The Festival of Shame?

Diwali time has arrived in India. It is the festival of lights, and also of Crackers and Sweets. It is a grand time for many in India. For about a week, the celebrations go on. But, the aftermath of the celebration is not a pleasent sight. In fact, even during the celebration, things are not pleasent. The Bursting of Firecrackers is indeed very troublesome, and so my main problem with diwali comes from this.

Before that, Diwali is celebrating the triumph of Lord Ram over Ravana. It is supposed to be a celebration with lights and decorations. Where did the Crackers come into the picture is unknown. A whole new controversy can be opened by questioning Lord Ram's victory over Ravana as a sign of Good truimphing over evil. Was Ravana really that evil? Remember, he did not injure or do any harm to Sita's feminity. It was perhaps, ironically, Ram, who doubted her integrity and asked her to take the Agni-Pariksha. This topic is completely for some other post and topic.

The economic and social ramnifications also play a crucial part, according to me, in undermining Diwali. Economically, many people spend the amount on Crackers in 5 or im some cases in 6 digits. The rich just have money to burn, whereas the charity aspect of Diwali is completely thrown out. This leads to the social ramnifications. It has been circulated that Child Labour is involved in the creation of Crackers. The Ammunitions factory at Sivakasi employs children under 15 to manufacture those Crackers. If this is proven true, then Diwali should be named the Festival of Shame.

Any festival that endorses Child Labour and turns a blind eye should never be celebrated. The amount of money that the rich spend on large number of glamourous crackers can be better utilized for something else. It may sound too idealistic, but the current scenario is equally pathetic, and it needs a solution.

The festival is also problematic on the health and environment aspect also. The pollution that these crackers create is very high indeed. There are a lot of poisonous materials released whcih leads to health hazards for many people, irrespective of age. The strain on people's health is of a serious nature. Due to the high decibel levels of a majority of crackers, people suffer a lot of ailments. Already, several news organizations like CNN-IBN are reporting that hospitals have reported a large intake of patients suffering from cracker uses.

But, inspite of all this, people will celebrate. It is all about having a good time, so who cares about the harm that it causes to other people. Diwali and hedonism go hand in hand. Pleasure is the ultimate for many people, and they don't give much about the suffering of other people.