Diwali, crackers and I
Happy Diwali, my dear readers! I hope you all had a blast. As for me, I love Diwali for all the sweets and presents it brings along. And the home-cooked food is as always finga-lickin good! But I'm afraid the festival has lost its significance for me over the past few years. And that has been mainly because I've stopped bursting crackers. I think I was in 10th when I read something about the child labour situation in Sivakasi. The grim situation portrayed by that article affected me so much that I had to give up on what I had loved the most about Diwali - bursting crackers.
If you're wondering why one would give up something like this after reading an article, let me try explaining it. To me, bursting crackers has become synonymous to eating non-vegetarian food. I dont like eating non veg but I dont mind others eating it. I am not against non-vegetarians just because I am a vegetarian. Similarly, I am not fighting for the cause of child workers in Sivakasi by boycotting crackers. I've just developed some amount of dislike towards bursting crackers. Unfortunately, I've landed in many an awkward moment with my relatives because of a misunderstanding over this reason. Let me illustrate this with an example
Relative: Gokul, why dont you burst a cracker or two?
Me: No uncle. I dont burst crackers. *sheepish smile*
R: Why? Do you think crackers are for kids? Look, even I am bursting crackers. *twirls his cracker in apparent joy*
Me: No uncle. Its ok. Actually I dont like bursting crackers. *still trying to avoid telling the reason*
R: What? You're scared of bursting crackers? haha.. *thinks what a big loser I am* You're a young man now. I will teach you. Dont worry.
Me: No no.. *grr.. let him have it* I used to burst crackers. But I've quit because of the child labour situation in many Sivakasi factories. *puts a worried expression and points to the cover of the cracker on which Sivakasi is written in bold font*
R: *Awkward silence*
Me: *Talk something dammit! I hope you dont think of me as some socially aware citizen*
R: *More awkward silence as he sifts through the heap of crackers*
Me: *Puts on a fake smile and some fake enthusiasm* Let me get a new candle for you uncle.
So there you go. That was the first time I tried to stay away from crackers by stating the reason. However, after enough trial and error experiments, I finally zeroed in on the ideal excuses to give.
1. I have an exam in the next few days, uncle. Dont want to take any risks :D *For the studious image*
2. No mood, uncle. Yawn. *For the spoilt brat image*
3. Been there done that, uncle. Crackers are boring. *For the cool image*
And if these do not work, I avoid the child labour excuse and get straight to lighting a flower pot just for the heck of it. If there is one thing I hate more than bursting crackers, it is being in socially awkward situations with my relatives.
Status Message of the day:
"I was born to a rich faggot, but thanks to me, my son wont be"
PS: If you think you or any of your friends have funny status messages in your gtalk / Y! list, then ping me on gtalk. I could use some funny ones for my next post. Just in case, my id is gokul.archer@gmail.com.
PS1: Yes, I intend to blog soon. (Although I am not sure how many read my posts.. hmm...)
PS2: On afterthought, I dont miss bursting crackers. I've grown aloof from the entire process. And before I forget, I wish you all a happy and safe Diwali!
PS3: Feels good to be blogging again. (Although the standards are abysmally low)
If you're wondering why one would give up something like this after reading an article, let me try explaining it. To me, bursting crackers has become synonymous to eating non-vegetarian food. I dont like eating non veg but I dont mind others eating it. I am not against non-vegetarians just because I am a vegetarian. Similarly, I am not fighting for the cause of child workers in Sivakasi by boycotting crackers. I've just developed some amount of dislike towards bursting crackers. Unfortunately, I've landed in many an awkward moment with my relatives because of a misunderstanding over this reason. Let me illustrate this with an example
Relative: Gokul, why dont you burst a cracker or two?
Me: No uncle. I dont burst crackers. *sheepish smile*
R: Why? Do you think crackers are for kids? Look, even I am bursting crackers. *twirls his cracker in apparent joy*
Me: No uncle. Its ok. Actually I dont like bursting crackers. *still trying to avoid telling the reason*
R: What? You're scared of bursting crackers? haha.. *thinks what a big loser I am* You're a young man now. I will teach you. Dont worry.
