Festivity gone sour – firecrackers bringing losses to life & prosperity

Shewa Ram Suthar
Diwali is considered to be a day of happiness and prosperity but in reality, it always turns people’s happiness into sorrow due to unnecessary celebrations.This is exactly what happens when crackers coincidentally cause different damages in our surroundings. Someone’s eyes are lost, someone’s fingers are cut off. Someone’s face burns or someone’s house catches fire.The celebration of Diwali dates back to thethe incident:after 14 years of exile, Bhagwan Ram and his wife Seeta and his brother Lakshman returned home. In the exhilaration of their arrival, the villagers lit Diyaa( the lamps). It is a myth and following in the footsteps of the religion.Diwali is a symbol of victory of good over evil and is celebrated all over the world where Hindus live. While changing customs and traditions of the growing population, people adapted candles after Diya and gradually they added the crackers in their celebration. In Pakistan, minorities have the right to live freely to celebrate their events with full freedom. Before the 19th century, when houses were made of mud, Diwali was celebrated by lighting a lamp. Subsequently, with the rapid change of time people became prosperous. Over time, they began to have more resources and began to celebrate Diwali in different ways. Crackers were also included but no one knows how the crackers were added in Diwali but various sources made it clear that the crackers came from Chinese culture; they wanted to expand their business and earn revenue by exporting fire crackers to different parts of the world, on the occasion of Diwali and other religious celebrations.Risking lives &losses toprosperity; due to hazardous fire-crackers, thousands of accidents happen that takes thousands of lives.According to a research, children under the age of 15 are more affected.Every year there is a lot of economic lossesdue to the damages caused by the unnecessary use of firecrackers in Pakistan.Fire Crackers are used to celebrate different events around the world (such as Diwali, Shab-e- Barat and other religious ceremonies, weddings, conquests). During the celebration with fire crackers, many people of all ages get seriously injured and get hospitalized due to the mishaps caused by the fireworks. Every person hasa right to a peaceful sleep, but on Diwali many of people especially innocent animals and new born babies are disturbed because of crackers sound. In addition to the severity of the injuries,crackers also affect the environment and have a double effect on economic conditions.Heart, asthma and TB patients are at higher risk and the stench of burned fire crackers can make them sick and many elderly and innocent animals are also indirectly get affected. Every year crackers scare many vulnerable people because every year they get sick and have to run for medical assistance.Diwali is all about showoff. Now as to who bought more and who bursted more fire crackers. No one cares if someone’s eye gets damaged or environment gets affected. Despite so many losses every year, our attitudes and behavior still remains the same. We may also think that is better to help in a need than to burn money. Fire-crackers are dangerous and they do cause air and noise pollution. Think about those animals who get so much scared listening to that boom bang sound. Diwali is a time of happiness for every living soul so leave it as it is and do not burst crackers.Even after hearing so many incidents of unnecessary use of crackers during the celebrations, our attitudes have not changed.The ratio of crackers is increasing every year. A local old crackers seller from Umerkot shared that: In Umerkot an average man buys 2500 to 3000 PKRs crackers on the occasion of Diwali.On an average, 30 to 35 million PKRs crackers are used every year, only in the Umerkot city area. We waste our money, risk our lives and propoerty as well as irritating other people. At the same time, if someone has an accident, the loss is not covered for life. Then we have nothing but remorse.We can reduce the number of incidents by encouraging eco-friendly Diwali and not using the fire crackers, encouraging candles and diyas exhibitions. The youth and the parents can bring change by influencing and motivating people.We need to change our attitudes? Otherwise, we all will continue to suffer because of these fire crackers risking our lives and brining material damages. It is possible to change attitudes and think of a good alternative to these hazardous fire-crackers.It is important to make people realise that showing off and wasting money on fire crackers is not the reason we celebrate Diwali. Something that brings a risk to life and property can not be a part of festivity. We need to reflect and sensitize every one to not use or at least limit the use of firecrackers. By changing attitudes we can save precious lives and material losses.