diwali !!!!

diwali , deepawali - the indian festival of sounds and lights.

It is celebrated to mark the end of the demon mahishasura in the hands of goddess durga and hence reiterates that good always triumphs , also emphasizes the power of the female form of energy . also goddess lakshmi is prayed to these days ,who is the goddess of fortune and wealth . since diwali is associated with burning of crackers and stuff it has been one of my favourite festivals since child hood.

nasdaq celebrates diwali . i was glad to look at that headline in the newspaper . but on the other hand i was surprised to see that year after year the intensity of celebrations have been on the decreasing note. the reasons can be many like : decreasing interest of the ppl in general , drastically increased prices of the crackers in particular and the inflation in general . since the basic commodities have become high priced the crackers are now perhaps falling under the category of luxury. and surprisingly i have seen more people leaving it on the reasons like pollution - sound and air , and child labour.

yes the pollution issue has always been there , its surprising how people have become so aware of it suddenly . the high decibel crackers are dangerous esp to the elderly and kids. there has been a govt regulation this time about the level of decibels in the crackers but its not easy to implement this kind of regulations.

the issue of child labour is actually two headed . children are employed in places liek sivakasi which are famous for the cracker industry . working under such hazardous conditios can be lethal for kids, and in one way the wide spread rejection of such crackers maybe helpful. but there is the argument that in such conditions atleast the kid is able to earn some money rather than being straved to death and we're snatching the only means of livelihood without showing them a way out . whatever the reasons be, though there must be a restrictio on the kind of crackers and the decibel levels , its fun at the end of the day .. so have a happy n safe diwali !!

or perhaps i've just grown up and people around me too have , and just lost interest in crackers !! ;-)