This Diwali, the youth from the island city pledge to make a difference in society and to work hard to make it a better place
Boom. Boom. Woosh-woosh. Ba-doom. Tat-tat-tat-tat tat-tat tat-tat. Boom.
These are the sounds that one hears very often these days. And why not, it is Diwali time.
The sacred festival of lights has slowly become a festival of fire crackers and noise; so one shouldn’t expect otherwise. The tradition of donning new clothes, lighting the diyas in the house and exchanging sweets with loved ones to celebrate the New Year has now become a superficial exhibition of money and status.
Despite all this, there are still a few people who strive hard to preserve the sanctity of the occasion. And the good news is that some of them are the future of the nation, the youth of our city.
The typical way to celebrate Diwali in our city is to go on a shopping spree, decorate the house till it looks like a twinkling star, eat lots of food and sweets, meet up with relatives, host a ‘Diwali party’ and burst a lot of fire crackers. And for most of us, any festival, especially Diwali is incomplete without the crackers. We burst so many of them during the main three days of Diwali for hours together without thinking about the consequences of our actions, or even the purpose. But the youth today are more socially aware and active. They know and want to make a change. They always try to do their bit to contribute to the community in any way possible. This year, a lot of young kids across Mumbai have pledged to celebrate Diwali like it is meant to be celebrated, with diyas and sweets and no fire crackers.
“The bombs, anars, fuljaris and the rockets create so much noise and air pollution in three days that it can compare to the total amount of pollution created in a whole month,” says Priya Wadhwa, a third year degree student. In addition to the pollution and increasing noise levels, the smoke from the explosives affect the health of small children, old people and those suffering from asthma. Sneha Shrivastav, a Financial Markets’ student from Chinai College says, “I have stopped bursting fire crackers since the last six years and have convinced my 12-year-old sibling to refrain from the same. He has been very understanding and has agreed after I explained to him the reasons for which I wanted him to stop. Our festival can be made enjoyable in many ways; destroying Mother Nature and making other people ill is not one of them.”
In addition to the pollution caused, by bursting crackers, we are all contributing to a huge social evil in the country too, child labour. Everybody is aware of the fact that these crackers are made by young children below the age of 13 or 14 in small factories. They are made to work for long hours with little or no wages and the worst, most hazardous thing is that they are made to work with explosive chemicals which may result into many fire accidents or cause other respiratory and skin ailments. As such, the lives and well being of these children are at stake. The more the crackers you burst, the more the number of kids you endanger and harm. Sonal Chaurasia, a 20-year-old Mass Media student from Bhavan’s College in Andheri says, “I used to burst crackers until three years ago. When I learnt that small children are employed in cracker factories, I stopped bursting them. Children who are supposed to learn with us in schools cannot be made to work like this. It is inhuman and the government should take legal actions to stop this. Till that day arrives, I’m doing my bit to stop child exploitation.”
And it is not just us, human beings who suffer from the menAnjum Chevalwala & Manzil Thakkar
Boom. Boom. Woosh-woosh. Ba-doom. Tat-tat-tat-tat tat-tat tat-tat. Boom.
These are the sounds that one hears very often these days. And why not, it is Diwali time.
The sacred festival of lights has slowly become a festival of fire crackers and noise; so one shouldn’t expect otherwise. The tradition of donning new clothes, lighting the diyas in the house and exchanging sweets with loved ones to celebrate the New Year has now become a superficial exhibition of money and status. Despite all this, there are still a few people who strive hard to preserve the sanctity of the occasion. And the good news is that some of them are the future of the nation, the youth of our city.
The typical way to celebrate Diwali in our city is to go on a shopping spree, decorate the house till it looks like a twinkling star, eat lots of food and sweets, meet up with relatives, host a ‘Diwali party’ and burst a lot of fire crackers. And for most of us, any festival, especially Diwali is incomplete without the crackers. We burst so many of them during the main three days of Diwali for hours together without thinking about the consequences of our actions, or even the purpose. But the youth today are more socially aware and active. They know and want to make a change. They always try to do their bit to contribute to the community in any way possible. This year, a lot of young kids across Mumbai have pledged to celebrate Diwali like it is meant to be celebrated, with diyas and sweets and no fire crackers.
“The bombs, anars, fuljaris and the rockets create so much noise and air pollution in three days that it can compare to the total amount of pollution created in a whole month,” says Priya Wadhwa, a third year degree student. In addition to the pollution and increasing noise levels, the smoke from the explosives affect the health of small children, old people and those suffering from asthma. Sneha Shrivastav, a Financial Markets’ student from Chinai College says, “I have stopped bursting fire crackers since the last six years and have convinced my 12-year-old sibling to refrain from the same. He has been very understanding and has agreed after I explained to him the reasons for which I wanted him to stop. Our festival can be made enjoyable in many ways; destroying Mother Nature and making other people ill is not one of them.”
In addition to the pollution caused, by bursting crackers, we are all contributing to a huge social evil in the country too, child labour. Everybody is aware of the fact that these crackers are made by young children below the age of 13 or 14 in small factories. They are made to work for long hours with little or no wages and the worst, most hazardous thing is that they are made to work with explosive chemicals which may result into many fire accidents or cause other respiratory and skin ailments. As such, the lives and well being of these children are at stake. The more the crackers you burst, the more the number of kids you endanger and harm. Sonal Chaurasia, a 20-year-old Mass Media student from Bhavan’s College in Andheri says, “I used to burst crackers until three years ago. When I learnt that small children are employed in cracker factories, I stopped bursting them. Children who are supposed to learn with us in schools cannot be made to work like this. It is inhuman and the government should take legal actions to stop this. Till that day arrives, I’m doing my bit to stop child exploitation.”
And it is not just us, human beings who suffer from the menace of the crackers. The stray animals also become a victim. Many stray dogs, cats and birds injured by the sparks from the fire crackers. “I haven’t been bursting crackers since I was a kid. I was always terrified of the large sound they make. I pity the animals with sensitive hearing power. I also try to convince my friends to stay away from the crackers,” says Garima Parmar, a 19-year-old Accountancy student from Chinai College in Andheri.
In a unique and inspiring initiative taken by the third year Bachelor of Mass Media students of R.D. National College, Bandra, the entire class has decided not to burst any crackers this year and encourage their families to do the same. “Our entire class has planned to not burst fire crackers this year and thus contribute our bit towards saving the environment and reducing noise and air pollution. This would also help in putting a check on child labour. We are trying to spread this word and have decided that each one of us would stop at least three people we know from bursting fire crackers this year. If this chain continues, we can, within a few years have a clean and green Diwali,” says Nirali Marfatia, an advertising student who is actively working to spread this campaign to the juniors too.
Each one of these students have their own motive for being a part of the cause. “I’ve never liked the concept of fire crackers, even as a child. And now I’ve convinced my parents to not burst crackers either. Instead of wasting money on the destroying the ozone layer, we all go out for a nice family dinner and spend quality time together,” said Rahul Lalchandani, also a third year student from R.D. National College. His classmate, Rima Kudukar says, “It’s been years since I burst crackers. I think it is like literally burning your money away. Moreover, it causes a lot of air and noise pollution. I’m really glad that we have taken up this issue, I hope we can make others realise the importance of a clean and safe Diwali.”