Say no to crackers.

With Deepavali, the festival of lights, just a few days away, the whole country is preparing for a huge celebration. People have been engrossed in the festive mood. Shops in the various parts of the country have put up mega discount sale to allure the potential buyers. Cities have been embellished with decorative night lights and mega shopping malls have fancified their interiors with lamps, which are the trademark of this festival.

The festival has its roots in the Indian mythology. It is cited in Ramayana that Lord Rama had returned to his home town Dwaraka after killing evil daemon Naragasura. Rama had been staying away from home in the woods for fourteen years. The whole town was blissful owing to Lord Rama's return. Since Rama was returning on a new moon night, the dwellers of the town had planned to light up the town with lamps called as "Deep" in India, hence the name Deepavali which means a row of lights.

The current day deepavali, is celebrated with sweets and crackers. The crackers have engulfed the festival to such an extent that it becomes too hard for one to walk safely on streets during diwali.

Crackers have almost become a great nuisance. They harm almost all aspects of life. First of all the crackers emit smoke and harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, thereby contaminating the atmosphere and making it toxic. It has been proved that the pollution levels of cities shoots up, soon after Deepavali. It is also observed that thick smog accumulates the early dawn following Deepavali, thereby stealing the bliss and freshness of an early morning walk. Secondly, Crackers are mainly produced by small scale industries that illegally make use of Child labour. Destitute and helpless children, whose childhood is stolen by the poverty of their family are employed in the cracker making industry or to say discriminated by making them to work all day long under poor hegiene and safety conditions. These children are exploited by being underpaid. However, since there is no one to raise voice for these innocent souls, the industries continue to discriminate the children. Thirdly, Crackers are marked by loud noise that is emitted when a cracker bursts out. This contributes in leaps and bounds to noise pollution. Several people report hearing problems after the cacophonic deepavali. The miserable victims of this cacophony are the poor animals who are frenzied by the loud noise. Innumerable cases of animal death and illness comes up following the deepavali celebrations. Many dogs and cats residing in cities and towns are forced to the end of their lives owing to the blaring celebrations. The most pathetic condition is of those poor animals who turn phrenetic and go out of their senses. These animals give up eating and cease to behave normally. Finally, the amount of dust and waste generated by these crackers is overwhelming. One can spot the roads totally wrapped with millions of paper pieces soon after Deepavali. This adds up to the mounting garbage levels in various cities.

As a whole, one can clearly make out that bursting crackers makes no good for anyone. Still people tend to go for crackers, just for the thrill one gains in bursting it. But, is our life just about a short lived thrill. Why don't we look at the harmful implications of crackers? And why are we so inconsiderate to the poor children who engage in cracker production, putting their life at stake? Isn't there any speck of humanity in ones heart?

Its high time to raise arms against this vicious practice. Everyone has to be resolute to abandon crackers. Instead one must stick to green and environment friendly celebrations. Its is our Earth and we have to take care of it. So lets hope that every citizen realizes the evil of crackers and makes way for a green planet.