we tell them not to eat beef.
Why I Hate Diwali
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we tell them not to eat beef.
ajtr
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poore saal diwali ya diwala..............
ajtr
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Nauseating adult hypocrisy
vidyarthy chatterjee
TO resume from where I left off, with the commencement of Ganesh Chaturthi on 19 September, the festive season will have arrived. In no time, Diwali, the so-called Festival of Lights, which has over the years degenerated into more ear-splitting sound and accompanying rowdyism than light to dispel the darkness of ignorance and injustice, will be upon us. The more level-headed will buy coloured matchsticks, sparklers and light crackers. In the midst of the mirth and the merriment, is it possible that we, with our respective families, will spare a moment for those children in Sivakasi and other places in Tamil Nadu who daily risk their lives to ensure our quota of fun? Maybe we will, but it will, at best, be a momentary thought, gone before it is allowed enough time to settle on our troubled middle-class conscience.
It is said that labour contractors supplying children to the match and fireworks factories examine their fingers closely before taking them on. The girl child with nimble fingers and supple arms is preferred because such limbs make for greater output. Can people with a more diabolical turn of mind, seeking profit in poverty and human misery, be imagined? Pained parents are on record in Chalam Bennurakar’s film, Kutty Japanin Kuzhandaigal, as saying they have no choice but to send their small ones to earn for the family. These are farming people who are at their wits’ end when the crops fail, mainly due to scarcity of rainwater. While the adults have to go to work in nearby stone quarries, the children supplement their parents’ income by risking their lives in the factories, which are nothing but deathtraps and infernos when fires break out. Each time there is an explosion, democracy and the rule of law, the twin pillars on which the Constitution is said to rest, take a beating. But things have come to such a pass that the machinations of the political class in particular and the indifference of society at large have combined to reduce Dr Ambedkar’s vision of equality and justice to nothing.
Nationwide adult hypocrisy, vis-à-vis children belonging to desperately poor families or to the streets, come to the fore most nauseatingly on “Bal Divas” or Children’s Day, observed every 14 November, “Chacha” Nehru’s birthday. The first Indian Prime Minister’s supposed love for children is commemorated in public gatherings, in newspaper columns and on television. The red rose on the lapel is no doubt a lovely sight, but how does one reconcile that spectacle with the grim reality of millions of blossoms withering in the dust for want of minimum sustenance? So much for rituals and ceremonies that have become hopelessly jaded for want of substance in the first place!
Mercifully, the periodic devastations in Sivakasi are noticed by the media, but equally condemnable is the unreported plight of child workers in other industries located in other parts of the country. According to a Unicef report dating back to 2003, nearly 1.5 million children are employed in hazardous occupations in the glass, carpet and lock-manufacturing industries in Uttar Pradesh which, incidentally, has the largest number of “people’s representatives” in Parliament. The most hazardous of these is the glass-making industry where more than 50,000 children below the age of 14 are employed in Ferozabad. It is a fact that the efforts of groups of social workers to alleviate the working and living conditions of these child workers have come to nought as a result of the exertions of the powerful “glass lobby” in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.
More than a quarter of a century ago a Kolkata filmmaker did a commissioned film on the Ferozabad glass industry where the inhumanity of the barons towards the helpless child workers had been so diluted as to produce a document sanitised beyond belief. By his own admission, the film’s director had left out shots of small boys unable to stand still on the floor of a factory on account of extreme heat. Asked why he had deleted such important shots, he blithely replied that the people who’d financed the film would not have allowed these to be included.
So much for the artistic independence and moral strength of our creative geniuses!
But if the record of the glass goons of Ferozabad is bad, that of the carpet cartels of Mirzapur is worse. According to the Unicef report, there were at least 900,000 children between five and 15 years of age employed in the carpet industry that mints hundreds of crores of rupees in profits every year from sales at home and abroad. The report was not certain about the number of children aged around five years employed in the industry, but said it was almost certain that the figure would run into hundreds of thousands. If this is the situation in a state that has produced a succession of Prime Ministers and Presidents, not to forget thousands of parliamentarians of all complexions and persuasions, what must be the scenario in the remote corners of the country.
Bennurakar has one shot in his Sivakasi film that speaks at least a thousand words about the plight of child slaves – child “workers” or child “labourers” are but euphemisms that one’s sense of morality should prevent one from using. The shot shows a statue of Gandhi at a village crossing in the Sivakasi area that has had to be encircled by a wall and kept locked, presumably in an effort to protect it from thieves or other malcontents. In a country where the Mahatma has to be rescued from the evil eye, what hope is there for thousands of his youngest children — many of them no higher than a hammer and no lighter than a flower — to be saved from the depredations of a system gone to seed?
