The Day After
The
burnt-out parts of crackers and fireworks
Lay
scattered in the yard and road and wherever the eye could reach.
The
festival is over.
The
intoxication lingered a while.
And
that died out too.
Naturally.
Leaving
an aftertaste somewhere in the hollows within,
Sweet
and bitter, bitterness competing with sweetness.
The
sound and fury of the fireworks on the ground and in the heaven
Repeated
the same old tales, wise or idiotic – who knows? Who cares?
Dazzling
lights strutted and fretted
Their
hour upon the stage
Leaving
distorted and gaping fragments behind.
The
fragments will be swept into the dustbins of Swachh Bharat
Maybe
the next time the Great Actor drives us to the broom store
Or
maybe they will be carried away by the winds of time
That
blow relentlessly
And
mercilessly
Erasing
the markings we make on dust.
Diwali is all about lights not about noise and pollution. But celebration doesn't have any ends Tomichan. Nicely written! Enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteAs time goes by, celebrations will evolve too, Gowthama. I think there has been some improvement this year compared to previous years. Is it because of the tragedy in Faridabad (cracker shops being gutted) or is it because people are becoming more conscious, I don't know.
DeleteIts always mixed feelings sir after diwali. This was the first time that as a family we didn't burn crackers and enjoyed the other parts of the festival. As a kid burning the crackers was the most important and I feel a lot of my friends are now doing it only to showoff. So completely related to each word and am still having mixed feelings.
ReplyDeleteThe show off plays a big role, Athena. In my city, Delhi, that is what matters more than anything else, I think.
DeleteIn tamil there is a saying which goes something like charring money i cant find a better way to explain the too much cracker syndrome than literally burning hard earned money.
DeleteIn Malayalam, the idiom 'Diwali kulikuka' means waste one's entire wealth. I guess it must have come from the way people burnt up money on fireworks. I'm not sure, of course...
DeleteWhatever that be, it's time to reign in certain wasteful practices that are ominous for the planet.
Very meaningful lines.
ReplyDeleteI feel the bitter aftertaste, this time more than ever before. Partly because I haven't been in the country for the past few Diwalis and partly because I hated having to expose my under-one-year old to all that smoke.
Apart from the pollution, the "sound and fury" of life itself prompted me to write this, to be frank. The whole second stanza is inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
DeleteThat struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing."
Very meaningful poem! I have burned the noisy crackers in my life. And in about 15 years I haven't burned the mild ones either. And After seeing the Diwali mess in Bangalore while I was there, I am not interested at all in "celebrating" Diwali with crackers.
ReplyDeleteIt will take time for deep-rooted traditions to change. What I'm more interested in is a change in attitude towards religion in general.
Delete