Diwali

DIWALI

The week has arrived. It's full of diwali celebrations. You might be searching for Diwali wishes, Diwali greetings, Diwali celebrations or Happy Diwali messages in google. But what exactly is this Diwali or Deepavali.

Deepavali is biggest festival celebrated by people of India and even in other countries. It is also known as festival of lights and will be celebrated on 7th November 2018.

Diwali in sanskrit is known as Deepavali meaning row of lamps. It is a hindu festival but is even celebrated by people with different religions. That's the quality of India. Diwali is celebrated due to the victory of good over evil or you may say light over darkness.

In India different regions have different beliefs over Diwali story.

In Northern India it is celebrated due to return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after he defeated Ravana.
In Southern India it is celebrated as on that day Lord Krishna defeated Narakasura.

The conclusion of the beliefs is that it's nothing but victory of good over evil.

Diwali is celebrated for 5 days. These days are named as Dhanteras, Choti Diwali, Badi Diwali, Govardhan Pooja and Bhai Dooj. These days are considered as auspicious to buy new things. People buy new clothes, gold, utensils, gift sweets and many other valuable items.

All the places including home, offices, schools, private/government companies and various other organizations are lit up with lights and lamps.

People specially clean their houses on these days. Along with all these people burst crackers and exchange sweets.

So basically Diwali is the most brightest festival. But this festival is changing with generations.

Nowadays we can see increase in burning of crackers. People are burning crackers blindly. They assume this to be thrilling and full of excitement.

Burning those loud crackers and shooting rockets is fun for them. The result is undesirable.

HEALTH

Crackers are harmful for health. It is harmful to human beings as well as animals or birds living in the area.

Animals are more sensitive to sounds. Example dogs and cats may even loose their listening ability.

POLLUTION

Burning crackers lead to air pollution as well as noise pollution. Which in return will bring diseases to you like headache, listening problems, suffocation, asthama and many more.

GARBAGE

Have you ever seen the next day after diwali? The road, playground even your backyard is full of paper bits.

The garbage also consists of chemical garbage like gunpowder. It's hazardous.

GLOBAL WARMING

All these things add on to global warming. Means changes in weather and less rainfall.

INJURIES

If the crackers are not lit up properly or sometimes we see odd people showing some daredevil stunts with crackers, is really dangerous. It may lead to permanent blindness or deafness.

There is no point of burning crackers. It's responsibility of a person to control these things. Small children demand crackers. Now it's the responsibility of teachers and parents to educate their children and provide knowledge about these stuffs and make them a good citizen.

Even government has tried to control these things. They have allotted a particular time period to burn crackers. It is not the solution but it may help to get a better control. The time period is 8pm to 10pm.

Even after knowing the negative sides of burning crackers there are few ill minded people who won't listen. So in that case how to protect yourself from pollution?

If you feel shortening of breath or choking then go away from those fumes.
You may wear a wet cloth as mask to have a good breathing.
Keep the windows shut so that fumes don't enter the house. Sound of crackers would also be reduced by this.
You may use a air purifier.
Drink plenty of water as it keeps the liver and heart healthy to fight those fumes which may even cause infection.
You may use ear muffs.

These were few suggestions to protect yourself during pollution.

Diwali doesn't mean burning crackers. It's a festival of light. Light few lamps around you. You may feel the same happiness. Distribute sweets to the poor so that they may also enjoy their diwali. Make rangolis and even insist children to give it a try. They would surely love this rather than bursting crackers.

Diwali is a festival of traditional sweets and savoury foods. Enjoy those. So it's my humble request to you to go green this Diwali. Try this it is really beneficial for us.