Sivakasi is a nightmare that is not likely to go away for a long time to come for there are greedy, powerful people to nurse and perpetuate it.
vidyarthy chatterjee
TO resume from where I left off, with the commencement of Ganesh Chaturthi on 19 September, the festive season will have arrived. In no time, Diwali, the so-called Festival of Lights, which has over the years degenerated into more ear-splitting sound and accompanying rowdyism than light to dispel the darkness of ignorance and injustice, will be upon us. The more level-headed will buy coloured matchsticks, sparklers and light crackers. In the midst of the mirth and the merriment, is it possible that we, with our respective families, will spare a moment for those children in Sivakasi and other places in Tamil Nadu who daily risk their lives to ensure our quota of fun? Maybe we will, but it will, at best, be a momentary thought, gone before it is allowed enough time to settle on our troubled middle-class conscience.
It is said that labour contractors supplying children to the match and fireworks factories examine their fingers closely before taking them on. The girl child with nimble fingers and supple arms is preferred because such limbs make for greater output. Can people with a more diabolical turn of mind, seeking profit in poverty and human misery, be imagined? Pained parents are on record in Chalam Bennurakar’s film, Kutty Japanin Kuzhandaigal, as saying they have no choice but to send their small ones to earn for the family. These are farming people who are at their wits’ end when the crops fail, mainly due to scarcity of rainwater. While the adults have to go to work in nearby stone quarries, the children supplement their parents’ income by risking their lives in the factories, which are nothing but deathtraps and infernos when fires break out. Each time there is an explosion, democracy and the rule of law, the twin pillars on which the Constitution is said to rest, take a beating. But things have come to such a pass that the machinations of the political class in particular and the indifference of society at large have combined to reduce Dr Ambedkar’s vision of equality and justice to nothing.
Nationwide adult hypocrisy, vis-à-vis children belonging to desperately poor families or to the streets, come to the fore most nauseatingly on “Bal Divas” or Children’s Day, observed every 14 November, “Chacha” Nehru’s birthday. The first Indian Prime Minister’s supposed love for children is commemorated in public gatherings, in newspaper columns and on television. The red rose on the lapel is no doubt a lovely sight, but how does one reconcile that spectacle with the grim reality of millions of blossoms withering in the dust for want of minimum sustenance? So much for rituals and ceremonies that have become hopelessly jaded for want of substance in the first place!
Mercifully, the periodic devastations in Sivakasi are noticed by the media, but equally condemnable is the unreported plight of child workers in other industries located in other parts of the country. According to a Unicef report dating back to 2003, nearly 1.5 million children are employed in hazardous occupations in the glass, carpet and lock-manufacturing industries in Uttar Pradesh which, incidentally, has the largest number of “people’s representatives” in Parliament. The most hazardous of these is the glass-making industry where more than 50,000 children below the age of 14 are employed in Ferozabad. It is a fact that the efforts of groups of social workers to alleviate the working and living conditions of these child workers have come to nought as a result of the exertions of the powerful “glass lobby” in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.
More than a quarter of a century ago a Kolkata filmmaker did a commissioned film on the Ferozabad glass industry where the inhumanity of the barons towards the helpless child workers had been so diluted as to produce a document sanitised beyond belief. By his own admission, the film’s director had left out shots of small boys unable to stand still on the floor of a factory on account of extreme heat. Asked why he had deleted such important shots, he blithely replied that the people who’d financed the film would not have allowed these to be included.
So much for the artistic independence and moral strength of our creative geniuses!
But if the record of the glass goons of Ferozabad is bad, that of the carpet cartels of Mirzapur is worse. According to the Unicef report, there were at least 900,000 children between five and 15 years of age employed in the carpet industry that mints hundreds of crores of rupees in profits every year from sales at home and abroad. The report was not certain about the number of children aged around five years employed in the industry, but said it was almost certain that the figure would run into hundreds of thousands. If this is the situation in a state that has produced a succession of Prime Ministers and Presidents, not to forget thousands of parliamentarians of all complexions and persuasions, what must be the scenario in the remote corners of the country.
Bennurakar has one shot in his Sivakasi film that speaks at least a thousand words about the plight of child slaves – child “workers” or child “labourers” are but euphemisms that one’s sense of morality should prevent one from using. The shot shows a statue of Gandhi at a village crossing in the Sivakasi area that has had to be encircled by a wall and kept locked, presumably in an effort to protect it from thieves or other malcontents. In a country where the Mahatma has to be rescued from the evil eye, what hope is there for thousands of his youngest children — many of them no higher than a hammer and no lighter than a flower — to be saved from the depredations of a system gone to seed?
