Lord Rama doesn't want you to burst firecrackers on Diwali
Let's do something different this Diwali. Let's shun crackers and embrace the needy, the homeless and the poor. Let's make their festival of lights brighter.
I know that maybe, shunning crackers would be something unimaginable for many, especially this time, when Diwali shall come soon after the Bihar Assembly election results are announced and I know that irrespective of who wins or who loses, crackers will be burnt. And this fills me with dread.
Last year, I stuck to lighting diyas and fairy lights and gave crackers a complete miss. This year too, I shall be doing the same because I believe that Diwali is basically a festival of lights. It is also the time when Goddess Lakshmi descends on earth and blesses every dwelling and commercial establishment with prosperity and knowledge. Old Hindu scriptures never talked about crackers being burnt to celebrate Lord Rama's return to his kingdom, Ayodhya, after having defeated Ravana in battle and after having stayed in exile for 14 years. This is a later addition to the celebrations on that day and is most likely a tradition that was adopted for its commercial value rather than a religious one.
Well, whatever be the reason for burning crackers, recent studies have shown that the large amounts of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen fumes that are released when crackers are burst cause immense damage to the environment and to the quality of air that we breathe. Besides humans, the effects of the pollution and the loud noise emitted by the crackers also takes its toll on animals, especially dogs, who have an accentuated power of hearing and the loud noise makes them cower with fear as they are unable to fathom what is going on around them. Plants, too, wilt due to the effect of extreme air pollution.
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According to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Delhi is the most polluted city in the world. The national capital has the highest concentration of PM 2.5 - particulate matters less than 2.5 microns - a form of air pollution, which is considered highly dangerous.
During winters, the air becomes dense and foggy and these tiny particles get trapped in the atmosphere. Add to that the toxins released by the sulphurous firecrackers and you have a perfect recipe for asphyxiation, long-term damage to the lungs and prolonged infections of the bronchial system.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee had tested firecracker samples recently and found most of them to be flouting the Explosives Rules 2008, as their manufacturers did not mention the chemical composition on the packages. Shock and horror, since we always expect imported brands to be more responsible than our home-grown variety. The truth is that the coloured crackers require the use of heavy metals and those are far more harmful than just the sulphur-based sparklers and wheels that we grew up with.
Besides the pollution and the damage to the environment that crackers cause, they are also responsible for a major drain on our pockets. Call it tradition, call it custom or call it peer pressure, the truth is that the Diwali these days has become more and more ostentatious and maybe the over elaborate element of show has overlapped the piety element completely. It sometimes feels that Diwali is no more about the message of right over wrong or about seeking blessings from the Goddess of Wealth for more wealth and prosperity in our lives but a competition to prove who can spend more on gifts, decorations, card parties, or who can burn more crackers. After the festival is over, a few joke and good naturedly rue that instead of getting wealth, they ended up spending a major chunk from whatever they had saved and literally "burnt" their hard-earned money on crackers. But, in spite of understanding all this, they end up following the same routine each year due to peer pressure or because they feel a little scared to break "custom".
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If I were them, I would set an example by first, not splurging unnecessarily on crackers and on gifting or partying excessively. Instead, I would urge everyone to earmark the amount that they were willing to spend on the crackers, etc and then, maybe, go to a slum cluster and gift blankets to the poor to help them protect themselves from the ravages of the harsh winter that Delhi witnesses soon after Diwali. I may also adopt a few poor families and try and make Diwali indeed a festival of lights and happiness for them by buying new clothes for the young children, lighting up their houses and treating them to good food and delectable sweets. I am sure the light that I would see on their face would brighten the environment much more than Diwali diyas!
Another idea I would moot would be to take up the responsibility of paying for the annual school fees, uniform and books for some children of the really poor families.
I remember reading in a newspaper some years back that a poor man committed suicide a few days before Diwali as he had not been paid his salary for 6 months and was broken-hearted since he had promised his 2 little children new clothes that Diwali. This shook me so much that I began questioning materialistic pursuits and the futility of it all, ultimately. I realised that day that what we take for granted or "waste" without even giving it a second thought could be considered a dream or a luxury for so many BPL families and if we could even share a tiny portion of it with the under privileged, it could mean bringing smiles to so many faces. More recently, the farmer suicides have jolted me once again and I have firmly decided that from here on, my Diwalis will be more meaningful rather than overly ostentatious.
Let's do something different this Diwali. Let's make this Diwali pollution free and let us bring happiness to the poor and the needy.
Let's light up smiles this Diwali.