16 — Centralian Advocate, Friday, October 25, 2013 NEWS Indian community opens doors to Diwali Paramuir Singh, Ashish Batra, Tarun Soni, Sphurti Choudhari, Paul Fitzsimons, Rashmi Kant, Uday Arya, Praveen Panchal, Rajneesh Kant, Shalani Ganji, Aditya Khaire and Praveen Panchal at the Diwali launch Picture: PHIL WILLIAMS Corey Sinclair THE town of Alice Springs is invited by the local Indian com- munity to help celebrate one of the most important Hindu festi- vals. Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, is a five-day festival of prosperity and knowledge, marking the vic- tory of good over evil. Organiser Praveen Panchal said everyone is invited to take part in the festivities on Saturday night. ‘‘It is for everyone,’’ he said. ‘‘Whoever wants to join in.’’ In terms of size and festivity, Diwali is the Hindu equivalent of Christmas. ‘‘This is the Indian Christmas - as good as that,’’ Mr Panchal said. ‘‘It is just to sort of come togeth- er and celebrate. It’s good for the kids.’’ Mr Panchal said locals will be able to enjoy a wide array of traditional Indian cuisine and treats. ‘‘We enjoy celebrating festivals with food,’’ he said. ‘‘Food is a big part of our culture and we just sort of want to show- case that for everyone to enjoy. ‘‘We’re going to try and make many sweets.’’ The Alice Springs Indian Com- munity Association was estab- lished at the start of this year, and organisers decided to make Diwali one of the first official celebrat- ions. ‘‘We never actually got together in big numbers with all the Indian community and celebrated it (be- fore),’’ Mr Panchal said. ‘‘When we formally registered our association, Paul (Fitzsimons) came to the party and said he’s happy to lend us the hall at CDU, so it was a great opportunity for us to celebrate in this way.’’ Mr Panchal estimated that there are between 500 and 1000 Indian people living in Alice Springs. ‘‘But not only Indian people from India but also Nepal and Fiji,’’ he said. Charles Darwin University’s Central Australia Director Paul Fitzsimons said everyone in the community is invited to partici- pate. ‘‘We’re trying to get away from this idea of just having the Indians or just the Somalis,’’ Mr Fitzsimons said. ‘‘We’re trying to have all sorts of people come and take part. ‘‘We will have Indian people there but we will have other people from the community joining in and getting to understand each other culturally.’’ Mr Fitzsimons said the whole idea of CDU was to drive social and economic development in the Northern Territory. ‘‘What we’re doing in Alice and other venues is saying we want to engage with the community and have the community engage with us,’’ he said. ‘‘We want to make the doors open to anyone and everyone to come and enjoy the facilities. The Diwali festivities will be held in the Desert Lantern rest- aurant at Charles Darwin Uni- versity’s Sadadeen campus from 6.30pm tomorrow. Cancer fight hat plea Corey Sinclair SISTERS Sinead Strawbridge and Seona Dayman, from Alice Springs, are raising funds and awareness for International Brain Tumour Aware- ness week. In March, a MRI scan revealed 28-year-old Brendan Roe had a brain tumour after he collapsed at work. He was flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he underwent major surgery to remove the tumour. Brain cancer is the number one cancer killer for those under the age of 39 in Australia. Only 22 per cent will still be alive five years after diagnosis. Mrs Strawbridge and staff at Office National, and Seona and the staff at Piccolos Cafe, will be raising aware- ness by participating in the ‘‘wear a hat for a day’’ fundraiser. Their family was devastated by Brendan’s illness and say he is a fun loving character who has the determi- nation to beat the awful disease. They are asking the people of Alice Springs to get behind the fundraiser by mak- ing a donation and wearing a hat in the week starting October 27. If you are needing office supplies, call in and donate a dollar at Office National on Whittaker Street. If you are in town for breakfast, lunch or dinner you can donate at Piccolos Cafe in the Todd Mall. Saddling up for their future TWELVE teens aged be- tween 14 and 18 recently undertook a 50-kilometre horse trek between Ipolera and Ntaria School. There is a large horse culture in Hermannsburg (Ntaria), which prompted the introduction of a horse program to teach rural operations. As part of the course, students work towards a Certificate I and II and have to cook, clean and look after horses. They also must use math- ematics for activities like fencing, and also created a video about how to saddle a horse. The students had been heading out to Ipolera since June, spending two to three days training horses as well as building yards and fenc- ing. The students spent three days travelling be- tween Ipolera and their school with six of their horses, arriving during an assembly. Tom rides on ALICE Springs rider Tom Willoughby will be one of the favourites for the bull ride at this weekend’s Warwick Rodeo in Queens- land. Formerly from Gawler in South Australia, Willoughby qualified for the National Finals Rodeo for a third time in June. Willoughby is sixth on the bull ride standings after the first five months of the new Australian Professional Rodeo Association (APRA) season. He moved up the stand- ings after taking out the bull ride at the Katherine and Darwin rodeos in August. Willoughby scored 78 to win at Darwin, beating runner-up Kurt Sheppard of Atherton in Queensland and third-placed Mark Lamberth of Humpty Doo. Eye on Japan CENTRAL Australia’s value in the resource sector was a topic of discussion at the Minerals Investment Opportunities Seminar in Japan this week. Chief Minister Adam Giles opened the seminar in Japan and launched a new tool to encourage invest- ment in the resource sector. Mr Giles said the invest- ment guide details potential projects as well as import- ant government and indus- try contacts. Visit the in- vestment guide at www.investnt.com.au. *More than 75% of people aged over 14 read the Centralian Advocate each week. That’s more than 15,000 readers per edition! If you would like more information on our upcoming features please contact Our Advertising Department on: 8950 9723 Hi Readers, We have a busy few months ahead of us and we thought it would be a great idea to let you all know what we have coming up for our features. UPCOMING FEATURES One of the most precious gifts we receive is the love from our pets. We are running a feature on All Things Pets whether it be feeding them, taking care of them when they’re sick, grooming them or sending them on a holiday when you have yours. Readers love their pets, advertise in this special feature and let them know your there. ESCAPES Our readership numbers tell us that over 70% of our readers intend to travel domestically in the next 6 months or internationally in the next 12 months. We are running a feature to give our readers some ideas on where to escape, whether it be local, domestically and beyond. Be part of this aspiration feature and wet the appetite of your potential customers. BOOKING DEADLINE: Tuesday, November 05, 2013 PUBLICATION DATE: Friday, November 22, 2013 BOOKING DEADLINE: Friday, Nov 1, 2013 PUBLICATION DATE: Friday, Nov 15 2013 Pets, Pets, Pets EXOTIQ SALE FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY swan s oes K H Cnr Smith St & Hele Cres Ph: 8953 6066