After a fitful sleep last night, I woke up this morning to a rather dubious headline on page 2 of The Times of India - 'City wakes up to a quieter celebration'. Unless you were encased in a soundproof padded cell, let me assure you that this claim is wholly unfounded. Mumbai did not have a quieter Diwali; it never has, and at the rate it is going every progressing year, it never will. In all fairness, a celebration must be a merry affair, and not a muted one. But atleast don't make me feel as though I am right at the epicenter of a war-zone, with every exploding bomb threatening to rip my ears apart. At the rate some maniacs in my locality were letting off crackers, chain bombs and other such deafening monstrosities, I for one, was left a disturbed (and severely hearing-impaired) person at the end of it all. One horrifying chain-bomb lasted a full 10 minutes. At the ungodly hour of 2 am. I can only hope the aged managed to keep their meek hearts in check. I had half a mind to open my windows and direct a well-aimed rocket at the heartless fiends. But they had already achieved their purpose and I would only be adding to the din. So yet again, Avanti suffered, without protest.
Diwali is essentially a festival of lights. Not noise. How lovely it is to see our houses lit with flashing bulbs, lanterns and diyas during this joyous festival! The well-designed rangolis, kids scampering about in new clothes, exchanging sweets and reminisces, lighting up diyas and not forgetting the basic premise of Diwali - that of the destruction of all that is dark and evil through light and bonhomie.
Sadly, these days people are more interested in destroying the tranquility of homes and minds. I humbly exhort all to please refrain from undue noise. Let us celebrate this festival in the right manner - for what it symbolizes. As Ranbir Kapoor wisely says in that ubiquitous Panasonic ad - let us turn down the volume :)
9 comments:
Oh yeah, I wish people would realise that loud crackers serve no purpose whatsoever. The noise, the smoke and the irritation... AAARGGHHHH!!!
@Awanti: Interesting blog!
But why do all your blogs sound as if you are the troubled one... how does everything around you find a way to trouble you.
As far as the crackers in Diwali are concerned, what is so wrong with it???
The crackers have come down! In my childhood, I remember we used to have crackers bursting continuosly for the entire night, and not just on Diwali day, but about 2-3 days prior to it.
If it troubles you so much, you can simply use some cotton!! Just put them in your ears and sleep!! If it troubles you during the day, put on your head phones and listen to your favourite songs, but please dont ask people to shed their prefered moded of celebrations!
Think about it!
@ Sumit: Apart from my blog, you read my mind too! :)
@ Anky: Haha... thanks Ankit.... its nice to read criticisms as well. I humbly accept all what you said. I do concede that I crib a lot (infact I have put in a disclaimer in one of my earlier posts as well - that I am a serial nagger - Virgo that I am!)
If the racket has come down for you - good for you yaar!! You should consider yourself lucky. Others like me are not so fortunate and have to still endure the assault on the hearing senses (yes, the rattling bombs still continue in our locality - it has been 3 days now). Deviation tactics like cotton, head-phones have all miserably failed.
If the idea of making a din is the 'preferred mode of celebrations' for some people, please also think about the preferred mode for the others. Like celebrating festivals in a merrier but quieter way. My write-up only reflects the views of the latter lot.
Thanks for dropping by and keep those genuine critisicms coming in! :) I'd like to improve! :)
ah yes, even TOI reports tht instead of ppl getting noise pollution-concious, the no of crackers burst this time ws more than the prev years, tho I must admit the crackers Link rd ws nothing over the top this yr...better luck next time!
Ah! An ally! Thank you Shup (or Vivid).... for just confirming something I already knew! As for Link Road... I wonder why it bucked the trend!
I just happened to notice both of us quoted TOI and we posted the exact opposite! In my case it ws probably Mum Mirror(dnt rem clearly) but even then it doesn't make much sense since both are being published by the same media house!!
Not the first time I noticed this though, both papers have had opposing viewpoints to the extent of being biased for/against particular cricketers, but then this is supposed to be a report, not a personal opinion of the author of the concerned article, wonder how it can be so contradicting...
I agree. Its hard to stumble upon an unbiased view these days. The media doesn't follow it (leading the pack is TOI with its partisan views, they even have a 'Times View' section - why influence the reader's mind? Do they think we're nitwits?) You only have to watch our mahaan news channels - they will even insert a sad, haunting background score to images, exhorting you to lament with them. Neutralism in journalism is lost these days.
BTW, you just noticed an anomaly in TOI. Maybe you should write to them about it :)
Ofcourse it is biased, sadly I have read in some places that these media houses have been actually been funded by various foreign religious institutions, which is why their news paint a sad picture of the state of affairs of the minorities in our country and rarely speak evil of the pseudo-secular parties. The frontrunners are CNN-IBN and NDTV, they shamelessly bash the majority supporting parties with/without reason and news reading stalwarts like Barkha Dutt ask their coalition partners why they havent joined a particular party leaving their current ally repeatedly on live tv! She might as well campaign for her fav party openly!
Not sure if you may have noticed, but crimes against minorities are highlighted with the names of their religions firmly in place at the header/start of the article/report.
Why?
What is the need to paint everything with a religious tint? A crime is a crime no matter who its committed against..
A letter to the TOI would be no good..though they(TOI/MM/Times Now) are comparatively less brutal in being biased as compared IBN/NDTV...
When our going out to vote for a change doesnt make a difference(slum-dwellers along the Link Rd were allegedly paid 1k each to vote for the guy who eventually won in the general elections frm our ward) then what will an e-mail do?
PS: Sorry for ranting on your blog but couldn't help it...
Haha, that's okay. I am quite of a ranter myself & ranters love company. I have long stopped watching news channels. Not even a single news channel is worth the airspace they are beamed on. As for certain newsreaders (I will not take names), their blatant sponsorship of certain parties is almost embarrassing. Also, I believe pseudo-secularists are as dangerous as fanatics. Its a sorry state of affairs and journalism is doing little to alleviate the mess.
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