Sivakasi is a nightmare that is not likely to go away for a long time to come for there are greedy, powerful people to nurse and perpetuate it.
Pakistanisage
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Forgive my ignorance but what the heck is diwali ?
ajtr
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Why do we Celebrate Diwali : 12 Reasons
Diwali is a festival celebrated on an epic scale all across India. The festival is marked by a display of fireworks, fun, food and prosperity. Here are some facts that edify the historical and mythological importance of Diwali.
1.Lord Rama's Victory on Demon Ravana: It was this day (the new moon day of Kartik) on which Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana in Lanka. The citizens of Ayodhya celebrated the return of their beloved king Rama by decorating and illuminating the entire city with earthen lamps.
2.Lord Krishna Killed Demon Narakasura: Naraka Chaturdasi is observed on the day before Diwali. It was on this day the powerful demon king Narakasura was killed by Lord Krishna and 16,100 gopis (cow-heard girls) who were kept in Narakasura's harem.
3.Mata Lakshmi's Birthday: Mata Lakshmi incarnated on the new moon day of Kartik during the churning of the milk ocean also called samudra manthan. Hence Diwali is the celebration of Mata Laksmi's birthday welcoming Her in everyone's house and life.
4.Pandavas Return from exile: The great epic Mahabharata describes the exile of Pandavas. They were banished to forest for 12 years in forest followed by a year of exile incognito as a result of defeat in the hands of Kauravas in gambling. It was this day of Kartik Amavashya the Pandavas returned to Hastinapur, their own land. Pandavas return was celebrated by their subjects who loved and revered them by lighting diyas and holding joyous celebrations.
5.Lord Vishnu rescued Lakshmi from Bali: Lord Vishnu in his fifth incarnation as Vamana rescued her consort Goddess Lakshmi from the prison of demon King Bali. Thus, Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on Diwali.
6.Coronation of Vikramaditya: On this day of Diwali, the great King of Hindus Vikramaditya was coronated. People celebrate this as one of the historic event as Diwali.
7.Red-Letter Day for Sikhs: The third Sikh Teacher, Guru Amar Das institutionalized Diwali as on one of the most important day for Sikhs. On this day all Sikhs would gather to receive the Gurus blessings at Goindwal. The foundation stone of "The Golden Temple" was laid on Diwali in 1577. The day is also special as the Sixth Guru Hargobind was released along with 52 kings. The Muslim Emperor Jahengir, imprisoned the Guru and 52 kings in 1619 and the release is celebrated as "Bandi Chhorh Diwas".
8.Special Day for the Arya Samaj: Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati, one of the greatest reformers of Arya Samaj attained nirvana on the day of Diwali. Aryans celebrate Diwali to remember Maharshi contribution to the society.
9.Special Day for the Jains: Diwali is the day of nirvana of Mahavir Tirthankar who is the founder of modern Jainism.
10.Special Day for Christians: Diwali was made special for Christians as in 1999 Pope John Paul II performed a special Eurchist in an Indian Church where the altar was decorated with Diwali lamps. Pope had a "tilak" marked on his forehead and his speech was bristled with references to the festival of light.
11.The Harvest Festival: Diwali is the harvest festival in India. The agrarian society of India jubilates this day for this reason. Diwali falls around the months of October or November, which is also known as the season of Kharif when the crop of fresh rice is widely available.
12.Hindu New Year day: Diwali enhances the festive mood of Hindus by marking the advent the Hindu New Year. This day all the business men change their diaries, marking as a new fiscal year for their business endeavors. No matter what the reason, what the legend; the festival of lights Diwali is celebrated with much enthusiasm and zeal in all over the India and abroad irrespective of caste, creed and religion. n Feature Desk
its like bakri id only the bakri is made of tofu
Sashan
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Sorry - not in my household.
We have actual bakri for breakfast along with chicken during Diwali and used to have about 30 friends come over.
Sorry - not in my household.
We have actual bakri for breakfast along with chicken during Diwali and used to have about 30 friends come over.
good for you .
ajtr
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well we can always start hate thread for the upcoming festivals of crackers....
ajtr
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Spread Happiness This Diwali By Saying No To Crackers
Diwali is a day we all celebrate with great gusto. New clothes, great cutlery, delicious sweets and noisiest crackers best describe the festive mood. This Diwali spare a thought and think about those children who have tangled themselves in the world of miseries. Every year during the festive season, the local newspapers overflows with reports on fire-work accidents and most of these victims are revealed to be children. However, in spite of the disheartening reports some continue to purchase fire-works without even stopping to think, how it affects the people around.
