FESTIVE FILTH
High spirits floating in the air, majestic idols, mouthwatering sweetmeats.. blinding is the flash of festivity. But if eyes rubbed a little, the ebbing darkness brings to sight an alarming picture - pollutants in the air, wastes of idols contaminating the water and a taste of sweet poison…while we may sing the song of happiness during festivals, the environment has a different tune to hum, the tune of an elegy.

Ideal immersion?!
While sweetmeats and gift s are synonymous with festive celebrations, there is yet another side to the fervour which is synonymous with environmental pollution. Idol immersion, a common practice in Hindu festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi & Durga Puja sees devotees escorting idols amid dances and chants, followed by its visarjanon (immersion), on the one hand mark the commensuration of celebrations and on the other, beginning of water contamination. The Plaster of Paris or POP that goes into making these sculptures, (thanks to its easy-to-mould properties and relative costs advantage over natural clay) has made it the first preference of idol makers. Sadly, the POP and paint used for crafting the idols do not dissolve easily in water and if they do, release toxic wastes, depleting the oxygen content in the water, thereby choking all life from in it. Quips actor Ashmit Patel, “Ganesh Chaturthi is my favourite festival... but I feel, we must do something about the water contamination that happens as a result.” The sight of dead fish washed ashore has also invoked hue and cry from environmentalists about protection of the flora and fauna. So does that mean we do away with what has been a part of our culture for centuries? Certainly not! The solution is to settle for more environment friendly alternatives and do away with environmentally avoidable customs. Use of bio-degradable material such as natural clay or even imitations made of plastic and metal can re- place POP idols without compromising either tradition or the environment. Immersions in water tanks instead of natural water bodies will ensure that the aquatic life that depends on them is not affected. Along with preservation of tradition what is also crucial is the maintenance of ecological system. And, if festivals are a way to please the Gods, then why should nature itself, which again is a creation of the same God, bear the brunt?

Lung ‘crack’ers!

(column by Rahul Chaudhary)

Come Diwali and the festive spirit, like always, will lighten up faces, houses et al. Amid the glittering markets will be seen people indulging in binge shopping, exchanging gift s, throwing cards, partying and some even buying a new set of wheels. All in all, merry-making to the hilt and splurging on goodies, as if tomorrow will never come. Unfortunately, alongside lightened houses will once again be seen, the skies all lit up like a rain of fire…. Let’s not touch upon the air pollution part of it for a second – the fact that the smog post Diwali is why a lot of people develop breathing ailments leading to diseases like Asthma. Remember how last Diwali Buzo, your pet pal went scurrying for cover under the table, bed or whatever it could manage to squeeze himself under; crooning with fear at every loud bang of a cracker, as though it weren’t crackers but bombs exploding on the front? For the uninformed, let me inform that what might have seemed harmless to you, for your poor pet you love to love so much (and whose sense of hearing is many times more sensitive than yours) it’s exactly that - bomb explosions one after the other! With due respect to fellow Indians, and all those who cannot let Diwali pass without a generous helping of fire crackers, its not a blanket ban on crackers that I am proposing and therefore your soaring spirits, rather a disconcerting trend that has seen people competing with their neighbours in a display of social and economic might, when a constant urge to splurge on the biggest and the loudest of crackers takes over from the joie de vivre of the festival. The Supreme Court ban on firecrackers past 10 PM notwithstanding, bursting of crackers precedes days before and continues for days after Diwali, giving sleepless nights to not just people but animals and birds alike. Needless to say, it’s not common to spot the common sparrow (at least not in the cities) anymore…. The other flip side about crackers is the trend of child labour rampant at cracker producing units. Instances of deaths due to accidents (mainly due to fire) at cracker making units are commonplace and many young lives are lost to serve this largely urban fad of bursting crackers. In spite of efforts by NGOs and various other child welfare organisations, the ground reality is that children are still at work at many of these factories that fl out norms and procedures but more importantly deny these children the fundamental right to education. Hello, anybody just listening or would do something?

(End of Rahul Chaudhary column)

Sweet nothings!

(column by Spriha Srivastava)

This time around when you queue up outside a sweetmeat shop to buy that favourite mithai (sweetmeats) especially during Diwali, you’ll do well to check the credentials of the shop you go to! Come festival season and what is likely to begin all over again, is the affair of churning dough at the cost of the health of hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting consumers. With the demand of milk soaring during the festive season, unscrupulous elements replace fresh milk with life threatening ingredients like liquefied detergent (Ezee), refined oil, urea, rose essence and only minute quantities of what it actually should be– genuine milk. Makes you cringe, doesn’t it? Now raising the curtain and putting it in the simplest of terms, here’s a glimpse of what could happen if one was to consume these ‘poisonous sweetmeats’. The worst of health hazards related to kidney, liver & lungs are triggered by consuming synthetic milk! The adulterated form of milk available at low rates entices sellers to make a killing and surprising as it is most of the producers and suppliers of synthetic milk are unaware of the dangers of the seeds that they are sowing. Now isn’t this reason enough to work towards a solution, the fundamental one being, the generation of awareness not only for unscrupulous milkmen and their associates but also for the general public, urging them to purchase only sealed or branded milk. In fact, it is also strange to learn that the fabricators are bestowed with extraordinary intelligence, the proof being that the adulterated produce fails to show any result at milk testing laboratories. Talk about brains being channelised in the right direction! The authorities had better pull up their socks and skim out the mischief- doers afflicting innocent lives. As for the consumers, take heed, a little awareness and a step of precaution can be all the difference between life and a life not worthy of being called one!

