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First of
all I would like to wish each and everyone of you a very happy Deepawali. Diwali
has always been regarded as the festival of lights but places like Sivakasi
have labeled it as Festival of Sounds. Interestingly, Diwali (or
Deepavali) marks the victory of Good over Evil and is believed to be celebrated to mark the
return of Hindu Lord Rama after 14 years of exile (some also celebrate it for killing of Narakasura),
back then people celebrated with Diyas and FYI, they never had any crackers. A festival that
was supposed to be innocuous in nature and supportive of spirit of love,
brotherhood, peace and harmony has started turning out to be a bane for the
environment.
There is a
considerable amount of media attention given to this issue every year that
starts right in the month of September in the form of media reports explaining
the harmful effects of crackers, posters by government agencies asking public
to celebrate a “No Cracker” or “Eco-Friendly” Diwali but come Diwali and people
are hysterically celebrating Diwali. It is good to celebrate the festival in
free spirit but with the recent climatic changes it is important to switch to a
Green Mode in public interest. Are we so selfish that we are least bothered
about what the future generation are going to suffer?
I may be
called a hypocrite for asking people not to use crackers because in my
childhood I did use crackers during Diwali. It was like a big gala with kids
forcing their dad’s to buy the latest crackers (also called pataka – not to be
confused with “pataka girls” – hot girls). Kids deliberately asked the
shopkeepers for crackers that produce deafening sounds and bright colors in the
sky. It was another competition when it came to rockets, to add to this there
was innovation from some kids (wish they used innovation to design a chip or an
ipod :D) who used different styles and angles to fire a rocket aimed at someone’s
balcony. It was often taken in free spirit just like holi (as they say “Bura na
Mano Holi Hai” – “Don’t be offended it is Holi after all”). It was a story of
the 90’s or probably 2000’s. Fast forward to year 2012 and you have “Nazi Bomb”,
“Atom Bomb”, “Super Bomb” and what not all that promise you one thing “Big and
Loud”. Some kids have gone to the extent
of using crackers on animals as well. I am sure you don’t want to imagine what
would happen.
I am not
here to deprive the young children of the fun in bursting crackers that we as
kids enjoyed but things are going out of control now. It is important to note
that kids cannot do anything without the help of their parents who are a part
of the bursting crackers game after all you need money to buy crackers. Despite
Supreme court guidelines of no crackers post 10pm, there were considerable
amount of crackers being burst right until 1am. Is this what we call control or
self concious? Are parents (mostly working in MNC’s) not intelligent enough to
impart education of a greener world to their kids? Are they not hypocrites
where on one hand they celebrate Earth Hour by switching off lights and on another
hand burst crackers”
As a matter
of fact crackers are not cheap, they are expensive but then even adults are
unable to resist the temptation after all they are also kids at heart. It is
time that elders understand that Diwali is not about competition or having a
cracker that keeps producing sound for an hour, it is about celebrating a
festival with your family, your loved ones, peace, harmony, love, etc. If you
have extra money why don’t you keep some bundles of Rs 500 notes, allow it to catch fire and
upload it on youtube (I do not endorse this but have to use this statement). They might as well get a billion views with the title “Currency
on Fire”. Trust me, you are doing the same thing indirectly.
Many argue
that it creates employment specially in places like Sivakasi that are dependent
on the cracker industry. I like to laugh at that statement, if you are so
worried about employment why don’t you support employment generating policies
of the government like FDI (I wont get started on that one now). Sivakasi
should be labeled as a city meant to destroy Mother Earth. It may turn out to
be true one day if Government does not have stricter laws. The markets were
flooded with Chinese crackers with high metal content and the adults were not even bothered about where it was coming from.
It is time
that the Government and the Apex court takes serious note of the issues in such
festivals that are only going to cause problems in future. There should be
stricter laws for offenders. There should also be a regulatory authority that
is able to act as a watchdog for the different type of crackers flooding the
market. When you can have a Food Corporation of India
Hope one
day we do not hear a single cracker on Diwali, I wish to see a vibrant and
colorful Diwali and not a cacophonic Diwali in times to come.
PS: There
have been considerable media reports that the pollution reports have gone down
but I still feel we are far away from a eco friendly Diwali.
Photo Credits: http://www.gogreenguyz.com/
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