Phatakas & lights on deepavali.

Deepavali is the festival of lights- lighting all around-in shops,on flats,buildings,in the streets,et al.As the fireworks display made dazzling signs in the amavasya sky,i was thinking,what about those who are always in dark ? those who are so poor that they cannot afford even a diya - the oil is of course impossible to pay for, except, perhaps, for their food.further,what about the kids who are toiling away in the sweatshops of SIVAKASI ,Tamil Nadu filling the combustible material in the fireworks so that we all can light the same ? actually,when we light up the phuljhadis,the anars,the rockets,etc it is money going up in smoke! it pollutes the atmosphere making many of us sick especially the asthmatics & others as well. this includes the animals & pray what about the green issues ?

I, for one, am petrified of phatakas except the snake - which is the major pollutant,i believe so.so on deepavali nights,i am always holed up at home.i am teased for my fear but i am like that only. i am afraid of getting burnt & staying alive after the burns in pain- the fear of pain perhaps more than the actual pain itself.

but can only my thinking bring about a change ? maybe, i am only an arm chair socialist who goes on & on about such issues,but apart from a meagre payment does nothing else.the payment is also done to wash away the sins accumulated over the years- also perhaps, to keep committing new trespasses as i can always pay for my way out of the morass, atleast to a certain extent, if not the whole way.

There is a tale about nehru -gandhi which relates to my arm chair activism- nehru's father motilal was unhappy, that, his son was taking keen interest in the independence movement.motilal felt, that jawahar was squandering away by not attending court thereby losing out on what wud hav been a great future at the bar.hence,he met gandhiji & requested him that his son b left out of all this & he wud pay a generous amount as a donation for the independence movement. gandhiji replied that he needed volunteers more than money for the struggle.i think, it is the same in this case- the NGOs need volunteers more than funds .i did try to volunteer but things hav not worked out .mayb ,i hav 2 try even harder.