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Cracked Diwali

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Letter to the Editor

 

Sir,

This refers to the write up on page 11 of GP dated 17 October about bursting of crackers on Diwali. The mention of the Sanskrit word ‘Ulk Danam’ does not necessarily mean crackers. Ulka is a source of light and people used to use torches (mashaal) to lighten the path for their ancestors to pass through to heaven. We must differentiate between ‘sparklers’ and ‘crackers’. Sparklers may include handheld ones, lit in the house compound or an open place and, also, rockets which do not burst in the sky. Crackers are explosives which make a flash, a bursting sound and toxic fumes just like the ones used as bombs in a war. This then cannot and should not become a part of our celebration of this very holy festival.

Fireworks have never been a part of celebrations in our culture in our Vedic era. It was introduced in our land by the Moghuls who found our poor labourer class eager to indulge in the manufacture of this very hazardous pyrotechnics to earn a living. The British encouraged it for their own pleasures. Every year, many women, children and men employed by cracker makers die while manufacturing these so-called celebration items. By using these do we not celebrate their demise? Therefore, we ought to deliberately get rid of this tradition which is not as per our culture but an evil ingress in our ceremonies. We may restrict it to centralised mass fireworks display on some specific national occasions organised by the administration. Diwali is a festival of lights; let us not make it a festival of ‘Patakaas’ and change it into a ‘Pataakawali’. That would be sacrilege.

Yours etc.,

S Paul