Me: No no.. *grr.. let him have it* I used to burst crackers. But I've quit because of the child labour situation in many Sivakasi factories. *puts a worried expression and points to the cover of the cracker on which Sivakasi is written in bold font*
R: *Awkward silence*
Me: *Talk something dammit! I hope you dont think of me as some socially aware citizen*
R: *More awkward silence as he sifts through the heap of crackers*
Me: *Puts on a fake smile and some fake enthusiasm* Let me get a new candle for you uncle.
So there you go. That was the first time I tried to stay away from crackers by stating the reason. However, after enough trial and error experiments, I finally zeroed in on the ideal excuses to give.
1. I have an exam in the next few days, uncle. Dont want to take any risks :D *For the studious image*
2. No mood, uncle. Yawn. *For the spoilt brat image*
3. Been there done that, uncle. Crackers are boring. *For the cool image*
And if these do not work, I avoid the child labour excuse and get straight to lighting a flower pot just for the heck of it. If there is one thing I hate more than bursting crackers, it is being in socially awkward situations with my relatives.
Status Message of the day:
"I was born to a rich faggot, but thanks to me, my son wont be"
-Vimal S Warrier
PS: If you think you or any of your friends have funny status messages in your gtalk / Y! list, then ping me on gtalk. I could use some funny ones for my next post. Just in case, my id is gokul.archer@gmail.com.
PS1: Yes, I intend to blog soon. (Although I am not sure how many read my posts.. hmm...)
PS2: On afterthought, I dont miss bursting crackers. I've grown aloof from the entire process. And before I forget, I wish you all a happy and safe Diwali!
PS3: Feels good to be blogging again. (Although the standards are abysmally low)
blabbered by The optimist from utopia at 4:46 PM
11 Comments:
Here is my bit:
Those children are doing labour because they have to. They dont have any means(no rich father to feed them) for their daily bread.
And you know, without daily bread, people can die.
SO which is better? Dying with starvation or Living with a burnt finger or weak eyes etc. etc.??
Now if you are bursting crackers, you are helping them live with a bad eye. Other way you are helping them die.
Choice is yours...
I chose the former choice. Therefore I burst a lot of crackers.
dear sukesh,
As mentioned in the post, I am not taking an anti-cracker stance. This is not a moral debate as such..
Coming to your point, lets face it.. you dont burst crackers only because you want to help the children eke out a livelihood. That is bullshit. You use this excuse to console yourself. You burst crackers because you love to. And I think there is nothing to be ashamed of in admitting that.
These children between the age of 4-14 are made to toil 10-12 hours a day in factories which lack basic fire fighting units in case of breakout of fire. They are paid a paltry sum of Rs. 20-30 a day most of which is taken by the alcoholic father.. So if you tell me that you burst crackers so that you can help these children, you're either ignorant of what they're going through or you're looking for an excuse (to burst crackers) which will not hurt your conscience.. If you really want to help this children who are losing their childhood in a factory, then launch a campaign to create or increase awareness among people about the situation..
As for me, I am not a social activist who wants to fight for their cause.. But I really loved your melodramatic lines! "Choice is yours.. blah blah.." I think you should become a politician! :D
Blimey! I thought the children were taken off sometime back. Bad if it is still happening.
Well then, I'll be looking forward to see your future venture - "Gokul Crackers" :P :D
PS: I can totally relate to that "20 questions by your relative" thingy.
And of course!!
The point was not about me, point was made for you(just to give point of view). I know I burst crackers for my pleasure, and I am not hiding it.
Just the same sides of two coins(mind it, not two sides of one coin)
And, for 'helping those children' or 'awareness' are a bit more tricky discussions. Lets leave that for somewhere else.
And lastly, 'daily bread, choice and blah blah', was meant to be melodramatic. Its fun.
fattu :P !!!
Yeah. The children do not work there anymore. So you can get back to bursting crackers :D
The livelihood argument doesn't make sent to me either. If livelihood is the only thing that matters, why not support drugs like cocaine too? So what if many people suffer because of it?