Diwali is no more a festival of only lights, but of miseries and pain too. Every time you burst a cracker, listen to it. It’s not the noise of the burning explosives, but mourns of the mothers who have lost their children in fire cracker accidents. Behind every colorful sparkler lies a pathetic story untold. More than one lakh children work day and night in dangerous environs to make your Diwali colorful. While some are served with death as their wages, others continue to suffer life-long mutilation. In the attempt to make your Diwali prosperous many families fail to celebrate the occasion. Most of these children are paid only 40% of the wages compared to the adults who work for the same hours.
A child is a child no matter wherever he may be born and like your children they too have feelings. Every child has the freedom to learn, play and enjoy their childhood alike other children. As a good citizen, it’s your duty to not encourage any activities that ruins a child’s freedom and happiness.
Friends, it is time to change and the change should begin with ‘You’. Please stop purchasing crackers and lighten the burden of these innocent children. You may think what difference it might make to those unfortunate kids, but every small initiative that you make restores a smile on the unseen faces. Remember, fire-works are not only detrimental to those who make it, but also to those who burst them. Instead of investing in crackers this Diwali, make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate.
Diwali is a day we all celebrate with great gusto. New clothes, great cutlery, delicious sweets and noisiest crackers best describe the festive mood. This Diwali spare a thought and think about those children who have tangled themselves in the world of miseries. Every year during the festive season, the local newspapers overflows with reports on fire-work accidents and most of these victims are revealed to be children. However, in spite of the disheartening reports some continue to purchase fire-works without even stopping to think, how it affects the people around.
Diwali is no more a festival of only lights, but of miseries and pain too. Every time you burst a cracker, listen to it. It’s not the noise of the burning explosives, but mourns of the mothers who have lost their children in fire cracker accidents. Behind every colorful sparkler lies a pathetic story untold. More than one lakh children work day and night in dangerous environs to make your Diwali colorful. While some are served with death as their wages, others continue to suffer life-long mutilation. In the attempt to make your Diwali prosperous many families fail to celebrate the occasion. Most of these children are paid only 40% of the wages compared to the adults who work for the same hours.
A child is a child no matter wherever he may be born and like your children they too have feelings. Every child has the freedom to learn, play and enjoy their childhood alike other children. As a good citizen, it’s your duty to not encourage any activities that ruins a child’s freedom and happiness.
Friends, it is time to change and the change should begin with ‘You’. Please stop purchasing crackers and lighten the burden of these innocent children. You may think what difference it might make to those unfortunate kids, but every small initiative that you make restores a smile on the unseen faces. Remember, fire-works are not only detrimental to those who make it, but also to those who burst them. Instead of investing in crackers this Diwali, make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate.
SamantK
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Please do not accuse others by including others, it is you and will be you.. Twell we can always start hate thread for the upcoming festivals of crackers....
Sashan
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well we can always start hate thread for the upcoming festivals of crackers....
Lets mark the calendars and hopefully you will do the honors.
On a serious note, I hated the crackers at somepoint in life after I crossed my teens but looking back it is the part and parcel of Diwali celebrations and taking that away would mean denying young kids the joy of it.
ajtr
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Crowd of "we" is quite substantial as one can see from those news and blogs and from those in housing societies...............................
surya kiran
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I will burst one electric fuljadi for ajtr 
, one rasi bomb for ticker (jab dekho footha rehte) and one 20 shot bomb for secur (for his dedicated 36 hr posting on a thread) for providing so much FREE entertainment.
My sardar friend told me this joke in the morning today, when I asked him kitne phatake foda. "Hum Sardar fatake nahin fodte, unko sirf date karte hain"
, one rasi bomb for ticker (jab dekho footha rehte) and one 20 shot bomb for secur (for his dedicated 36 hr posting on a thread) for providing so much FREE entertainment.My sardar friend told me this joke in the morning today, when I asked him kitne phatake foda. "Hum Sardar fatake nahin fodte, unko sirf date karte hain"
ajtr
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why not will mark all dates for 2013 ...coming next is christmas,pongal,shab-e-barat etc etc....Lets mark the calendars and hopefully you will do the honors.
On a serious note, I hated the crackers at somepoint in life after I crossed my teens but looking back it is the part and parcel of Diwali celebrations and taking that away would mean denying young kids the joy of it.
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