No festive blues

A festival becomes a choke-fest when celebrations go out of hand. Over the decades,an inclination towards razzmatazz has meant giving way to chemicals entering the sphere of all Indian festivals. Diwali has gone the same way.

A festival becomes a choke-fest when celebrations go out of hand. Over the decades,an inclination towards razzmatazz has meant giving way to chemicals entering the sphere of all Indian festivals. Diwali has gone the same way. Come autumn,and animals may start dreading going out. Asthmatics flee the city and children and senior citizens reach out for thick ear plugs. A health pledge to ensure that all enjoy a safe and quiet festive season is the best gift one can offer to each other.

Bad news has dominated the run up to Diwali. Adulterated food items have aparently flooded the local markets and will make it difficult for the laymen to differentiate the pure from the spiked. I would go for home-made sweets and avoid sweets available in the market in the wake of the recent adulteration racket that has come up says student,Shambhu Kumar Sharma.

Another major bone of contention that is raked up as controversial is the use of firecrackers. Copious amounts of money are drained down the chemical lane every year while buying crackers by the bags full. I would prefer to blow crackers which cause low pollution,or something like rockets which would blow high up and cause lesser harm directly, opines media professional Ananya Bhandarkar. It’s a wise thought,as smoke from cracker-bursting hangs low in the atmosphere for a week sometimes in the dense cold air. Loose clothes which can catch fire should be avoided,a first-aid box should be kept handy,just in case of any accidents,and care should be taken that hands are thoroughly washed after bursting crackers. Small efforts will go a big way in preventing mishaps. Harish Mehta,a call center employee,says he would buy crackers only from authorized cracker centers and those which are branded.

Many have echoed a sentiment that enjoying the festival in the traditional way would do a lot of good to the environment as well as to the health,and just lighting up diyas would be a better option than bursting crackers. Keeping up the customary piety without too much emphasis on noise will in itself elevate the the fun by several notches.

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