As Diwali approaches, we all start thinking about the exciting things coming up: the delectable sweets, new ethnic wear and jewellery, gifts and of course, the quintessential firecrackers. How can Diwali be exciting without crackers? Just a week to go for Diwali, the roads and streets are filled with the firework stalls. It’s wonderful to see all those 1000 wala crackers and colourful rockets lined up neatly in huge boxes on the highest shelf and the lowest adorned with small, negligible crackers for mild cracker-bursters like me.
But out of the 15 Diwalis I have celebrated, I have bursted firecrackers for only about 5-6 times in my life. This is because I, along with my family have been trying to help the nature by celebrating ‘Green Diwali’. We haven’t bought firecrackers for many years. And did you know how good that is? You don’t have to inhale all those smoke, face the danger of getting burnt or blistered, or blind your eyes by all the light. Extraordinarily, some people even like the smell of the smoke emitted from the crackers!
But, this smoke is said to pollute the air by 50% and reduce the humidity drastically. And imagine, when this smoke is produced by every single house in your locality, how much of the air is polluted? You might not experience the after effects of this pollution now. These type of hazards affect us in the long run, often resulting in disastrous diseases like cancer in later life.
Hence, it is very necessary that we Indians celebrate Green Diwali and forsake our poor Mother Earth who has done so much for us.
And it’s not too tough to celebrate a Green Diwali rather than a normal Diwali too. You just have to overcome the desire to burst those noisy, smoky, ear-splitting and eye-blinding fireworks and bombs which almost stop our heart for a second with its terrifying blast.
Instead, you can satisfy yourself with yummy sweets, fashionable dresses, normal diyas or candles and unique gifts. Do something in return for our Mother Earth, who has been betrayed in the most wrong way by her own children, to whom she displayed utmost love and care. Happy GREEN Diwali!!
