A Good Thought But Still A Distant Dream
Diwali is one of the most celebrated festivals of 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 thing that has been an integral and inseparable part of Diwali since ages is crackers. Since childhood we have all been bursting crackers on Diwali but since past 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. phool-jhadis, anars, chakris, snake crackers, ladis, rockets, guns, sutli bomb 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 sit on their terraces at night 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. Even today many children’s books depict children bursting crackers on Diwali but the reality is different. I remember an incident where the young son of a friend of mine showed his parents one such picture from a book and asked them “why don’t we celebrate Diwali like this?” The parents were left searching for an answer to the innocent child’s query. 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 are responsible for it. Our ever increasing cars and scooters on the roads, factory chimneys spewing out toxic smoke, crop burning etc keep adding to the pollution day by day and finally all the blame is put on one day of festivity. Can controlling pollution help us burst crackers on Diwali?
While the above thought seems good and something to rejoice upon, the sad reality is that seeing the current scenario and the level of pollution it seems a distant dream. With the constantly soaring AQI and the blanket of smog that is choking our lungs, it is only advisable to refrain from bursting crackers. Controlling pollution all year round to help burst crackers may take years of hard work by the Government and citizens alike but none the less we must strive towards it so that at least our festivals do not have to take the brunt or else soon there will be a time when crackers would be displayed in museums and our children would read about crackers 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
