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-   -   Will you burn crackers this diwali? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/18235-will-you-burn-crackers-diwali-45.html)

Call me a cynic, but I find it hard to believe that child labour is not involved in an industry that employs whole communities.

I also find it hard to accept the loss of livelihood of whole communities. If society, for good reason, takes away, society should give. But we all know that that doesn't happen.

Yesterday a kid in my neighborhood burst a Sutli bomb (the loudest of them all) right next to my ear. I now have to see an ENT doctor today as the impact caused loud ringing noises in my ear for a couple of minutes. It's been more than 12 hours now and I can still feel something there, not the ringing noise, thankfully.

The neighbor kid didn't burst it intentionally on me. He didn't expect me to come there. Although he could have chosen a more appropriate place such as an open park instead of the street but then there aren't any open parks around my area and each and every kid fires them on the street.

All this makes me think, what is all this for? The crackers and all? They are just a nuisance and nothing else. I can understand the sparkles and chakras, as they emit light in a lovely way which feels apt for Deepawali, but the rocket? the bombs? They should be banned.

Sorry but this is just my opinion.

Those roll cap memories are so nostalgic. Its amazing that so many of a similar generation had the same experience across the country.
Scraping roll caps between finger tips and rough surfaces repeatedly, unmindful of getting hurt being one of them :) Something that even we would hesitate to do in the present times.

The other favourite all day passtime being bursting those loose pack of 100 crackers one by one, starting with an incense stick at first and then getting bolder as the day progressed by lighting holding them and throwing before they burst. Fun days.

The ringing noise is known as tinnitus. Damage to cells in eardrum/auditory nerves causes this kind of ringing noise in ears. Usually, it is temporary, but continuous exposure to loud sounds (including heavy bass from subwoofers in cars) causes them to be persistent for a lifetime.

Got only a couple of 'green' - sparklers and flower pots. There wasn't much of perceptible difference between the normal and the green ones when we lit them - at least visibly, to the naked eye.

Today morning, when cleaning up, I found that the residue left behind by the flower pots appeared to be smaller than what I had observed earlier.

Overall, the sound and enthusiasm this Diwali did seem lesser - even though there wasn't any rain to play spoilsport.

:D Did it yesterday. Was able to get a pack of those rolls for Rs 15 from some guy standing in a gully. Quality has definitely gone down though. Also, long back, there used to be the small, circular ones, that did not come in roll form. Those have become extinct now, I think.

Very vividly. When we used to get tired of bursting these capes one by one, we would set the full roll cape on fire. The sound it made while burning reminded us of a grumpy elderly gentleman who used to shout at us when we would play cricket in our building!!!
The dot cape, we would hammer it one by one in our apartment , much to the agony of the elderly in the building who used to be enjoying their noon siesta.
Also remember doing weird experiments with the green atom bomb. (digging a hole in the ground and lighting the bomb there, putting a handful of wheat flour on the bomb while lighting it, placing a stone over the bomb to see how high it went, connecting two bombs when one of the bomb's fuse had burned out etc etc.
Sigh, those were the days!!! After all these years, I was really glad It rained last evening in Bangalore. We had 2-3 hours of relief from the incessant cracker sounds.

While we are reminiscing....

As a child, I failed to make gunpowder. It's probably a good thing that I did, as I got some from a school mate, just a tiny amount, but it all went woosh when I was trying to ignite just a pinch a couple of feet away. This was all open, so nothing really dangerous, but I never wanted to try again

How was Diwali in terms of crackers this year?

Asking because I was out traveling the whole of last week and asking just out of curiosity. I burnt a lot of crackers including loud bombs as a kid, but have gotten averse to them over the past 10 years. Personally, have no desire to impose my aversion on those who enjoy crackers ;), but love escaping the noise and smoke of the cities during this time.

So how were things this year in Bangalore? Delhi? Mumbai? More than usual? Declining?

My sympathies man, thank god the ringing has stopped. Hope nothing permanent. This is where I remember the quote about 'one person's rights ending where the other person's begin'. Again, I don't want to be the 'grumpy uncle' here (especially since I had fun bursting bombs during childhood), but it's not fair at all for a person's hearing to be affected because of crackers. There has to be some sort of regulation. I remember as kids the adults made us go to a playground and burst crackers because of the potential fire hazards of bursting in the street and near houses. I guess there aren't too many public playgrounds or empty plots left these days.

For the first time in my life, no crackers available anywhere in Delhi. Not even the small ones (toy gun caps) for children.

For those who are able to buy crackers in their respective state (where it is legally on sale), do enjoy while keeping yourself safe!

Meanwhile, wishing every BHPian a very happy Diwali.

This is the most silent Diwali I have experienced in my life. Whether that is good or bad is for each of us to determine for ourselves without imposing our point of view on others. It is now the law in several States and that's that. A sign of changing times, due to pollution in the big cities or change of attitudes or whatever. But as the SC told the West Bengal Govt that risk to health is to be given top priority. After about 80 to 90 years of fire crackers, Diwali, in India, goes back to being celebrated with lights.

Fire crackers came to India only in either 1930 or 1940 {I don't know when} when the then British Govt loosened up the very tight Explosives laws to allow for playful celebratory fire works to be made in India - till then the tiniest explosive was made, owned and controlled by the British Govt alone. Two brothers in Sivakasi, going by the name Nadar, diversified their trade from making matchsticks to fire crackers and that's where it began as far as I know {if other members know more or differently please add}. My father in law who is soon to be 94 says he cannot recall any fire crackers till he was 10 or so. His family was well off with 4 boys. So I guess if fire crackers were the norm in 1935 these 4 boys would have been at it.

While I personally love fire works this isn't an ancient Hindu tradition - lighting lamps, cleaning homes, a fresh coat of paint, decorating the house .... those are the old traditions.

Happy Diwali. Peace be to all.

They are available here, but nobody in our apartment complex bought this year because there are a couple of people who recently recovered from Covid 19 and might face respiratory issues.

Actually those two individuals buy the biggest quantity every Diwali, but didn't buy this year. So everybody refrained.

I hope every year Diwali is as silent as this year. I hate fireworks and glad that people are not literally burning money.

Every Diwali night, from our terrace, you can see the whole of Bombay light up! One end is Bandra, on the other side is Worli, behind you can see rockets flying out of Dadar & Mahim.

There was nothing last night - maybe just the odd cracker or two, but it might as well have been just another regular night. This evening as well, the sky is empty.

I personally love crackers and miss them.

Diwali greetings to all members :)
I really miss fireworks and feel sad that they have been demonized by so many with little justification. Yes, stuff like Sutli Bombs are dangerous and unnecessarily loud. But what's wrong with flower pots, chakris and a few skyshot shells? People are happy to view these in other countries in pyrotechnic shows on new year's eve but criticise the same in India.
There was a recent report by the famous journalist Sekhar Gupta about pollution- fireworks actually don't contribute much at all. Yes, if it is done daily it would but when done responsibly on selected days it is not significant.

Anyways, hope things improve next year. And here's a nice article about the history of fireworks in India. Even in ancient kingdoms it was a part of royal celebrations. https://indianexpress.com/article/re...india-4890178/