The campaign to vilify bursting firecrackers during Diwali is especially odious these days in schools. Teachers in posh schools, with air-conditioned classrooms/buses and manicured water-guzzling lawns, brainwash little kids against crackers, making it seem as if Diwali crackers are the leading cause of pollution, despite clear scientific evidence to the contrary.

And the urban, deracinated Hindu parent sees the same anti-cracker messaging on Hinduphobic outlets like NDTV, India Today or Scroll, so they reinforce it in their kids. ‘Global’ festivals like Halloween are being adopted by the same crowd, unmindful of their irrelevance in Bharat and the plastic waste they are known to generate for scary costumes.

Sadhguru has a message for such ‘eco-conscious’ parents:

Festivals should be fun for children. And what better fun than to light up crackers with your friends? Of course, one should exercise all caution like bursting crackers in designated areas under adult supervision. Its no different than other fun activities like playing football or using public transport to go to a park – use common sense, have fun!

We can do much-2 more for the environment by reusing things; saving electricity and water; eating local, fresh food; saying no to gas-guzzling cars and using cycles or public transport; avoiding luxury resorts; saying no to sports like golf. The last one is a favorite of corporate honchos, bureaucrats, generals, judges and the like – how would they react to a campaign to do away with this water-guzzling sport in a water-scarce country like Bharat?

So have fun kids, burst crackers to your heart’s content. In case the air quality in your city is ‘poor’ or worse, ask your teachers, parents and elders why it is so, and why the air quality did not improve even though you got to burst no crackers on Diwali? Ask them why only your festival celebration is targeted, while all the grown-ups get to enjoy the actually polluting activities and products that they are used to! Ask whether all decisions in our country are made in such a haphazard, illogical and arbitrary manner?