Is It Worth the Fun ?
Hello & welcome back to my Blog, dear readers. I hope you all had a safe & joyous Diwali. Hopefully, now we can get back to dieting & detoxing, as the festive season has ended. Well, maybe.
Diwali is such a vibrant festival, isn't it ? We're all surrounded by beautiful, twinkling lights, mouth-watering food & sweets, and draped in festive finery. It is celebrated almost the world over, and involves many rituals & practices as well.
But in its wake, the Festival of Lights has begun to engulf us in a dark Smog, which is evident especially in heavily populated areas, such as New Delhi. This pollution-Noise & Air- from crackers is spiraling out of control for the past few years.
What began as a humble festival filled with the warmth of glittering diyas & rustic feasts to celebrate the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, has turned into a smoke-filled, deafening, garish ceremony of sorts. The house that makes the most noise & blows, perhaps, the most smoke into our ever-polluted atmosphere is considered prosperous & affluent. But tell me, is it worth the fun ? Even at the cost of the lives of our loved ones ? I don't think so.
Shocking statistics claim that children growing up in similar metropolitan cities are breathing in smoke, which in return is causing irreversible damage among almost 50 percent of them. Air pollution in India is the fifth largest killer, at an estimated 1.5 million dying because of it every year. And adding fuel to the fire, we're lighting up crackers on Diwali like there's no tomorrow. Sadly, we're just making things harder for Mother Earth & ourselves too.
Clean, breathable air is not an option, its our prerogative. While it is good to celebrate & enjoy the festivals, it is even better to be responsible for our actions. Crackers not only cause noise & air pollution, they also result in a lot of waste as well, most of which is not Eco-friendly. People and animals suffer at the expense of the fun that happens for a few days, and even become ill as a result. Some even abuse animals as a part of their "festive fun", which is under no terms acceptable, at all. The repercussions of air pollution have begun to be visible all around the world, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Major changes have to be made to stop them at the least, and maybe even reverse them.
I am proud to say that I did not even burn a single cracker or firework this year, just a few oil lamps or diyas. And I enjoyed it even more, knowing that my fun did not harm me, my loved ones or anyone in return.
While this Diwali has passed, there's still the next one to look forward to. But being accountable for our actions makes us more aware of what we are doing to the environment. The time is now to begin, and change for the better. The Government can only do so much. The rest is up to us.
Breathe In, Breathe Out.......Until next week, my dear readers.
Diwali is such a vibrant festival, isn't it ? We're all surrounded by beautiful, twinkling lights, mouth-watering food & sweets, and draped in festive finery. It is celebrated almost the world over, and involves many rituals & practices as well.
But in its wake, the Festival of Lights has begun to engulf us in a dark Smog, which is evident especially in heavily populated areas, such as New Delhi. This pollution-Noise & Air- from crackers is spiraling out of control for the past few years.
What began as a humble festival filled with the warmth of glittering diyas & rustic feasts to celebrate the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, has turned into a smoke-filled, deafening, garish ceremony of sorts. The house that makes the most noise & blows, perhaps, the most smoke into our ever-polluted atmosphere is considered prosperous & affluent. But tell me, is it worth the fun ? Even at the cost of the lives of our loved ones ? I don't think so.
Shocking statistics claim that children growing up in similar metropolitan cities are breathing in smoke, which in return is causing irreversible damage among almost 50 percent of them. Air pollution in India is the fifth largest killer, at an estimated 1.5 million dying because of it every year. And adding fuel to the fire, we're lighting up crackers on Diwali like there's no tomorrow. Sadly, we're just making things harder for Mother Earth & ourselves too.
Clean, breathable air is not an option, its our prerogative. While it is good to celebrate & enjoy the festivals, it is even better to be responsible for our actions. Crackers not only cause noise & air pollution, they also result in a lot of waste as well, most of which is not Eco-friendly. People and animals suffer at the expense of the fun that happens for a few days, and even become ill as a result. Some even abuse animals as a part of their "festive fun", which is under no terms acceptable, at all. The repercussions of air pollution have begun to be visible all around the world, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Major changes have to be made to stop them at the least, and maybe even reverse them.
I am proud to say that I did not even burn a single cracker or firework this year, just a few oil lamps or diyas. And I enjoyed it even more, knowing that my fun did not harm me, my loved ones or anyone in return.
While this Diwali has passed, there's still the next one to look forward to. But being accountable for our actions makes us more aware of what we are doing to the environment. The time is now to begin, and change for the better. The Government can only do so much. The rest is up to us.
Breathe In, Breathe Out.......Until next week, my dear readers.
Well written bhavna we humans have taken nature for guaranteed spoiling it every single second.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. And yes, we have. Hopefully we'll come to our senses before we destroy nature itself.
Delete