It's that time of year in the Hindu calendar: Diwali, the festival of light.
Most non-Hindus will know Diwali has come around when the cacophony of fireworks is heard every evening for about a week.
As you've probably guessed by now I'm not a great fan of fireworks: they add to both noise and air pollution. I used to enjoy fireworks when I was
younger and didn't have to put my mind to any real use however now as an adult I can't help but feel that using fireworks to celebrate Diwali is inappropriate.
Why?
- Traditionally, fireworks (a Chinese invention) have nothing to do with the Festival of Light (a Hindu festival, the origin of which goes back a few thousand years); At some point somewhere, an enterprising person saw the opportunity to make some money by making fireworks the must-have way of celebrating Diwali;
- The Festival of Light celebrates Man's victory over Dark i.e. Man overcoming ignorance, attaining enlightenment and banishing the 'Dark' forever. Exploding fireworks, creating noise and polluting our already polluted air doesn't strike me as using our common sense.
The irony is 'Dark' actually wins out every time a firework goes off.
This year, 2008, however I have noticed that there haven't been as much noise of exploding fireworks as previous years; I can only guess that the credit crunch has hit even those who usually do spend a fair amount of money on paper and gunpowder. Perhaps the credit crunch is good for something after all!