My sleepy little village by the sea, is home to two 5-Star hotels. The bigger one, I’m told, sponsors the Christmas cake that is distributed at the local church after midnight Mass. If this is the measure of their corporate social responsibility, the management of the smaller hotel is probably yet to hear about this concept of corporate citizenship. The only responsibility they are perhaps dinned into understanding is maximizing profits for the company/owners even if it means dispensing off with pollution control measures and allegedly polluting the surrounding virgin lands.
But come the wedding season and both these hotels together create an environment that resembles the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour more than a civilized celebration. If one hotel does not shatter the eardrums of villagers and disturb the serene tranquility of the evening hours with their ‘never ending’ barrage of exploding fireworks, one can safely bet on the other one to do it. On weekends ofcourse, it’s a virtual free for all!
My question is simple: does the payment of House Tax and the license to operate give these hotels the carte blanche to torture villagers? People from places like Delhi and Gujarat can come to celebrate their weddings in Goa, but if they want to announce it to the whole universe through loud explosive bangs, they better do it in their own State. No self respecting community would tolerate such nuisance. Have we Goans sold ourselves to the hotel lobby for a few low paid jobs and Taxi business (where too the hotel managements extort commissions)? No doubt our “festas” (festivals and feasts) remain incomplete without the ‘hoznea’ ( gun powder bangers) but here is a tradition that we need to tame so that the harm is minimized whereas what the hotels are doing is a pure commercial activity that needs to stop forthright!
In more civilized parts of the world only noiseless fireworks are allowed and that too with strict conditions. High decibel firework bangs, besides causing severe other serious consequences, can permanently damage the ear drums (specially in infants), trigger palpitations in heart patients and are a virtual torture for the old and the sick. The toxic material released during a firework display has a devastating effect on the flora & fauna, birds are known to abandon their nests, terrified animals including pets like cats & dogs often run away in panic and get lost. Why can`t these hotels behave like responsible corporate citizens and look at other ways like laser displays or at least noiseless fireworks to pamper & entertain their guests instead of disturbing the peaceful village ambience? Location permitting, a great alternative to fireworks are sky lanterns. On being lit, the sky lanterns fill up with hot air and flout off in the sky creating an amazingly beautiful ambience to compliment the mood of the occasion. It also presents a nice eco friendly way for the wedded couple/birthday boy/girl to send their wish list heaven wards.
