I would like to bring to your attention the seriousness of the problem children in Delhi are facing. The smog in Delhi is just a reminder on our hollow sounding claims of loving our children but hardly doing so. Instead of blaming the administration, the crop burning in neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and UP etc. what have we parents done? Over the years, how many have started car pooling, or using the Metro? More pertinently, how many of us have stopped buying and bursting firecrackers. Instead, with the increase in disposable income, we try to outdo the other.
Adding to the smog in no small measure is the fact that we don’t spare a thought for cleaning up the mess on the street littered with burst crackers strewn all over, welcoming Diwali as we do with litter we are responsible for. We tend to justify bursting of crackers with the lame reason that “The smoke of the crackers kills mosquitoes and other insects”. Adding a religious caveat to substantiate “Lord Ram was welcomed thus in Ayodhya on his victorious return from Ayodhya.”
Whom are we trying to fool? With our convenient temporary amnesia we forget he was welcomed with the lighting of diyas. Why don’t we stop buying and bursting firecrackers and light diyas instead? For not being strong enough to take on the peer pressure, the comments, there is the usual defence every Indian parent exclaims, “If I don’t buy crackers Sivakasi town will not have the means to celebrate Diwali,” pushing to the back of the mind that child workers are being exploited for our crass entertainment.
There are those who claim to love their pets like their children. They too ignore their child scared out of its wits dashing under the bed in absolute panic. Those who do not care for their own pets, will they care for flora and the birds in their nests? Delhi has started happening in other cities be it Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Ahmedabad , Mumbai, Coimbatore. It’s time we stop blaming the administration for all the ills.