My point is that if there do exist livelihoods that do not come with these ill-effects, why can't we do away with the bad ones? If you don't spend on crackers, you will spend more on sweets or gifts or some other form of entertainment? So, the lost jobs on the cracker front will be compensated for there. And, that's win-win [no child has to work in hazardous circumstances, no emission of poisonous gases]. As an example, so many chemical factories were shut down some years ago in several parts of the country, many for environmental reasons. Did those people who lost their jobs stay jobless forever? I don't think so.
Most importantly, even if no child suffers through crackers, I won't fire them, because living green is not a matter of hobby for me. It involves irrefutable scientific evidence that says that if you don't get your act together now, you and your future generations are in for serious strife. If you just look at the increase in the number and intensity of floods/hurricanes and other such calamities in the last couple of years, somewhere you know that not all of this can be 'natural' - it's surely a part of the global warming package.
The livelihood argument doesn't make sense to me either. If livelihood is the only thing that matters, why not support drugs like cocaine too? So what if many people suffer because of it?
My point is that if there do exist livelihoods that do not come with these ill-effects, why can't we do away with the bad ones altogether? If you don't spend on crackers, you will spend more on sweets or gifts or some other form of entertainment? So, the lost jobs on the cracker front will be compensated for there. And, that's win-win [no child has to work in hazardous circumstances, no emission of poisonous gases]. As an example, so many chemical factories were shut down some years ago in several parts of the country, many for environmental reasons. Did those people who lost their jobs then stay jobless forever? I don't think so.
Most importantly, even if no child suffers through crackers, I won't fire them, because living green is not a matter of hobby for me. It involves irrefutable scientific evidence that says that if you don't get your act together now, you and your future generations are in for some serious strife. If you just look at the increase in the number and intensity of floods/hurricanes and other such calamities in the last couple of years, somewhere you know that not all of this can be 'natural' - it's surely a part of the global warming package.
I have put my perspective here:
http://sukeshkumar.blogspot.com/2008/11/crackers-and-children.html
@Pulkit:
1. Nothing in this world can convince me 'how giving sweets or other entertainments are better than crackers'. Are you sure children don't work in sweet-shops or are you ensuring that no child labor is employed in making of a movie directly or indirectly?
2. Shutting down of any employer always means loss of job.
If your theory of shutting down of factory and no less employment is true; then we should shut down all the factories/industries in India. I know you do not intend to say that. Of course those people won't stay jobless, someone else, more incompetent, will be jobless in place of them unless more work/factories are created.
3. If you drink water in excess, even water is harmful. Everything has a limit and that goes for crackers too. Nature has its own tolerance for pollution. But crackers of Diwali have not challenged that tolerance but that daily use of oil in transportation and unchecked pollution from factories have challenged the tolerance. Pollution of crackers is again a symptom not primary cause of pollution.
@Sukesh
1. As I pointed out earlier too, the question is not that of child labour alone. Indian still has a fair few development strides to make before it can completely eradicate child labour. However, the harmful and hazardous circumstances of a cracker factory surely can be gotten rid of. Besides, I am inclined to believe that cracker factories have a greater percentage of child laborers than other things you mentioned. However, I don't have any concrete stats on that.
2. If you shut down one employment avenue for environmental/health reasons, it is more than likely that this, in time, will lead to the expansion/creation of other businesses. If Coke is banned from India [its plants have been shut off in several states as they consume galactic amounts of ground water, hampering local communities], people will turn to other drinks (say lassi, fruit juice, etc.). So, one business's loss is the other's gain. And, the good thing is that the other has less ill-effects associated with it.
Having said that, this process may take time, so you don't want to close down a business without a reason.
3. I fully agree that we should employ buses and bicycles as much as possible. But, beyond a point, the need for fuel is indomitable. Contrastingly, there are many other entertainment avenues other than crackers which at best give momentary pleasure. Of course, everyone's choices are different, so if you can't give up, you can at least try to keep it down. Btw, I think nature's well past its tolerance limit for pollution.
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