Festival time

It’s that time of the year again! Deepavali (or Diwali), the festival of lights is here to bring joy and prosperity. The festival marks the celebration of good over evil. Of Lord Rama’s homecoming, victorious after slaying Ravana, the evil king of Lanka. And some other legends. For me, any festival means a time to be with family and friends. Time to gorge on some yummy specially made food and sweets for the occasion. But the special attraction of Diwali is the lighting of diyas (lamps). The evening turns into a celebration of light. Of hope and happiness that darkness will never be able to destroy the light for long.

Ah yes, you think I forgot about the firecrackers. Well, I choose to forget actually. I don’t really want to confront the fact, that nowadays Diwali is more of a noise festival than a festival of lights. Awful sounding crackers everywhere, the paper left by them strewn in all directions on all roads (And I’m not kidding when I say ALL). The terrible air pollution from the fumes of the crackers and the ear shattering noise pollution from the sound. Apart from the environmental -, there are the accidents that happen. A cracker bursting in the face. Burn incidents. Horror stories of child labour in fireworks factories. All this mar the significance of a celebration.

Let’s try and minimize the hazards. Let’s celebrate the true spirit of the occasion. Happy Diwali. Have a safe one. Have a good one. Eat lots