As the festive season approaches, messages
showing innocent kids and some grown-ups holding placards containing different
messages to save the environment have gone viral. Facebook pages and charity
organisations like ‘Animals Matter To Me’ and ‘India Community Digest’ are
requesting their members to spread the word about celebrating an eco-friendly
Diwali by not lighting firecrackers and deriving sadistic joy by hurting animals.
Taking a cue from bigger cities like Mumbai and Pune that are encouraging
people to step out of their comfort zones and spread awareness by holding
placards in busy places in their respective cities, people in Goa have, to a
certain extent, carried out similar activities. However, most Goans have
extended their support to the movement by spreading the word in the online
realm, by posting these ‘statuses’ on their Facebook wall and by sharing them.
Meena Kamat, a
resident of Borim, went one step further and created a WhatsApp group to spread
the word. Meena says, “I hope the elders talk to the kids in their families or
the schools talk about this to their students during Diwali. Kids don’t
understand the seriousness of harming animals by tying firecrackers on their
body parts and think this is funny. We need serious guidelines to prevent
animals from getting harassed and those who commit such acts should be reprimanded.
I still remember a friend of mine telling me that his friend tied a bomb to a
puppy’s tail and it lost a leg. This is a really awesome movement that these
people are running. We need more people to stand up for animal rights.”
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While a majority of Goans have agreed (at
least virtually) to not use firecrackers this Diwali, some like Govind
Prabhudesai feel that the issue of air pollution is being blown out of
proportion. Govind says, “There are several other ways to reduce noise pollution.
It surprises me as to how only Hindu festivals are being targeted; some for
saving water, others for not lighting firecrackers. There are other innumerable
activities and processes which are causing a lot of trouble and pollution but
no one will mention those things.”
Pratima Kerkar from Bicholim seems to have
the perfect rebuttal to this. Pratima says, “Firecrackers were never a part of
Deepawali in ancient times. So asking us not to use crackers is not a very
unbalanced demand. No one is forcing you anyways. Just because other people
commit some heinous crimes in the name of religion does not mean we have to do
so too. Besides, isn’t Hinduism all about nature worship?”
