It was a huge honour to be invited to the beautiful New Year ceremony last night at the Stoneleigh Sri Raja Rajeswary Amman Temple, witness the Hindu prayers and rituals, learn about the temple and the craftsmanship and the Hindu gods and worship and to join the ceremony.
It was a complete honour to lead the golden chariot procession and to say a few words in praise of the Tamil community across the world of 100m and to recognise the huge contribution that the Tamil community have made to culture dance and music and art and to the workplace where I in 10 doctors in the NHS are of Tamil heritage.
And even as we celebrate we remember the atrocities of the last 30 years and restate our wish for peace and recognition for the right to self identify and to live as a diverse community without fear of persecution. The work that has been done on this by the Westminster APPG on Tamil Rights has been led by Elliot Colburn and Paul Scully and I would like to recognise their work in highlighting the international failures for the Tamil community.
It has been a pleasure to follow the Tamil calendar from The Remembrance Ceremony last year at the O2 with 8000 people to the Pongal Harvest Festival at Westminster and New Malden in February to the Holi festival recently at the YMCA Hawker Centre and last night the New Year Worship at the Sri Raja Rajeswary Amman Temple.
