by Nazish Zaidi
Diwali is one of the most celebrated festivals in India and is eagerly awaited by all. There are many things synonymous with Diwali like rangolis, sweets, new clothes, lights all around and many more. But one this that has been an integral and inseparable part of Diwali for ages is crackers. Since childhood, we have all been bursting crackers on Diwali but in past few years because of the increasing pollution crackers have taken a back seat.
Gone are the days when children used to go cracker shopping with their parents and buy bags full of colourful crackers. Phooljhadis, Anars, chakris, snake crackers, ladis, rockets, guns, sutli bombs and everybody’s favourite Bijli bomb. There used to be a time when children couldn’t wait for the evening Diwali pooja to end so that they could go out and burst crackers with their friends and at night sit on their terraces and admire the brilliant display of colourful and vibrant crackers in the sky. The smiling faces and lit-up eyes have disappeared into the thick smog of pollution. Nowadays children are forcibly told not to burst crackers due to the increasing pollution. But have we even thought that we adults are responsible for snatching away the fun of festivals from our children? Yes, our festivals are taking the brunt of the increasing pollution and we as responsible for it. Our ever-increasing cars and scooters on the roads and factory chimneys spewing out toxic smoke keep adding to the pollution day by day and finally, all the blame is put on one day of festivity. We all blame the government for banning crackers and spoiling Diwali for our children but if we look deeper it’s not the Government it’s us as citizens that are responsible for it. We don’t want to avoid using our vehicles for just a few days a year, we will not install filters in our factory chimneys, and we will not get our vehicles checked for pollution fitness but at the end of the day, we want our children to compromise on their happiness and kill the fun in their festivities and blame the Government for all of it.
If we continue like this soon there will be a time when crackers would be displayed in museums and our children would read about crackers and Diwali in their history books. Let us not snatch the joy of festivals from our children. Let us all strive to curb and control pollution all year round so that at least our festivals do not have to take the brunt.
