[Arjun Bharadwaj]

Bursting a few crackers is better than a no cracker diwali. Apart from the ones that are very noisy, it's fun to play with a few of them.

It's funny that crackers are being targeted so heavily these days.

Cracker consumption has been dropping from as long as I can remember but pollution keeps rising year on year. Where is the gap then??

[Hayek]

Didn’t burst crackers this year. Why? We have had a number of residents in our building who have lived through Covid - and we know that even for those with mild symptoms, there is a lingering impact on their lungs. Hence why add to the pollution that impacts them unnecessarily. Think we should try and have a city organised fireworks display, possibly out of barges placed both in the harbour side and on the western sea front in Bombay. Will let people get the festive feel without nose level pollution

[ankurbhageria]

Originally Posted by Arjun Bharadwaj

Bursting a few crackers is better than a no cracker diwali. Apart from the ones that are very noisy, it's fun to play with a few of them.

It's funny that crackers are being targeted so heavily these days.

Cracker consumption has been dropping from as long as I can remember but pollution keeps rising year on year. Where is the gap then??

I can tell you about Delhi and adjoining areas. Stubble burning starts the pollution and crackers get the blame. It's hard for the authorities to control all the burning so they end up heavily on crackers.

That said, COVID could be one reason why, like many others have said, this has been an unusually silent Diwali.

As for your question, our lovely four wheelers are no less patakhas (pun intended). Let's fit motors in them and those levels too shall drop.

[pradeepkc]

Having absolutely enjoyed bursting crackers all my childhood, I haven't bought any crackers since 2000. I was just past my teens to know it's affect on people with health conditions, environment, pets and even human exploitation. I morally can't preach to anyone about not bursting crackers, but I hope the trend continues. Very glad to see folks less enthusiastic about crackers now.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I'll be happy to clarify, if one is vaguely familiar with Sanskrit, which was the dominating language in the Indus region with people of other regions in the West and South, also fluent in it, particularly the priestly classes, one would know what Deepavali/Deepawali means - path of lights, or row of lights, split into the words deep, which itself is short for deepam, and avali, which means a line/row. Diwali, as it stands, has zero meaning, or rather is a truncated form of Sanskrit much like other distorted words like :

- Samayam - Samay (waqt is Arbi)
- Upaharam - Upahar (khana is Arbi)
- Atman - Atma

I can understand that Hindi is very much influenced by Sanskrit but it is more so influenced by Farsi and Arbi as it was a hybrid bridging language to fill the gap between the native Sanskrit speakers and the then rulers and was called Hindustani in the long form. South Indian languages are also a mix of Dravidian languages with Sanskrit but the Sanskrit is less diluted in that form as more and more Indo-Aryan priests ran down south to escape a genocide.

However, what remains of Sanatana Dharma today, is sadly almost nothing.. it used to be more pagan in origin and the hymns giving an ode to elements like water, fire, air and land, and focusing on the elements which sustains us on a daily basis. Today it has become idol-worshipping focusing on giving human values to God-idols and their virtues of war, revenge, sacrifice and a false sense of righteousness which is contradicted in every epoch and even within the Gods themselves.

Sanatana Dharma itself is about analyzing the God within the Brahman (manifest) and aiming to release the Atman (soul) from the prison of manifest. Prayers such as Laxmi pooja, Shivaratri fasts and Dhanteras etc only look to strengthening the bond with the manifested reality (maya) and not the inner reality.

Gives a different meaning the way you say. Like south Indian languages are a mix of dravidian and sanskrit, like both came from elsewhere

They were dravidian with influence from Sanskrit to varying extent. There are dravidian or south indian original words for most but people instead may choose to use the sanskritised ones. Might be because of more Hindi use too.

Lot of festivals themselves are derived from Aryan region ? So Deepa becomes a common word. In kannada could it be Hanathe (ಹಣತೆ) ? Like directions where there exist kannada ones (moodana, paduvana, tenkana badagana). We use sanskrit ones mostly now a days.

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by ankurbhageria

I can tell you about Delhi and adjoining areas. Stubble burning starts the pollution and crackers get the blame. It's hard for the authorities to control all the burning so they end up heavily on crackers.

That said, COVID could be one reason why, like many others have said, this has been an unusually silent Diwali.

As for your question, our lovely four wheelers are no less patakhas (pun intended). Let's fit motors in them and those levels too shall drop.

True that !

The fireworks industry revenue has reduced to 50% over the past 5 years ( ~ 3000 Cr last year ). The imports from China has dramatically reduced. The Deepavali's are going silent each year, but then, proportionately, the pollution doesn't seem to catch up ever and the Crackers take the blame and become a victim

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Just few flower pots and sprinklers by the kids. I think people have reduced the use themselves.

Even that is for a very few years in teens. I remember once obsessively bursting bijlis the entire Diwali day when I was 13 or 14, and that was the last. By the time I was in college, I had already lost motivation without any external influence even though the home of fireworks was a bus away

A few flower pots and sparklers is what my 11 year old daughter enjoys, even that am sure is for 2-3 years at most.

