Date a Patakha, Don't Burn One!

Green Diwali? NO! (Groan) Not another facade by the so-called green activists. I mean, Diwali is the only day of the year when you can look people in the face and tell them that you have five bombs in your bag, without the entire bomb squad descending upon you! Why don’t these “saviours of mankind” go get a life?

Well, that was me 3 years ago. But all that changed when I saw a documentary on the dark truth behind the dazzling fireworks that light up the sky. What gets lost in the din is the fact that these firecrackers are manufactured by child labourers. Those fingers nimble with the fatal powder are meant to hold pencils; they deserve to frolic in playgrounds and breathe clean air; not toil day and night in suffocating work sheds, inhaling hazardous chemicals for a paltry wage! Children, who enjoy bursting crackers the most, are ironically, the very ones exploited in their manufacturing. And that struck a chord with me.

I decided then, not only to say no to crackers but also the pompous show of opulence that Diwali has come to signify. We Indians, who are so conscious about money otherwise, don’t hesitate to spend thousands of rupees on firecrackers, literally burning our hard-earned money in the process! The festival of lights, if celebrated in the traditional sense, has little to do with fireworks and wasteful expenditure. So, every year a few weeks before Diwali, I let my creativity take reign and recycle last year’s earthen diyas – paint & decorate them, then pour molten wax in them to make festive candles - create lanterns using paper mache to be hung around the house, design cards and make gifts for my cousins and friends. This process of creation leading up to the festival is as enjoyable as the day itself! I’ve also tried to persuade my friends to do the same. While the girls have been more receptive to the idea, I can’t say the same for the guys for whom the decibel levels of crackers have come to be measured as an indication of manliness (pun intended). My admonishing on the lines of “While it’s Ok to date a Patakha, its absolutely not Ok to burn one”, has been falling on deaf ears. Although, this year they seem to have splurged a little less on crackers (but that’s more because of the inflation than my constant nagging).

Finally on Diwali day, we make a small rangoli with cereals, pulses & flowers; hang up the lanterns, light the diyas, do a small puja and then dig into the delicious sweets my mother makes – all homemade, economical and ecofriendly!