On a scorching Tuesday afternoon at DN Road, Andheri, a group of twelve-year-olds are having an argument. The subject is deadly serious: What should be the slogan for their cracker-free Diwali campaign? “How about ‘Burning crackers is burning money’?” suggests Tarini Upadhyay. Aseem Rajan goes one step further.
“Burning crackers is burning India,” he bellows with the fervour of an activist. But Digvijay Akhawat comes up with a real cracker, “Is Diwali, pollution ko maro goli (This Diwali shoot pollution),” he declares, before the group breaks into a fit of giggles.
The students have lined up outside their school, armed with banners and posters, for a rally against bursting crackers. Ask them why and they rattle off a dozen reasons to go cracker-free. The idea is to convey this message to citizens. “The adults just don’t seem to get it,” says Pratham Ajmera, 12 “It creates air pollution, noise pollution and adds to global warming. Most of these crackers are made by children younger than us. How can we go ahead and burst crackers after knowing all this?”
Over the next few days, don’t be surprised if you bump into students urging you to have a blast this Diwali but sans the noise and smoke. The rallies are part of the Civic Movement for Children’s Awareness (CMCA), an organisation that works with schools to create civic consciousness. Over 1,200 students from eight different schools will be participating in a campaign for a cracker-free Diwali.
“The idea came from the children themselves. We asked them what problems they faced in the city. Pollution was the most common problem they cited,” says Vinodini Lulla, Mumbai co-ordinator, CMCA.
Teach the parents
These are a bunch of gen-next eco kids. They talk about cracker-less festivals, pore over garbage bins in search of recyclable items, go on tree-planting drives, and have all the updates on the melting polar ice. This fast growing breed of eco-warriors don’t just talk green. They often put pester-power to use and urge their parents to use eco-friendly products and stay updated on all eco-issues. Most schools in the city have also started taking on environment-friendly projects and making them a part of their daily curriculum.
Gauri Dugar, 14, a student of Jankidevi Public School, is often seen taking charge when it comes to such projects. Crackers have not been on her Diwali agenda for the past two years. Apart from the pollution and the noise these crackers create, Dugar has a personal reason for giving them up. “My father is an asthma patient and I have seen him cough excessively during Diwali. He can barely breathe. He has to leave the city,” she says.
“God hasn’t told us to light crackers. I sometimes think the adults don’t understand this. I see them buying crackers, spitting on streets and littering. I think we kids understand the environment much better than they do,” she says.
Apart from the noise during Diwali, there is another thing that bothers Dugar. The dogs in the vicinity don’t stop howling and barking. “I don’t think they understand that it’s Diwali. Their ears are far more sensitive than ours and I can’t imagine what all the noise and the fire must be doing to them.”
Dugar has consciously changed the way her home functions. She insists that her mother carry a jute bag when she goes shopping. Dry and wet waste in now regularly segregated. And after she learnt at school that using the shower wastes more water, Dugar, along with her mother, went and picked up buckets from the market. “I always have a bucket bath and I have told my family to do the same,” she says.
Rahul Rajani, 13, hasn’t burnt crackers for the past two years either. Instead when he cleans his cupboard every Diwali, he picks out toys and books that are in good condition and donates them to an NGO. Rajani says it is impossible not to see how crackers harm us. One of his classmates is an asthma patient and he is never seen without an inhaler during the festival. “This is what the festival means to him. If you saw him on a regular day you wouldn’t know he had asthma.”
A few years ago when Rajani was visiting a relative he came face to face with the harsh reality of what crackers can do. His four-month-old cousin had to be rushed to hospital due to high fever. “The doctor told us that my cousin got scared because of the Diwali noise and fell ill. I had no idea that noise could have such an impact.”
Hina Rajani is a proud mother. Rahul, she says, has taken it upon himself to make sure that all lights and electrical appliances are switched off when they aren’t being used. This Diwali he has taken the initiative to hold meetings with his friends in his complex and urge them to minimise the quantity of crackers.
‘I Won’t destroy the earth’
However, not all parents are proud. Vrajesh Mehta is slightly cross with his eight-year-old son these days. Earlier his son would insist that nobody should use plastic bags and the family supported this.
“We agree plastic bags should not be used. But these days he insists we have bath in a certain way, take public transport and stop taking print-outs because it wastes paper. This year he has refused to celebrate Diwali because he is against crackers,” says Mehta. Mitul, 8, is adamant. “My teacher has said that the earth will be destroyed if we keep polluting it. I will not destroy the earth,” he says with a straight face.
Lulla claims that this is a common problem most students face at home. She has come across enough instances where the father has told his children that there is no Diwali without crackers and a few days of pollution does not make a difference.
“We had a strange case last year where a mother loved bursting crackers but her children simply refused to allow her to do so. She finally, as a last resort, called the CMCA office and pleaded that she should be allowed to at least burn a few fuljhadis,” Lulla says with a smile.
Sumaira Abdulali, convener, Awaaz foundation, agrees that children face social pressure during Diwali. She keeps a regular check on the noise levels around the city. The sutli bomb, which has been officially banned but is still available in the city, creates a sound over 140 decibels. Anything above 85 decibels is considered harmful to the ears.
“I see people still buying these sutli bombs in spite of the guidelines. Today it is the kids who will have to educate their parents because our generation simply doesn’t seem to get it. We regularly conduct workshops for kids in schools during Diwali to educate them about noise pollution and already these campaigns are having an impact,” says Abdulali.
Over the past few years the decibel levels in the city have gone down and these campaigns have a large role to play, claims Abdulali. However, not all kids are able to fight the temptation. “I won’t lie,” confesses Vir Chadha, 15, “I am very tempted to burst crackers. My younger brother still does. But this year I hope I stick to my resolution.”
Comments
