Bini Dahal

It was the day of Laxmi Puja when I was sitting on my veranda. On the road, I saw a large group of children busy playing firecrackers. As soon as the children finished firing the firecrackers they possessed, one of them ran towards her father who was carrying a whole bag of explosives. And once received enough, the children resumed their firecracker burning activity. While observing everything, there were many thoughts running on my mind. It is needless to say that the children are still young and immature and cannot differentiate between right and wrong. But what is wrong with their parents? Has their sense of morality gone with their age? Why do they allow their children to play with explosives but not allow them to enter into the kitchen? And right there, a kid nearly sustained injury when the firecrackers burst earlier than expected.
Also called the “Festival of Light”, Tihar is an exciting and wonderful festival. It carries great importance in the lives of Hindu people and religion as a whole. But exploding firecrackers in the middle of roads, creating pollution and disturbing other people cannot give any excitement. By purchasing the firecrackers and encouraging children to play with such explosives, we are trying to destroy ourselves.
Years have passed since the government has put a ban on the buying and selling of firecrackers. And there is a reason why the ban has been in place. Studies and researches conducted around the world have shown the various side effects of firecrackers on the environment and human health. During the Deepawali, harmful and pollutant organic gases such as Carbon monoxide (CO), Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrate hydrocarbons are produced and get suspended in the atmosphere because of an excessive burning of firecrackers. And it is the same air that we breathe in.
So, people are at risk of respiratory problems such as chronic or allergic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, sinusitis, rhinitis, pneumonia and laryngitis. And pregnant women, children and chronic asthma patients remain mostly affected. The sound that the explosives create is considered to be quite loud as the intensity of sound produced by firecrackers exceed 140 decibel. But we should not forget that a human ear drum gets completely destroyed once the sound intensity level reaches 85 decibel. An increase in the noise levels can lead to restlessness, temporary or permanent hearing loss, high blood pressure and sleep disturbance.
As I try to analyse the production of firecrackers and their rampant selling, I feel confused. Not that I was scared or something, but I never felt the same kind of excitement that today’s little kids find while playing with firecrackers. For a person who is just an audience to the whole ‘fire-cracker burning and enjoying moment’, the word firecracker itself spells DANGER.
There is this very popular saying about how we live our life only once, so we need to experience and enjoy everything while we can. I agree with this. Experience is what makes our life more enjoyable. But, if you are too emotionally-driven, you are making a very big mistake in the name of experiencing everything. There may be accidents and you may have to regret the losses the whole life. So, let’s be more rational and ban the use of firecrackers once and for all. Filing a complaint against those selling firecrackers to the police alone can help make a difference in controlling such illegal products.