[AMG Power]

Noise pollution, air pollution, litter on the grounds, blackening and damage to walls, threat to life of humans with many people having died, fire risk to homes, localities, cars and anything else in between.

Any wonder the phrase "have you gone crackers?" exists.

[Manan9876]

No crackers here, sense have prevaled to a degree

[sunnsood]

No crackers since I was in 8th standard and now its over 2 decades. I think living and Shimla and my school laying supreme emphasis on saving environment made me go crackers free a long time ago.

Since then, Diwali to me is about family gathering, gifts, sweets and diyas.

[Napalm]

Originally Posted by ankurbhageria

I can tell you about Delhi and adjoining areas. Stubble burning starts the pollution and crackers get the blame. It's hard for the authorities to control all the burning so they end up heavily on crackers.

As for your question, our lovely four wheelers are no less patakhas (pun intended). Let's fit motors in them and those levels too shall drop.

I too am extremely allergic to dust & smoke and start sneezing & coughing as soon as I inhale the slightest smell of a cracker burning. But demonizing & banning the crackers only on Diwali at the 11th hour is totally preposterous, instead of stopping production & sale of the same, well before hand. It is like banning the sale of BS4 diesel cars just before deliveries are about to begin during festive season in india. The correct way (that has been done) is, inform manufacturers in advance to stop the production & sale of BS4 diesel cars from a certain date.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by locusjag

A friendly stray dog had the last word with me and my nephew. My nephew was very eager to burst crackers and I accompanied him as my 5 year old daughter stood by. The friendly stray had a lot to say about the fireworks. She kept growling, voicing her displeasure by charging at us whenever we would light a fresh cracker, while also wagging her tail and having her ears bent; in short, she had an imploring body language in effect - to stop us from bursting any more fireworks. I stopped my nephew shortly and took the kids upstairs to safety, lest the distressed dog should harm us (as unlikely as it seemed, based on the dog's imploring body language).

I then came downstairs with a biscuit in hand to make my peace with the stray and she ran toward me like a thankful friend and played around with me - as if to acknowledge my sacrifice that I made for her sake. I gave her the biscuit, patted her and came home.

If this is not spreading joy then what is?

I hope more people understand the true meaning of festivals rather than focus on ceremonies that have lost their relevance now. This number is small but will grow.

A contact of mine travelled from Britain to India on a family visit and was quite elated that his friends, family and neighbours were defying the crackers ban. Which makes me think that the Courts, Government and the NGT are approaching the broader issue in a counter productive manner. Any ban makes people resent and revolt against it. The last minute knee-jerk reactions every year only exasperates things.

It'll be good if the authoroties focus on education and rehabilitation.

[fhdowntheline]

Bursting of fireworks in public must be banned. Whatever religious/cultural tradition that needs to be followed, must be done indoors. People have no right to disturb other's peace and create civic nuisance due to the garbage of the crackers. In fact I would extend it to all practices that create public noise- processions/prayers/pandals.

[Aceman82]

While I did not burst crackers this Deepavali, this Moral grandstanding on not bursting crackers has to stop. All it does is end up polarizing the sides.

Bursting Crackers is no more immoral (or) bad than driving a big SUV with a single occupant to work when one can take an office shuttle. It does inconvenience folks who travel via public transport with personal cars taking up road space. Its also less populating to use public transport compared to everyone using cars. Hence do we want to ban personal transport in cities ?

In same light what about all the travelogues showing folks driving (myself included) across India when a train would be less polluting. So do we ban self travel for leisure (or) paste a big lecture on Global warming on every thread in a travelogue?

The answer to crackers is to not ban the same but enforce tight pollution and noise controls on the crackers. Maybe enforce a policy on Green crackers throughout the country and lead the world in making/exporting the same.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by ashoka

Not at all according to @TINexile

Ah yes, bad interpretations of history and selective quotes, all bundled together and presented as erudition.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

a truncated form of Sanskrit much like other distorted words like :

- Samayam - Samay (waqt is Arbi)
- Upaharam - Upahar (khana is Arbi)
- Atman - Atma

Yes, this is what I meant by tatsam / tadbhav.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I can understand that Hindi is very much influenced by Sanskrit but it is more so influenced by Farsi and Arbi as it was a hybrid bridging language to fill the gap between the native Sanskrit speakers and the then rulers and was called Hindustani in the long form. South Indian languages are also a mix of Dravidian languages with Sanskrit but the Sanskrit is less diluted in that form as more and more Indo-Aryan priests ran down south to escape a genocide.

That doesn't seem quite correct. There is approximately 800 years between Sankrit evolving into the Prakrit languages, and those then evolving into Hindustani / Punjabi / Dakhani. Sanskrit fell out of popular usage much before the first Turkic / Afghans arrived here.

We're terribly now.