Diwali, the festival of lights! Everyone, including myself, loves this festival, because of the joy it brings. People come together, work together, share food, thoughts, memories and much more. And for us; the students, it's a real break from the hectic schedule. In my childhood days, I had had a lots of fun, bursting crackers, playing with cousins. Now it becomes quite difficult to actually visit all of my cousins and friends. In class 12, be it a vacation, exams won't have a break! Well, the point I want to make. When I was small, Diwali taught me one great thing. Rather giving Diwali the credit, I would give it to the fireworks! For us kids, it was always prohibited to light the big fireworks like the rockets and all those which would burst high up in the air. So we used to watch them light in the sky. It used to be amazing! And this is when I learnt the concept, that light travels faster than sound. The crackers seemed to light first and then the boom would be heard. That was amazing practical example of the fact.
Now, I very well know that light travels truly very fast than sound. And I know the reason as well! This Diwali, I got reminded of this concept that I learnt. I could feel those fireworks asking for a return, a fee..A fee much larger than the concept. The day of Narkchaturdashi, was when I could feel the 'overwhelming' joy of the people. Crackers were bursting all around! A blind would seriously have felt as if he has entered a battlefield! That night was a mock to a beautiful foggy night. Well then people, what do you think, is this fee right? I recorded a sound clip and the next day asked one of my friends to recognize what was going on. His first reaction was obviously what I expected. He said that he could hear guns being fired! Yea! He (do you think only he?) was here, blind..
Diwali, today, has become a festival of crackers if noticed all over India. The joy, the fun is visualized in the form of bursting crackers. And to my surprise, number and size(in visual and audial sense) of crackers is many a times related to prestige and power! Watching so many campaigns being made, telling people to reduce bursting crackers, it was expected that their use reduces, but what we see is no change! Fireworks kept lighting, Diwali was still a festival of smoke and noise, more precisely, of nuisance.
What troubles me a lot is the attitude of our own leaders, the political parties. They have, what I call, the attitude of obviousness. You go to any political party's cracker show, they will light crackers, watch the pollution and then go on with there talks as usual, nodding heads. This attitude of behaving as if everything is obvious and 'we do not care' enrages me every time they do something in public. They are our representatives, they are expected to bring about changes so that the society, the people benefit. This was actually what I saw, one of the parties celebrated its pride on the day of Diwali. They decorated their posh white vehicles followed with aarti. All the vehicles were done. So functions over? Not yet, how can it! Then a 5000-10000 units chain of fireworks was lighted, few rockets and some eardrum-tearing bombs. And how can I forget that 50 shots! The party's prestige was thus laid out.
It is the lack of awareness in us, that we still aren't thinking of our environment. We very well know that some or other family member of ours may have breathing or hearing problems, still we do not care to burst those fireworks. This reminds me of what my English teacher had once said when I was in Class 5..
'Indians have a very bad attitude of 'pushing the dirt under the mattress'. Even when we know that there could be problems in the future, we tend to push the idea off. We try to hide things, just to make them disappear from our vision. But we forget that the same dirt could rot the mattress...'
Now I see how practical he was. We cannot stay blind, knowing the aftermaths of these elements. Not only India, the world needs to think and act. This Diwali, my mother made a great point. We both were just back from the market and I was going through all that she had bought, when I saw a magazine. It was a Diwali special issue. I started reading it and truly it was amazing! Cartoons, stories, articles, it was a real treasure. My mum saw me reading it and this was what she said...
'This is what we actually need in Diwali, the feast of literature, the Diwali of words, instead of those fireworks...'
And yes, she was absolutely right. We need to bring back that Diwali, when happiness was all around, where, not crackers, but thoughts, people, and ideas burst! Then would everyone enjoy learning new concepts, then would Diwali be rightly called, the festival of lights.
Now, I very well know that light travels truly very fast than sound. And I know the reason as well! This Diwali, I got reminded of this concept that I learnt. I could feel those fireworks asking for a return, a fee..A fee much larger than the concept. The day of Narkchaturdashi, was when I could feel the 'overwhelming' joy of the people. Crackers were bursting all around! A blind would seriously have felt as if he has entered a battlefield! That night was a mock to a beautiful foggy night. Well then people, what do you think, is this fee right? I recorded a sound clip and the next day asked one of my friends to recognize what was going on. His first reaction was obviously what I expected. He said that he could hear guns being fired! Yea! He (do you think only he?) was here, blind..
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| This is what an 8 MP camera could capture to its best! It's not fog, but smoke...(13/11/12) |
Diwali, today, has become a festival of crackers if noticed all over India. The joy, the fun is visualized in the form of bursting crackers. And to my surprise, number and size(in visual and audial sense) of crackers is many a times related to prestige and power! Watching so many campaigns being made, telling people to reduce bursting crackers, it was expected that their use reduces, but what we see is no change! Fireworks kept lighting, Diwali was still a festival of smoke and noise, more precisely, of nuisance.
What troubles me a lot is the attitude of our own leaders, the political parties. They have, what I call, the attitude of obviousness. You go to any political party's cracker show, they will light crackers, watch the pollution and then go on with there talks as usual, nodding heads. This attitude of behaving as if everything is obvious and 'we do not care' enrages me every time they do something in public. They are our representatives, they are expected to bring about changes so that the society, the people benefit. This was actually what I saw, one of the parties celebrated its pride on the day of Diwali. They decorated their posh white vehicles followed with aarti. All the vehicles were done. So functions over? Not yet, how can it! Then a 5000-10000 units chain of fireworks was lighted, few rockets and some eardrum-tearing bombs. And how can I forget that 50 shots! The party's prestige was thus laid out.
It is the lack of awareness in us, that we still aren't thinking of our environment. We very well know that some or other family member of ours may have breathing or hearing problems, still we do not care to burst those fireworks. This reminds me of what my English teacher had once said when I was in Class 5..
'Indians have a very bad attitude of 'pushing the dirt under the mattress'. Even when we know that there could be problems in the future, we tend to push the idea off. We try to hide things, just to make them disappear from our vision. But we forget that the same dirt could rot the mattress...'
Now I see how practical he was. We cannot stay blind, knowing the aftermaths of these elements. Not only India, the world needs to think and act. This Diwali, my mother made a great point. We both were just back from the market and I was going through all that she had bought, when I saw a magazine. It was a Diwali special issue. I started reading it and truly it was amazing! Cartoons, stories, articles, it was a real treasure. My mum saw me reading it and this was what she said...
'This is what we actually need in Diwali, the feast of literature, the Diwali of words, instead of those fireworks...'
And yes, she was absolutely right. We need to bring back that Diwali, when happiness was all around, where, not crackers, but thoughts, people, and ideas burst! Then would everyone enjoy learning new concepts, then would Diwali be rightly called, the festival of lights.
Thinking guy..
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