In October 2016, I had a curious experience about the attitude of Indians towards environment, religion and festivals. On the evening of Dussehra, a group of 5 kids, the eldest not more than 9 years old, came rushing into the local park while I was exercising. They were very excited. One of them was carrying a figure; a crude figure of what had to be their depiction of Ravana.
To those of you who don’t know, let me provide some context. Every year, around this time in Oct, the festival of Dussehra is celebrated in India. It is a festival drawn from the Hindu mythology of Ramayana. Ram is supposed to have defeated the demon king Ravana on this day. Since then till now, this day is celebrated as Dussera to signify the victory of good over evil.
Signifying this victory, a statue/doll of Ravana (of varying sizes) are burnt all over India. It is a representation of burning away all the evil in our lives and starting life afresh. Those kids, were clearly going to do the same. There was just one problem that I saw.
The doll they had made was of cardboard and thermocol.
They lit the figure and watched it burn. As it burnt, they began to inch away from it shouting, “There’s smoke! It smells!” Sadly, they did not realize the significance of what they were saying. These were kids from economically disadvantaged background, they may not have taken school very seriously; yet they were able to sense that their burning was causing some sort of disturbance in their surrounding air. As the last of the figure burnt, the joy on their faces returned and they rushed out of the park to continue with whatever caught their fancy. They left behind ashes, smoke and me, deep in thought.
“What evil are we burning away by adding pollutants into our atmosphere?” I wondered.
This was just a minuscule example from the numerous figures that would have burnt all across India from Mysore (where the biggest figure is burnt) to Delhi (where this little episode happened). In all, you cannot imagine the amount of pollution this “purifying” exercise would have caused.
If there is one evil we must burn, it is ignorance. And, the evil of humainty committing slow suicide.
This “trend” of burning Ravana is not tied to the celebration of this festival from it’s roots. Not at all! It is relatively very new, it caught the fancy of the larger public and now a whole industry is set up to meet the huge demands of dolls to burn at this time of the year.
This is not the first and this is certainly not the last article that will be written about the pollution caused by celebrating these Indian festivals. In a fortnight, we will celebrate Diwali. In between huge sales from Amazon, ridiculous offers from every eatery in town, and the circulation of a “picture from NASA” showing India on Diwali, millions of crackers are going to be detonated for absolutely pointless reasons. Will crackers be banned? I highly doubt it. Not when a massive industry runs behind the production of crackers, on which the livelihoods of half a million Indians rest. The Delhi government has mandated the use of “green crackers” (whatever that is supposed to mean) to be used this Diwali, which is supposed to release 30% fewer pollutants in the air.
Religion is a very, very powerful tool. It can stimulate masses like nothing else can. If we are to truly fight for environmental protection, maybe we need this facet of society on our side. Look back at that experience of mine; kids from 5-9 years old do not know the dire implications of burning cardboard and thermocol, but they know the festival of Dussera and why it is celebrated.
Could we spread the message of environmentalism through religion, and could it work in India today?
Eco-intelligent™ 
Reblogged this on Brown Little Sparrow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well said
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on Martian Poet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When culture becomes more about symbolization than the reasoning behind it… we should know that “it’s not working”
Good post by the way. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
That was everything I wanted to say in one sentence! Thank you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the way how you have put your thoughts into words.I also feel really strongly about this.:)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much 🙂
LikeLike
Well said. I always feel the same around Ganesh festival when thousands of plaster of paris idols are immersed in rivers/wells/ocean. This was probably okay when idols were made of mud and there were few houses who celebrated this unlike the mega commercial event it has become.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
I agree, idol workshop and release in rivers has become some kind of a trend/business now. There is a huge industry behind it and it has become ingrained as part of our “culture”, when it wasn’t practiced even 50 years back.
(I don’t believe mud idols are particularly good for the environment though. Making them requires a massive amount of fertile clay soil, that could otherwise have supported countless farms).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting Saurab. Most religions have planetary care embedded in them somewhere, even if it requires a lot of digging. It is the only way though – it is a problem though when so many have linked their religious belief with their lack of belief in science.
This climate ‘project’ we’ve inherited will take so long to solve, it will transcend any science.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Nigel, yes I agree that most religions do have planetary care in them. In Hinduism, for example, the Ganges is considered holy. But people have conveniently ignored certain aspects of religious practices because it would interfere with their economic aspirations.
The lack of belief in science is also a major hurdle. I have seen this in most religions of the world. The “religious” solutions to most of the world’s problems make absolutely no sense. We are faced with a weird problem: people are choosing to ignore certain religious practices and propose others, based on their personal agendas. I wonder how this can be changed. This “project” certainly transcends science today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Saurabh !!
I just stumbled upon your website. They addressed the on going issues in the society and were probably optimistic in their approach. Loved the way you have put your thoughts into words. Dusshera is a prestigious festival of India , celebrated in the remembrance of Lord Ram and is attcahed to the sentiments of people. However, at the same time, people also need to think about the environment which is getting deteoriorated du to the release of the pollutants and green house gases during the burning of Raavn.
Either way, Keep up the spirit high an looking forward for further articles from you.
We are also trying to connect with the society through the medium of our channel which is considered to be one of the best news channels in Rajasthan aimed at telecasting Rajasthan’s latest news and Rajasthan’s top news. Could be helpful for writing further articles !!
https://firstindianews.com/
LikeLike
Hi!
Thank you for your kind words, and thank you for going through my website.
I will check your website out 🙂
LikeLike