A kid comes
back from school brimmed with excitement for the upcoming holidays. With
twinkling eyes, he says, “Mom…we have holidays from tomorrow on account of
Diwali!!”. Mom smiles back, gives him a hug and plans for the joyful days.
Festivals are of a great importance in our Indian culture. Every time we look
forward to celebrate festivals which bring people together .Festivals are
either celebrated with masses or as a private affair. Do our celebrations
really pose good to the society? I am going to highlight Diwali here.
Let me
explain Diwali. Diwali is a festival of ‘lights’. It marks the victory of
good(light) over evil(dark). A fragment of people consider it to be return of
Rama post-victory over Ravana while some consider it to be the day when Pandavas
returned after the exile. Either ways, I see it to be a day to be happy and
spread the same. We brace ourselves to clean the house, hand lights, draw
rangolis, prepare sweets. Most importantly,
wear new outfits and try to look best!
Amidst these, we forget to spread happiness where there isn’t one.
I happened
to visit our local market to buy some diyas. I could see people arduously
walking with ‘no hands unturned’. Festivity bloomed as I saw lanterns hung in
harmony. As I stood watching the ironic beauty of crowd, someone touched my
shoulder. With an impulse I looked back. There stood a skinny old man with a
shabby look, wearing torn clothes showing some gestures which said he was
hungry. Like any other person, I handed over a coin instantly. He blessed
me and moved ahead.
But I
couldn’t come out of this incident. The crowd which seemed to be a beauty
sometime back turned dreadful. The crowd seemed to be like a bunch of selfish
people craving for surfeit. I couldn’t stop thinking why the lucrative pockets
of India will not be able to make their counterparts smile. My head hung in
shame for that coin which popped out of my wallet. Where is Diwali for that old
man? When will he chip in the festivity?
When is he going to smile in par with society? It is not impossible to bring
smile in at least one face this Diwali. For the colossal number of heads
wandering in market, it is definitely going to encompass all the deprived. I am
dreaming of a day when I don’t have to jot this down in my blog.
Next comes the
Crackers. Well, crackers comprise of all lighting products like sparklers,
flowerpot, wheels, rockets etc. in addition to its definition. Above all, we
have bombs, considered to be the star of crackers. Have you ever felt a thump
in your heart? I do not remember reading anywhere that Diwali is about making
you miss a heartbeat. Here comes another factor which turns festival into a
nuisance.
“Early to
bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise” goes the saying and so
do the birds follow. They happen to happily go back to their isles as soon as
sun bides goodbye and wake up with sun. But do we really let them sleep? Do we
really bother about their emotions? Have we ever thought how it would impact
them? Dogs are known for their brawny hearing sense. Imagine the impact they
would have due to the disgusting bombs and crackers. Neither do they have any
shelter to protect themselves from the torture. What kind of a festival is it
which makes creatures unhappy?
There has
been a lot of hype regarding saving the environment and living and eco-friendly
lifestyle. But majority of such population miss out on tagging along their
statements. They tend to join all sorts of awareness campaigns around holding placards but fail to dispose off them at the right place
Bottomline:
Night Musical
band -NO
Crackers/Bombs
- NO
Probably I
have too much to say and concerned a lot about my non-human friends which is
why I am finding it hard to put it on words. Please try to be eco-friendly in
every action you perform. Let not your actions physically harm a soul on earth.
Every creature has a right to live their life. So live for your happiness and may your happiness lies in others’.
