An illuminating message on Deepavali celebration has silently wafted from two obscure hamlets in southern Tamil Nadu, otherwise a hub for fireworks manufacturing. In the festivities marked by pomp, indulgence, revelry and religious rituals, caring for others has seldom been a priority. But the villagers of Sankarapandiapuram in Virudhunagar and Kollukudi Patti in Sivaganga have been proving to the world that they care for the birds that come to roost in their locality during this migratory season by totally shunning fire crackers, lest the winged visitors are hassled, for the past few decades.
So, as firecracker business booms in the run-up to the festival, despite the authorities clamping down with restrictions aimed at ensuring safety, with people shopping and caring less about anything else other than the desire to shatter eardrums or light up the sky, we may look up to the humble rural folks of the two hamlets for inspiration. So long, campaigns highlighting the dangers of firecrackers and warning against disturbing pets have made no perceptible change to our collective spirit to celebrate the festival of lights in the noisiest manner.
We only watched vignettes of littered streets and public places with leftover of firecrakers strewn around without any sensitivity; scoffed at the numbers of pets that went missing and only ridiculed pet owners as they complained about their otherwise brave dogs cringing under the cot when the neighbourhood children, dressed in their Deepavali best, shuddered the locality. We never bothered to look at charts put out by pollution control authorities to prove that air pollution did shoot up and never checked out if the old people in street could sleep peacefully or crows stayed in their usual perch at night. We only lit crackers and went about indulging in culinary offerings, besides greeting and meeting friends and kin. But this Deepavali, could we care for others — the old and infirm, the poor, birds and animals and nature?