( A something I wrote last year..but goes well everytime)
On Friday night the usual
incessant surfing of channels brought me to a halt at Star Movies. One of the
most popular movie channels chose to air “The Day the Earth Stood Still” on a
day that co-incidentally happened to be Diwali (or was some smart brain at Star
trying to shove a silent message). Errr... you would ask me? What’s so “co”
about the incident? Well Keanu Reaves wasn’t unjustified in his mission to
destroy the entire human species on planet earth. His reason: You guys are not
worth it. My reaction: How so very true.
Before we proceed further I
would answer some much anticipated questions .First: what was I doing watching
TV on diwali night? Monsieur: Pardon me for my helplessness but I have hyperly
active and extremely functional migraine and I JUST can’t stand the noise.
Every year I trade my urge to celebrate the festival and scamper into some
friend or relative’s home (who ever couldn’t come up with a sound excuse to
prevent me from crashing in and whose place is strategically either in the city
sub-urbs or the architect knowingly or otherwise obliged them by making the
building kind of sound-proof). Call me a coward but let me tell you. I saw many
on the streets- kids, youngsters, uncles who lit up a spark. Then they ran for
their life to the farthest sheltered corner. There they cupped their ears with
their hands shut their eyes tight, occasionally peeping to check when the spark
would reach the gunpowder. I can’t say if its adrenaline rush but that’s not
gallantry for sure.(Many people in India burst crackers on the roads and God
save if you are passing by in your vehicle while a landmine lies silently
awaiting you .The culprit is standing in a corner playing peek-a-boo with your
destiny)
Second: That I have migraine
is my problem. Why play spoil sport for others?
To begin with cracker
bursting is not much of a sport. It’s legal terrorism in a way. People think
its okay to crush other with their idea of fun. They do not care about the
added litter on the streets. They don’t care for those hundreds in the
neighborhood hospitals suffering from pain, drowsed and dizzy with sedatives
and pain-killers and yet devoid of sleep. They don’t care to check the grey-fog
enveloped sky and the smell of gunpowder on the morning after Diwali .They
don’t care for their pets or other’s pets who scamper for a hideout every time
a cracker goes BOOM (since they don’t care for their own pets, its futile to
venture into the topic of the helpless animals on the street) They just don’t
care. They don’t care until their own children or some family member is injured
or burnt from cracker related accident. People don’t care about the planet or
stupid asthmatics or someone else’s problem. Not until they are in the centre
of the problem. Now can you relate Mr. Keanu Reaves better?
We are Human being sans any
humanity, plain charades without compassion. And of all things we don’t deserve
this beautiful planet for sure. In fact we don’t deserve to be called civilized
at all.
They accuse me of playing
spoil sport. Brooding over my inability to celebrate the festival is not the
crux of this story. I wish the problem was really that miniscule. Debi Goenka,
an environmentalist, says, “Instead of gloating, people should be ashamed.
Festivals, especially Diwali, have significance. They are more than just a
license to pollute the environment.”
According to statistics Tamil
Nadu recorded 913 fireworks related accidents in 2009. A total of 150 cases of
severe burns and eye injuries due to crackers from in and around Chandigarh Delhi
Now coming to the law.
Though this section is absolutely useless yet I would put it in (my teachers at
the journalism school taught me about comprehensive coverage and detailed,
unbiased information). The Supreme Court, in 2005, had not only banned the use
of loudspeakers and sound-producing firecrackers after 10.00pm, but had also
ordered that only firecrackers which produce sounds less than 125 decibels
should be manufactured. The Section 336 of the IPC is the Act of endangering
the life or personal safety of others which quotes “Whoever does any act so
rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of
others, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for term
which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to two hundred
and fifty rupees, or with both.” Two hundred and Fifty rupees for a life! The
IPC values human life pretty cheap. Our very own Sparkler Spartans don’t value
it at all.
I pointed out to one my
highly educated friends (he is a techie with a large multinational) that for
the 40,000 children employed in the hazardous
firecrackers industry in Sivakasi, Diwali simply translates into more forced
work.10-year-old Chitra, a child laborer at a factory in Sivakasi has
been confined for four years within the walls of her tiny room – ever since the
child, a rank holder in her school, got burnt while making crackers. Muneeswari
is 12 and her hands are yellow due to the gum that the children in her work
group use which contains cyanide. She said she gets Rs.100 per week (i.e
approximately twelve rupees a day) for eight to 12 hours of work every day. My
highly esteemed friend smugly said “yeah but if we don’t buy crackers they
don’t have a job”. I was silent for a while. Damm! I hadn’t thought about it! I
hadn’t thought that I would have to explain him that most of these children
have been made to drop out of school to bring in some extra money to the
household. They just chose to make crackers because it is an industry of
plenty. The fireworks and matchstick industry in and around Sivakasi is worth
Rs.1,000 crore (around $225 million).That is plenty of money and plenty of
deaths as well. In July last year, an accident in a
licensed unit, V.B.M. Fireworks, left three children dead and 70 injured.
The blast at Sri Krishna Fireworks in Namaskarithanpatti in Tamil Nadu on July
20 claimed 18 lives. For the general knowledge of those who think like my
friend- Even 2 percent of the amount you spend on crackers doesn’t go these doomed
little ones. The moolah goes to the factory owners. The children loose their
lives. So if you are so eager to help then pick up the check book and donate
your fire cracker budget to NGO’s like Manitham and CRY who have been working
for the child laborers in these fireworks factory. By the way my friend heard
all this, shook his head left to right a few times and left. I wondered if I
had offended his honest intentions to help the children of Sivakasi- and I
wondered if working with silicon chips has made him a programme feeding and
reading device himself. Operating, but without a heart, feeling, logic or
reasoning.
In my attempt of petitions
and pleading to say no to crackers people have stuffed me with every possible
variation of the weirdest of excuses to justify their actions. Why don’t you do
something about the traffic and horns honking on the rest of the 364 days a
year? Why can’t you go and stop people who play loud music on festivals and
burst crackers on weddings? It is just one day of celebration. It doesn’t cause
much harm!
To the last excuse I have an
explanation. It’s no longer just the day of Diwali. It’s almost two weeks
before that and a week after that. Celebrations are no longer bound by time. It
depends on how long each one wants to and has a budget to sustain the
celebrations. For the rest two excuses I would like to say one small thing. If
you ask the terrorist who masterminded the 9/11 or 26/11 attacks, believe me,
he would give you every kind of possible reasoning. Jihad, the suppression of
Muslim communities, the war against the west and every possible form of crap.
Step into his shoes. Just like you he also believes that what he thinks is
fine. And just like you, he also indulged in some crackers. Smaller ones for
your fun. Bigger one’s for him. At least he harmed someone because of an
ideology, a fucked up one for sure but nevertheless a cause. You harmed someone
and put the blame of tradition and celebration just for the heck of it.
I
wrote 1,500 words to put forward something that should have been as common as
common sense and as basic as empathy. A festival is a day when you pray for the
wellbeing and happiness for your loved ones. Then why spread the miasma. Don’t
turn that greeting of “Happy Diwali” in a hypocritical statement. Mean it and
show it in your actions. There are a millions ways to have and spread the fun
on Diwali. Light a lamp, Share sweets and donate your firecracker budget for a
good cause. The 400 rupees that you burnt up in smoke and flames in one night
could have fed a family for a week at least. Invoke the blessings of others
whom you made happy, not the curses of the one you left in pain.
Kindly Sign
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