DhOoM DhAdHaM DhAd!

There’s laughter and festivity in the air; people are greeting each other, taking selfies in groups, or dancing on the streets. A truck with the idol of the huge Ganpati follows. It’s the day of visarjan and there is traffic all around. A tempo with a huge megaphone blares while the drums beat loudly along with it.

The noise is a bit too much for me, so I back up a bit. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a dog crouching near my building. ‘Buddy!’ I think, and cross the road and go up to him. He’s a very skinny and malnourished dog, his bones visible from under his skin. He seems very apprehensive. I reach out to him and pet him. He doesn’t wag his tail like usual and barely glances at me. Instead he’s crouching low, shivering.

Dogs can hear way 3 times more better than humans and it’s pretty evident that all the noise is bothering him. I squatted down next to him. I stay there with him for about half an hour, whispering to him over and over, that I’m sorry, and you’ll be okay, and you’re a good dog. Buddy moans and lies down. “I know, I’m sorry,” I say to him apologetically. The sad look in his eyes makes me feel so bad! I don’t have money or else I’d at least get him biscuits like I do whenever I see him.

I sit there stroking him and thinking: ‘I don’t think Ganpati likes it that so many stray animals are suffering because of the noise we make. He certainly wouldn’t want us to make so much noise and pollute the rivers because of him.’ Then I think: ‘ugh, and Diwali; I absolutely hate all the bursting crackers in Diwali. I just sit at home, trying to channel all the phat phat phat of the crackers away from me, it just gets on my nerves. And all the pollution! Does nobody think about all the animals, the planet belongs to them just as much as it belongs to us, and we’re ruining it for them and for us! Plus, the smog and all the diseases. please people, can we have a Diwali without crackers?’ then I get mad thinking about how a kid once threw a water balloon on this dog and it hit his eye and how the dog howled. Then the pictures of the dead birds, tangled in the manjas from the kites we fly in Makar Sankranti crosses my mind. I look over at the Ganpati in the truck which treads along slowly. Ganpati’s smiling expression suddenly look sad. I no longer feel joyous anymore. I whisper some more to buddy, promising to meet him tomorrow with biscuits, then I come back home and write this.

Can’t we not get eco friendly and celebrate our festivals by making sure we take care of our environment and the animals? Festivals should be about meeting each other, having fun and spreading joy, not pollution and harm.

Please, please say no to things that can harm our environment and the animals living around us. Instead celebrate happy, pollution less and safe festivals.

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Say No To Crackers This Diwali

No crackers

Our India has many religions & traditions and not to forget the festivals; and as soon we talk of festivals, the word Diwali springs up. But there is a “but” in enjoying Diwali. Do you know why? Because I do not see the spirit of Diwali as it used to be. What do I mean? Let me explain.

Three years back, when I was 8 years old, we friends were discussing what we will be doing on the auspicious day of Diwali. One of my friend said, “I will go to the temple with all my cousins and family and then go to a restaurant to have dinner, then I will come back home late at night and leave for my village”. Another friend said, “I will make rangoli and burst lots of crackers”. When it was my turn I said, “I will help my mother in the puja preparations and will make lots of sweets too, then we will go and visit all my relatives and you know what, I am not going to burst any crackers this Diwali and onwards. I don’t want to harm Mother Nature”.

Then I asked my friends, “Will you too not burst crackers? At the mention of it, my both friends’ eyes plopped out, “what? Are you crazy, really?” They asked all kinds of questions to me-“Will you be even able to resist it?” asked my friend. I said, “Yes!” I was confident I could. When they saw me that confident one of them said, “We are not going to miss such an opportunity yaar! You do what you want but we are going to burst crackers. A lot of them. My father has already bought them.”

The other friend said nothing and just kept quiet. After playing for a while, when heading home in the lift she softly asked me, “You are not joking, are you?” I just said no, walked off to my home and went to sleep peacefully.

I am not bursting crackers for three years in a row. So you saw what I meant. But are the festivals destroying us or are we destroying their meaning? I read that in old times people used to make their own sweets, and there was no plastic packaging, everyone used to make their own rangoli powder with natural things and there was no toxic or chemical rangoli powders. They used lamps to light up the whole city and did not use artificial lamps and they did not burst crackers too, they just danced and sang and prayed. Above all they spent quality time with their family and friends. But today all people buy sweets and rangoli powder at the market. They use artificial lighting. And burst crackers too. They know all the disadvantages, but yet they choose to burst crackers. They know the crackers emit harmful gases; they could hurt somebody, create noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution & land pollution too.

After Diwali when I go to the playground, I see lots of plastic bags and boxes and packaging lying all around and no one bothers to pick them up until the garbage man comes and takes them away. We must spread awareness and celebrate a pollution free Diwali every year. We all are aware of the effects of pollution. Then why forget it on Diwali? We should not burst crackers and litter around. And keep our environment a happy and healthy one. As Gandhi Ji said, “Be the Change You Want to see in the World”. And we will be that change!

 

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