Doubling the joy of the festive seasons

It may be considered as a late Raya gathering for some and an early Deepavali celebration for the others.

This was the case when disabled community NGO Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC)  and Batu Caves’ Mariamman Temple joined forces to organise a Deeparaya celebration in Batu Caves recently.

Despite bad weather prior to the event, the dinner managed to draw in some 200 disabled as well as able-bodied crowd made up by various races.

It also saw a group of Indian children take the stage to showcase their talents in traditional dance before several disabled individuals were invited to join in an interactive game.

ILTC president Francis Siva, who was thrilled by the crowd turn out, said the inagural event aims to create unity among residents of different religion and cultures.

The temple managment, on the other hand, promised to look into making the celebration an annual event for the underprivileged.