Impact of festivals on the environment

By: Gomathi Sridevi

March 31, 2023

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Diwali – The Hindu festival of lights, which is celebrated in India. One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism. According to Hindu Mythology Lord, Krishna killed the demon Narakasura, on the day before Diwali and everyone celebrated his death with colourful lights. It symbolizes good over evil. Though I had treasured the Diwali festival, it had made a huge impact on the environment. We have been polluting our beautiful earth by bursting crackers. And when we think about saving the earth by not celebrating Diwali, there is another crisis in our world.

That’s the economic impact. Several people are dependent on this festival because many workers are working in the cracker industry. They get paid only if these crackers get sold. Many families are solely dependent on this job and it would be a loss for them if Diwali was restricted from bursting crackers.
Several factors lead our earth to get polluted. And though Diwali is also one of the factors, it’s not the only cause. For some people, Diwali is a sentiment and an emotional thing.

I remembered my childhood days, and how I was excited for this day.

We lived in a small town more like a village with a minimum population and less pollution. A week before Diwali, my brothers and I would be waiting outside our house for our father’s return from his office. We run towards him to get the things from his hands which are the FIREWORK boxes. More than two bundles of firework boxes would be there in our house.

We always celebrate Diwali a week before. All our friends from our neighbour’s house will accompany us and we burst crackers at night. We would go for shopping to buy new dresses for Diwali.

Songs will be played on the speaker which would be placed on every street. All our relatives from other places come to our village on this day since it was their hometown too. My father will be busy welcoming our relatives, my mother will be in the kitchen the whole time making sweets. Only on special occasions, we observed that our mother could cook something delicious.

At 4 a.m our dad wakes us all and we will be getting ready for an oil bath with sleepy eyes. My mother would bring the heated gingerly oil with some cumin seeds in a vessel from the kitchen. The moment our dad applies oil to our head we will be alert, the way he taps on our head will no longer make us sleep.

We all will be waiting for our turn to bathe since we had only one bathroom. The oil will be running into our eyes from our hair and we get itchy most of the time. We will be standing and playing among ourselves and after half an hour we will take bath in warm water. We apply Shikakai (Acacia concinna) for our whole body to remove the oil from our body instead of soap.

After finishing our bath, we would wear normal clothes. Since we were from a traditional Hindu family we wear new clothes only after praying. After having breakfast, we visit our grandma’s house.

My brothers and I would be waiting for our uncle’s arrival. The only person who was an expert in blasting atom bombs and crackers. We, being small children admired him a lot. We learnt a lot from him. We kept our new clothes in front of God’s picture. We get grandma’s blessings by kneeling before her and giving kisses to her. After applying Chandan powder and sindoor, we will receive and wear our new dress.

Since it was a celebration day, many programs would be aired on that day. My family will never miss Solomon Pappaiah’s pattimandram (a debate program) which was aired on Sun TV at 10 am.

It was compulsory to eat non-veg during that day so in the afternoon we eat meat every time. After bursting several crackers we will rest in our house by watching television.
In the evening, a newly released movie will be played on television. It was called ‘Family time for us. We all will sit around the TV and will be having fun the whole time. The movie would finish around 10 p.m, and after that, we start to do our duty. We burst night crackers like 50 shots crackers, keeping rockets in a bottle filled with sand, and all sorts of crackers. The whole street was filled with colourful light. Several cracker sounds will come from all sides.

We all would forget that we need to go to school the next day. We celebrate like there was no tomorrow.

This is how our Diwali was when we were small. But now?

Every year Diwali comes and goes. The worse is we have changed. We have no high expectations on this day. We are like humans with no emotions. Now, I am 25 years old, and I am no longer excited to wear a new dress and burst crackers.

This year we all woke up around 6 a.m. From the kitchen, my mother brought oil stuff to my father. He applied oil to my brothers. Since I attained puberty, I applied oil to myself in a separate room. After bathing, we prayed and new dresses were kept in front the God’s picture.

As usual, my mother spent her time in the kitchen making sweets for us. We no longer wait for our uncle’s arrival. We wished our relatives through phone calls.

The time was running. At 10 a.m the TV was not turned on. My mom was busy, dad was replying to his Whatsapp messages, and we were surfing the internet through laptops. For the first time in our lives, I noticed that we missed Solomon Pappaiah’s pattimandram.

I didn’t burst crackers this year neither anyone was willing to do it. We had a firework box which my dad bought last year. Last year we burst some crackers but this year was the worst. We moved to the so-called “City” during my school days. My parents came here for educational purposes.

Now my grandma was no more and we no longer visited her house or our village. I missed the smell of her body when I hugged her and the feeling of her wrinkled skin when I kissed her.

I understood that now I was unhappy. I wished I was in my hometown and never came to a city. I was happy when I was little. The happiness was shading. I do not remember when I laughed hard last time, I guess maybe it was long back.
The time I had and my precious grandma were lost. Nothing will bring them back. Time has changed everything but it healed nothing.

I questioned myself. Is this what we call maturity or something else? Would things be different if we had stayed in our home town? If being mature makes my heart ache, then let me be an immature person.

Would you choose rather, to be serious 95%, no fun, have no sense of humour or be immature? I will choose to be an immature one where I can do crazy kinds of stuff which I had missed in my course of life.

Yes, celebrating Diwali might have an impact on our environment. But the pros outweigh the cons because, at the end of the day, human beings feel an emotional connection with their loved ones during this festival season. It’s the only day when people feel happy and excited to be with their family.

By: Gomathi Sridevi

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