Happy Diwali and more

   The festival of lights is upon us and I journeyed back home. To lighten the most important light of my life: my mother.

   I also met my cute and adorable niece. I had already called my sister and done the booking that my niece would wear the dress I brought her. Unlike her other mamas who had brought her loads of crackers, I just had a tiny dress for my tiny girl. Boring mama!

   'Beta btao, why do we celebrate Diwali?'

She didn't answer me. She ran away to her pile of crackers.

   Some of my friends tell me that it's one time of the year, the children get to burst crackers. We shouldn't tarnish their joy. Well, how can I reply them without hurting their sentiments. It appears to me that bursting crackers, which was only supposed to be a part of the whole Diwali celebration has now become the central point of it.

   In my childhood days, every Diwali, my father gave me a sum of money (he does this on every festive occasion, even today. Gifting is not his forte.) and asked me to spend it the way I wished. I could buy sweets or I could buy crackers, anything I wanted. But, he always ended on a footnote, as if on purpose, to create the desired effect: 'Beta, if you ask me, bursting crackers is like burning money. Might as well throw your cash in the fire.'

   Well, who cared what life lessons a father had to offer when the joy of bursting crackers was so alluring. However, over the years, growing up, I felt myself inclining towards my father's reasoning while studying about the threats of pollution. Hence, I've been crackers free for many years. Every year, I make an attempt to convince my sisters, cousins and other family members, but never too forcefully. I believe they should reach their point of realization by themselves.

   I don't know how much a single day of Diwali contributes to the overall pollution as compared to the other festivals. It doesn't matter. Pollution will remain the raging issue in the coming years. I welcomed the recent ban on selling of crackers in Delhi, it being one of the worst polluted cities of the world. Like many earlier initiatives, saying 'no' to crackers would yield a satisfying result. You're right that industrial wastes and vehicular ejections have lot to contribute to pollution than few crackers on a single day. Steps are already being taken there. Even more are in order. Stop using them or festival of other religions as lame excuses.

   A phrase learnt long back visits me:

   Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

   A phrase associated with today. Then, I look all around, the irony of it. I remember, Diwali used to be about cleanliness. Diwali used to be about stories: Lord Rama returning to his Ayodhya; Goddess Lakshmi emerging after the churning of the ocean and marrying Lord Vishnu; Mahavira Jain attaining Nirvana.

   I remember, once I told my father after completing Ramayana, that Lord Rama won a big war, but lost a bigger one. How, my astonished father asked me. I replied, Lord Rama led an army of soldiers, crossed an ocean, to release her beloved Sita from the clutches of the mighty Raavana. He won that war. But what came next saddened me. Agni Pariksha and all the events that took place back in Ayodhya. You know the story. Lord Rama defeated the demon king but lost to his own people. What type of foundation does that build for the so-called Rama Rajya, where the Queen has to exile herself because of people questioning her character. I don't think women should have to prove their piety, devotion and loyalty at every step of their lives.

   There are many things to learn from our culture and traditions and many more which we should do away with. With progressing times, our values and learnings should also change. If you want to bring the children closer to our culture, ask them to help their mother with the cleaning, decoration and the puja. Tell them the old tales. A lesson or two about pollution won't hurt either, because that's what there in the future and they are the future. Don't force it on them. Just lay down all the facets. Let them choose.

   Trust me, they'll choose well, eventually.