Eons ago when Rama defeated Ravana, who abducted Rama’s beloved wife, Sita— and returned to his kingdom of Ayodhya, the people rejoiced and celebrated by lighting lamps all over the empire. It being a night of Amavasya, New Moon, the lighting of diyas signified the destruction of darkness through the emittance of enlightenment. As years passed, lights led to sparkles which led to crackers. Now we are in an era where the more noise you make, the better you have celebrated Deepavali.
From the tiny yet loud smaller patakhas to the nuclear explosion like deafening Lakshmi bombs, children and adults nowadays put their money on getting bigger and more dangerous type of crackers, all in the name of the festival that is in fact to bring people together harmoniously and peacefully. It is actually quite ironic that Diwali started off as a celebration of the triumph of good over evil but now has flipped over to evil– pollution, triumphing over our good Earth. Youngsters, and in some case insane adults, also indulge in fire cracking late until the wee hours of the next morning leaving the roads covered with the cracker residue and the air with smog. For some of us, this might be just an irritating noise that prevails through the Deepavali night, but for others – war veterans to be particular – these kinds of sudden outburst have quite disturbing effects. These war veterans more often than not have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and the blast of the bombs take them right back to the time when they were right in the middle of the war. To a normal, everyday citizen, this might be quite far fetched. But even a few days on thefront lines can have such an impact on the soldiers.
Noise pollution, land pollution and air pollution form a deadly triangle on this day every years, closing in on us and the environment.
And not just nature, this kind of celebration effects animals too. Especially dogs who have really sensitive hearing, get afraid or aggressive during the loud explosions that ensues throughout Deepavali. This can have a really bad effect on them, later impairing their hearing or even making them more hostile due to such chaos. A worse case is for stray dogs who have to bear with the burns along with the noise. Many kids, in the enthusiasm of the festival, wantonly burst crackers near these hapless creatures almost setting them on fire. It really is a sad state of affairs when the mighty take advantage of the weak.
But does Deepavali have to be like this? Do we need to spend millions on misused crackers? Do we need to pollute the environment? Do we need to hurt our fellow beings? Of course not! We can dial it back to celebrating Diwali for what it actually is – rejoicing together, spreading light and helping the needy. One such initiative is the PAWsitive movement which aims to spread awareness about the harmful effects of bursting crackers on animals. Another initiative in reducing the pollution has been the ban on Chinese imported firecracker. Although it doesn’t harm the domestic trade of the product, but the market certainly has seen a decrease of 20% sales! All thanks to the activists and the concerned people who have gone out of their way to spread awareness about the harmful effects of such celebrations. This has in turn led to a rise of 30% in the price of crackers which has further made people reluctant to buy them. Slowly, but surely, we seem on a path to a better, pollution free Deepavali.
So how else to celebrate a Deepavali you may ask? Does it really make sense to celebrate the festival without any crackers? Well, of course we can still buy sparkles and flower post and other such products that aren’t harmful to the environment and your own ears. Everything in moderation is the answer. Maybe instead of spending that exaggerated 5000 rupees on crackers, you could instead donate at least a percentage of it to the needy. Instead of leaving your ageing parents to bear the annoying sounds to burst crackers elsewhere, you could get together with the family and celebrate the occasion. Instead of laughing at your pet for cowering under the cracker sounds, you could perhaps leave it at a non-disturbing environment for a night. Instead of celebrating Deepavali with crackers, you could celebrate it with care– share the love, spread the love.
