Trinidad and Tobago’s 168th Diwali celebration after the first set of East Indians came here in 1845.