With Diwali comes a variety of emotions and activities.Shopping, Gifts,Bonus,Twinkling lights,Mouth watering sweets,Get-Together, Holidays and above all firecrackers.Sounds like fun? Maybe,not for all of us.
Have you ever wondered that what the excessive noise does to our pets or the stray animals? And if it is too much to ask,have you ever wondered what it does to our eardrums? and How it makes the senior citizens of our house shift in their rooms as the noise and the smoke becomes unbearable for them?
But Humans can speak.They have alternatives to reduce their pain but when the noise and polluted air choke the speechless; the animals,they become helpless.During Diwali,their behaviour and body language changes.Their tails are between their legs. Animals suffer the most.Reason being,they have highly sensitive hearing abilities.They hear sounds that the human ears cannot. These sounds are nerve breaking for them.Impacts on the dogs are shivering, drooling, howling and excessive barking.They hide under furniture or look for dark corners. Some suffer from loss of bladder control. Others get gripped with temporary diarrhoea.
In big cities,many people burst a huge amount of firecrackers just to display that they have money and power but they do not see the consequences of it.
Birds due to smoke bump into unknown objects and injure themselves (especially at night).The bright glaring lights can burn or permanently blind flying birds.Owls and bats are worst affected. Vets also point out that the ear-piercing explosive sounds also effects milch cattles.
When many are now asking for a Diwali without crackers, they are not wrong. It is because they can see the danger.The people suffering from asthama are the victims. Even the infants suffer.
If complete ban on crackers doesn’t seem like a good idea,at least we can minimise it. This can be done by buying one packet instead of five packets of crackers and switching to the crackers which are less harmful. Also, we can organise small fares in our localities so as to engross small children in these. Small games can be organised and the story behind Diwali Celebration can be narrated.
Other alternatives is celebrating our festivals with those who have less.Instead of buying crackers, bursting them and choking on the smoke and poisonous fumes, we can utilise that money to bring smile on the face of less privileged ones.Think about it. Try it and see how good it will feel.
Let us think about a better and healthier Diwali away from fumes and noise.
Let us make this Diwali a “HAPPY DIWALI” for everyone. It is easier than we think.
