Word: diwali
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Last weekend, India celebrated the Hindu holiday of Diwali, the Festival of Lights. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil and remembers, among other things, the return of Lord Rama following his epic and victorious struggle with the demon king Ravana. Grateful followers, the story goes, lit oil lamps to show Rama's way home in the darkness. Perhaps they also whooped and set off loud explosions, because the Festival of Light could just as easily be the Festival of Noise...
...like "Galaxy" that shoot hundreds of colorful balls into the sky. Store fronts are hung with banners for "Cock Brand" fireworks promising "sparklers, crackers, rockets and fancy fireworks." On each banner a proud rooster stands amidst an orange and red fireburst. The trade is brisk in the buildup to Diwali, with thousands of stores across India selling hundreds of tons of firecrackers...
...stores along, Om Prakash, 70, agrees that the fireworks make for a noisy Diwali. "When I was a child we had small crackers but these days they are bigger," he says, his hollowed out cheeks pulsing as he talks. To curb the noise, local authorities limit where fireworks can be sold and have introduced set hours during which they can be let off. Although a Delhi newspaper started a "Say No to Crackers" campaign, "people are not listening," says Prakash. "We are sleeping and there is still so much noise pollution. You can't escape...
...Indeed you can't. Last Saturday night the celebrations started around 6 p.m. as the light of the day faded and families gathered, first for a prayer and then to begin the fun. The odd explosion had been heard across the city in the days leading up to Diwali, but that was nothing compared to the noise that was unleashed as darkness set in. It seemed as if every person in Delhi simultaneously lit a fuse, stood back and waited for the explosion. Color and light shot up from parks and neighborhood streets, from backyards and rooftop terraces. Those...
...family next door had joined the two boys in the driveway now, and were lighting sparklers and smaller fireworks and laughing whenever a fiery rocket got stuck in a tree or went off course, which was most of the time. I wished them happy Diwali and they returned the salutation, perhaps amused to be sharing the ritual fireworks display with foreigners. After a while they headed inside and I headed home. The explosions continued for the next 24 hours, rumbling on across the city like aftershocks from some enormous earthquake...