HELLO JI!
A WORD (OR TWO HUNDRED) FROM THE EDITOR
The smile that lights up a child’s face can illuminate Diwali too. Image credit: YAN KRUKAU on Pexels.
We have come a long way from our first few Diwali celebrations in Canada when we would send colourful clay lamps, packets of sparklers and a box of mithai with our sons so they could do a “show-and-tell” on the festival for their classmates.
Grateful that the great fireworks hunt yielded a few sparklers and some anars or fountains, we’d gather their friends for setting them off in the evening. Now, our sons’ workplaces host a Diwali party! A tad confused, to be sure, as they tend to have bhangra dancers and there’s butter chicken on the menu, but, as I tell our sons, it’s the thought that counts!
I am delighted when our non-desi neighbours wish us “Happy Diwali!” when they pass us on the street and love that the local grocery chains offer Diwali specials on their weekly flyers.
The wider recognition and participation, however, have some issues.
The noise over the Diwali fireworks in Brampton last year being a prime example. Residents were allowed to set off fireworks on private property on Victoria Day, Canada Day, Diwali and New Year’s Eve, but following a “significant growth in the number of fireworks related complaints since 2019, with safety, noise and debris being common concerns”, the Committee of Council approved a recommendation to add an annual City-run Diwali celebration with pyrotechnics similar to Canada Day and New Year’s Eve this year. The fine for discharging fireworks on private property was increased to a minimum of $500, and for selling or offering to sell fireworks, to a minimum of $1000.
One hopes this will meet with everyone’s approval.
There’s a joke doing the rounds on WhatsApp that my nephew in Bombay told me about. The Supreme Court of India weighed in on hazardous air quality during Diwali. It is a festival of lights, it noted. There were no noisy smoke-spewing fireworks in the Ramayana. To which some smart aleck responded that there is no mention of the Supreme Court in the Ramayana, either!
Our grandson has all the cities his family comes from on his phone and is fascinated by the differences the weather app reveals. “It is so warm and sunny in Mumbai!” he says, in peak winter.
Recently he was all googly eyed. “The air quality index in Delhi is 475! How is that even possible?” It was 4 here that day. But Health Canada had also issued air quality advisories last Diwali.
In the superb documentary All That Breathes, two brothers rescue birds that are dropping from the sky in Delhi. Dr Sanjay Gupta wrote about pollution being among the top risk factors for dementia in 12 Weeks to a Sharper You.
Wake up and smell the smoke. Diwali celebrates the victory of good over evil. Vanquishing darkness with light. And light comes in so many forms. The smile that lights up a child’s face can illuminate Diwali too.
Happy Diwali!
Shagorika Easwar