Aditi Panda
Enjoy yourself this Diwali in its true spirit as a festival of lights this year settling for a cracker less celebration
Diwali is celebrated with enthusiasm across India with gusto of excitement and festive spirit. Diwali is a festival that denotes the victory of good over evil and hope over gloom. Nevertheless, in the recent years, overstated celebrations have created a huge impact on the environment, as well as on the health of the people. The recent Supreme Court ban on the sale of fire crackers in the capital has come a welcome step in this direction.
Although these celebrations usher in joy, their far-reaching repercussions are harmful for nature. The intensity of air pollution climbs to perilous levels, food wastage increases exponentially, plastic wrappings and cracker debris litters the roads. This is not all, as an aftermath of loud crackers, a number of elderly people and animals suffer from anxiety attacks.
Traditional Diwali always had crackers as one of the significant element along with spotless homes, decorated with colourful Rangoli and Torans, and bingeing on mouth-watering homemade sweets and savouries.
The old customs have taken a back seat as working women make a beeline to purchase readymade sweets from the market. Bursting fancy crackers with maximum reverberation has become the deciding factor to establish your status in your society. Insensitive people do not realise that bursting crackers can result in accidents and health problems like hearing loss, high blood pressure, respiratory complications, skin allergies and eye inflammation if not used with proper care and supervision.
“The recent ban on crackers is indeed going to affect our Diwali sales but since we were expecting something like this we did not invest more in crackers but shifted to ornamental diyas and other decorative items to beautify homes this year”, shares a shopkeeper, Radhakant Behera.
Fireworks also have a dangerous effect on the health conditions of people suffering from asthma and other respiratory conditions. The people are apprehensive to participate in the Diwali festivities as they are scared of the smoke getting into their lungs and triggering an attack.
Says Sandhya Singhdeo, a grandmother and a retired teacher, “the entire days of Diwali we close our windows and doors to stop the smoke from entering in the house as we have elderly people, children and pets in the family who end up visiting the doctor after Diwali to take treatment for incessant cough. What is the use of such celebrations that harm others?”
“There are so many ways to celebrate this festival of lights as it is our family tradition to distribute new clothes and sweets to the children from the neighbouring underprivileged area. We invite the kids’ home and feed them. The best part is, every member of our family participate happily in this yearly tradition.” says Ananya Rao, who is a teacher.
By limiting the sound decibel of crackers, encouraging eco-friendly decoration and gift options and avoiding bursting crackers, Diwali can still be enjoyed. Environment pollution cannot stop in a day we can all start by taking a vow this Diwali to cause less damage to our fragile environment. Happy Diwali-Green Diwali!
(Aditi is a freelance writer and pursues interest in the area of social issues)
Diwali is supposed to be a festival of lights. But instead of spreading warmth, all this festival does is make us light-hearted, pun intended. What does this great festival actually stand for? Diwali is symbolic of the victory of good over evil. It’s an internal battle wherein “light” of knowledge overcomes the darkness of ignorance. So instead of comprehending the spiritual significance of this great festival, we end up abusing and polluting the air with immense noise and toxic smoke. Any festival is supposed to bring joy but it is the responsibility of those who celebrate it to ensure that this happens. Thanks, Bharat Chetty, pune
Diwali is supposed to be a festival of lights. But instead of spreading warmth, all this festival does is make us light-hearted, pun intended. What does this great festival actually stand for? Diwali is symbolic of the victory of good over evil. It’s an internal battle wherein “light” of knowledge overcomes the darkness of ignorance. So instead of comprehending the spiritual significance of this great festival, we end up abusing and polluting the air with immense noise and toxic smoke. Any festival is supposed to bring joy but it is the responsibility of those who celebrate it to ensure that this happens. Thanks, Bharat Chetty.
On whatsssssup
Thanks a ton for your elaborate and real comments
I completely agree with your valid points & it’s a welcome step towards the ban of cracker sale@Delhi NCR.celebrations come & go every year but the aftermath of bursting crackers is very pathetic.The sky is fully covered with a blanket of grey smoke& dust with very less visibility,no sunshine for at least a day or two,elderly people& very young children rushing into the emergency wing of hospitals for nebulization.At whose expense are we enjoying this festival?definitely at the cost of our environment & precious lives of our people. Let us all stand together for celebrating an eco-friendly diwali& spread cheer all around.
Thankssssssssss vidya
Very nicely written.its very important that we do our bit to stop pollution
Thanks a ton
I do completely agree with you.we should save our mother earth from sound and noise pollution caused by this festival.Deepawali is a festival of lights..A time to celebrate with near and dear ones….So friends let’s celebrate this Diwali with lights and sweets.No crackers…No pollution…Happy Diwali to all.
Thankssssssss a ton for commenting
[13/10 7:16 AM] I certainly agree n infact following it since years.
[13/10 7:20 AM] this so called cracker celebration is also an adverse effect on economic n psychology. We just brunt hundreds of million on fire. The poor who could not afford had a complex in the community affecting the psychological growth of their children. They usually beleive to be inferior than the so called rich people.
On whats up from Bijay kumar swain, maharashtra
I agree I agree i agree.we follow it seriously for years and tell people to stop bursting crackers
On whats up from Namami Sharma, gauhati
It is so true… People are actually insensitive about others. And I know this from personal experience. My dog suffers the most during Diwali. She is unable to bear the loud incessant noises and explosions and sits cowering all day. And this thing goes on for like a week. Not even one day. The poor thing gets so scared and although we tried to tell people not to burst crackers in front of our house it was of no use. And keeping aside the fact that it used to scare my pet, there are other dangers as well. Our house is surrounded by some amount of greenery which can easily catch fire. And these dumb people even burst crackers right under the electric cable wires connected all along the road. It, therefore, is quite dangerous. But it’s really difficult to make people realize how they are harming themselves by harming the environment and creating a ton of addition problems than what we already have. I hope this article at least opens the eyes of a few more people.
Thank you, Aunty.
Thankssssss a lot bijay bhai, namami and shrishti for your genuine commemts.all your encouragement keeps me going.
You’re welcome!!
Nice article.Each one should teach one to have a quick change in attitude keeping in view the devastating damage to our eco- system.
U r right.and we all have to sime initiative to bring that change.thanks for your comments
Gud evening mam.. today I talked with my friends to celebrate this Diwali in free pollution day… One of my friend told that this festival comes once in a year… So we have to celebrate .. he was not interested to listen my words.. so I didn’t motivate him.. I thought change cannot be possible by force.. it is a self motivation.. but some friends agreed to use less number of crackers this years.
On whatsup from Manoranjan sahu,cuttack