(End of Spriha Srivastava column)

Festive esprit de corps!
Festival times translate to joys of togetherness, spirit of tradition, and worth of belonging. When celebrated far from culturally familiar environs, the ceremonial joie de vivre essentially remains true to form and fun, but for that added sense of heightened communal conformity & revelry! A look at some of our very own national calendar carnivals jamming the streets across the seas…

(column by Swati Hora)

Khalsa’s Canadian canter Yellow mustard field replaced by cattle ranches, festivity on the river banks replaced by the elite community parks and continuous reading of the Sikh scriptures replaced by a few minutes visit to the Gurudwara doesn’t lessen the spirit of Baisakhi, in Canada. The Sikh community celebrates Baisakhi every year in all major parts of Canada with annual Baisakhi parades, let only the 50,000 Sikhs in Toronto, who hold the Toronto Baisakhi Parade, attended by the Mayors and city authorities as well. The festival marking the birth of the Sikh com-munity and the advent of the harvest season, though back home gathers a crowd of 80,000 dressed traditionally in colourful costumes & heavy jewellery in Surrey alone, making it the largest Baisakhi celebration in North America. The provision for free food all along the route of the parade, followed by cultural performances in a country far away from the origin of Khalsa, symbolises not only attachment with the roots but the host nation’s ethnic tolerance too!

(End of Swati Hora column)

Global good over evil!

(column by Indira Parthasarathy)

The legend of India’s most ideal man, at least going by mythology, has quite a cult following in southeast Asia too. In the six month period between May & October that includes the time when we celebrate Lord Ram’s homecoming to his kingdom Ayodhya after slaying demon king Ravana (Dussehra) in India, there are performed the famous Ramayana Ballets in the Pramabanan Temple compound in Java, Indonesia. A world heritage site, the compound houses temples dedicated to the Hindu trinity of Lord Vishnu, Shiva & Brahma and their respective carriers. Magnificent architecture attracting the faithful and the curious, the temple’s most renowned event is the ‘Sendratari’ or the dance recitals of Ramayana. As 250 artists render an ornately executed tale of a familiar epic from Indian mythology across a series of four episodes every time, the audience, comprising a composite mix from around the world, are held to their seats by a brilliant communion of theatrics, music, action & dance. For one, the scene where the messenger monkey Hanuman sets fire to Lanka after meeting Sita is one to collect dropped jaws! As characters named Ram Wijaya, Dewi Shinta, Rahwan & Hanoman take positions, the Indians, could only be reverentially elated…

(End of Indira Parthasarathy column)

Nine Jersey Nights...

(column by Swati Hora)

Growing up away from one’s native land might not lend strong bonding with its culture, customs & rituals. At several occasions, for Indians living abroad too, save one festivity celebrated by all for its vibrancy, fervour and oft en romance is Dandiya Ras. The nine days of Navratras draw the NRIs closer to India as much to the divine Durga (Goddess of Power) Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) & Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge). For years, the flood plain of the Raritan River in New Jersey, on weekends of October has been greeting people mainly of the Gujarati community, swirling around in colourful attire at the famous Navratri festival of Edison, kept alive by the Indo- American Cultural Society. The festivity at New Jersey that started in 1990, attracted intolerance from the city council that introduced the ‘Public Entertainment Ordinance’ owing to a growing number of celebrants anywhere between 10,000 - 12,000 and growing decibels of sound and hours of celebration. Metaphorically, came alive the demonic battle in the spirit of the festival when the Indian community fought a case against the New Jersey Township Council. Still, the celebrations continued amidst the Dot Buster gang looking to terrorise the Indian community in NJ. Several restrictions were settled upon in 1997, when Indians won the case and the judge supported the constitutional rights of Navratri in the historical landmark ruling. Th is day surely would have been celebrated as Vijaydashmi by the expatriates to the melody of Chitra Divakaruni’s poem true to Garba’s adaptation in the western arena, the excerpts of which go something like this:

(End of Swati Hora column)

New colours in Old Blighty!

(column by Indira Parthasarathy)

It is tough to imagine religion – a commonly seditious bone of contention that has left a trail of blood in its wake more oft en in times current – as a unifying factor drawing folks together for moments of spiritual conviviality. In London, at Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, there oft en congregate Hindus looking to prostrate before ‘Thakurji’ & Lord Vishnu, favourite deities back home in India. Festival times particularly become occasions, even excuses, to commingle with compatriots displaced far away from homeland. And imagine the scale of camaraderie that can be expected when it’s Holi time?! Depending on the whims of the weather god in London, the number of layers of garments prepared to take the colourful assault would vary, considering the average cool of 10°C around that time of the year in London! Apart from the usual exchange of all things colourful, there is also observance of all prayers and traditions in the sanctorum that is without a doubt the largest of its kind outside India. (For the uninformed, the Swaminarayan Sanstha is also the main convenor behind one of the most spectacular places of worship in New Delhi – the Akshardham Temple!) While scores of thousands of expat Indians, and at times even locals, stand in attendance of the aarti and smear each other with colour, there’s also lit a bonfire to commemorate the legend of Prahlad’s devotion and evil demoness Holika’s annihilation. Set to loads of music and mirth, it is but one gathering in the true fraternal spirit of Holi, so what if a few longitudes to the west?!

(End of Indira Parthasarathy column)