Dr. Walunir
Festive season is round the corner and some people, especially in Dimapur, have started to announce the advent of the season with firecrackers. Some people seem to have no civic and environmental sense at all. Is festivity really incomplete without firecrackers? It's really difficult to ensure a healthy festive season, especially in places with a typical 'who cares' mentality.
As a child growing up in the 80s, I had a fascination for fire crackers and would impatiently await the arrival of Diwali. Every Diwali, a rich Hindu family (Father was a Doctor and Mother was a Teacher) would invite the kids of the neighborhood to their courtyard to burst and smoke out cartons of firecrackers. Uncle and Aunty would watch us with pleasure as their two kids along with those in the neighborhood celebrated Diwali in this manner in their courtyard. Little did we know that the pleasure it brought to us had far reaching effects on others and on the environment. But did this Doctor and Teacher know that their pleasure came with a cost?
Firecrackers and its far reaching effects: who cares? Many kids are not aware; the wayward are ignorant and many educated adults don't seem to bother while the enlightened populace cower in silence. Festive nights are filled with noise and the town chokes with smoke. Infants cry through the night and mothers sing all the lullabies they know. Sensible kids put earplugs but still the loud firecrackers keep them awake. Adults try to bear and tolerate saying - 'it's just a matter of a couple of months'; but still the toll of just a few nights is evident in their pale faces. Worse still is for the sick and asthmatic. A major concern is that, especially during this Post-Covid 19 pandemic, all humans seem to have become immunocompromised and defenseless in the face of antigen, virus or bacteria. The festive smoke will choke everyone. We are not even talking about the environmental hazards of firecrackers. We are still in the infant stage of awareness.
Families, schools and colleges play out their share of responsibility in stopping this health and environmental hazard. But how can we instill awareness of the far reaching effects of firecrackers amongst those who don’t seem to care? How do we instill civic sense amongst those who lack it? When it comes to this group of populace, no amount of slogan and preaching will help, it seems. What remains is to legally stop those who sell and use firecrackers. Town and Ward Committees along with Civil societies, especially religious organizations, may put some pressure on the administration to enforce law to stop those who sell and use firecrackers. After all this is done, no organization should come in the way to the rescue of firecracker dealers. Having said that, the Health/Medical department can prepare groundwork for the government authorities to spring into action to ban the sale and use of firecrackers.
