It is Diwali time- the time of the year when majority of the Indians living in India or abroad are on a festive spirit. The festival of lights, it is said, although the cacophony of crackers piercing the night shows it is not only light, but sound as well.
Whether it is the awareness drive on pollution, or the exorbitantly high price of the crackers or some other unexplained reason, it is a fact that at least in Mumbai, we see a drop in the noise level this year, which is welcome as the city on any given day is not exactly a Silent Night, Holy Night spectre anyway.
This is the time for festivities , of gifting to loved ones. The stores are doing roaring business, online and brick & mortar alike, with people buying in a frenzy as if tomorrow does not exist.
This is the festival of lights- with darkness to be kept behind as the light of happiness and wisdom pierces through the dark dreary night and Goddess Lakshmi showers her blessings. Amidst all these lights, we have the following headlines staring at us. Somewhere in a village in this country , the folks are amused and puzzled at the SC ruling of marital sex before adulthood being a crime as almost all the girls born and living there are married when they are minors. Somewhere else another know-it-all religious edict comes out that posting photos on social media is against religion. In another headline, we have a few self styled historians re-writing history to suit their selfish benefit so that the masses can be fed on some dogma for some more time. Someplace else , a son butchers his parents to death for money.
All this and much more also happened in this country amid the flash of lights and sparklers as we ushered in another Happy Diwali, as we celebrated the festival of lights.
What light , I wonder ? Is it only the light of phosphorus and zinc that we hanker about ? Or is it that light that the great bard had dreamed of when he wrote those magical lines :
"....Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake...."
Whether it is the awareness drive on pollution, or the exorbitantly high price of the crackers or some other unexplained reason, it is a fact that at least in Mumbai, we see a drop in the noise level this year, which is welcome as the city on any given day is not exactly a Silent Night, Holy Night spectre anyway.
This is the time for festivities , of gifting to loved ones. The stores are doing roaring business, online and brick & mortar alike, with people buying in a frenzy as if tomorrow does not exist.
This is the festival of lights- with darkness to be kept behind as the light of happiness and wisdom pierces through the dark dreary night and Goddess Lakshmi showers her blessings. Amidst all these lights, we have the following headlines staring at us. Somewhere in a village in this country , the folks are amused and puzzled at the SC ruling of marital sex before adulthood being a crime as almost all the girls born and living there are married when they are minors. Somewhere else another know-it-all religious edict comes out that posting photos on social media is against religion. In another headline, we have a few self styled historians re-writing history to suit their selfish benefit so that the masses can be fed on some dogma for some more time. Someplace else , a son butchers his parents to death for money.
All this and much more also happened in this country amid the flash of lights and sparklers as we ushered in another Happy Diwali, as we celebrated the festival of lights.
What light , I wonder ? Is it only the light of phosphorus and zinc that we hanker about ? Or is it that light that the great bard had dreamed of when he wrote those magical lines :
"....Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake...."
When will we wake up to see this light , if ever at all ?
But let us count day by day as we say Happy Diwali !
Extremely good rendering. Highest court rulings are important but more important is implementation of them. Happy less noisy Diwali !!
ReplyDeleteWell said Sudipta. While Diwali was less noisy and less polluted here in Gurgaon as well - completely agree on your rhetorical question: Where and what is the light we are talking about?
ReplyDeleteMay you keeping giving these "diwali" gifts through the year !!!
Sir, very well written. May be you should write again. Will eagerly wait for your next piece.
ReplyDelete