Wish you a Green Diwali

I live in a part of India where Diwali is not celebrated at all: a village in Kerala. Most villages in Kerala don’t celebrate the festival. There are many reasons for this. One is that the Hindus of Kerala worship Krishna more than Rama and so the latter’s victory, which is what Diwali is supposed to celebrate, doesn’t mean much to Keralites. Another reason is that Kerala’s beloved Asura king Maveli (Mahabali) is believed to have been sent to Patala by Vamana on this day. Vamana, an incarnation of Vishnu, becomes an enemy of Malayalis by this mythical story. Obviously, his victory, much less Maveli’s vanquishment, is not a cause for celebration in Kerala.

Diwali is celebrated in many cities of the state, however, because of the migrant populations there. Though the Malayali heart cannot pulsate with the Diwali lights and sounds, he/she does not object to anyone celebrating the festival in the state. The Malayali heart is not parochial that way. After all, weren’t Malayalis the first people in the world to democratically elect a Marxist government? They were also probably the first people who welcomed all sorts of religions and gods without any inhibitions. Christianity is supposed to have entered Kerala promptly after Jesus’ death.

Today’s newspapers inform me that Kerala has limited the Diwali fireworks to two hours: from 8 to 10 pm. There are restrictions on the kind of fireworks that can be used: only green crackers. Many states have issued similar orders in tune with the recommendations of the National Green Tribunal.

This new ecological awareness is to be appreciated. I lived more than half of my life in places that celebrated Diwali and I have experienced the excruciating suffocations of the festival. Delhi’s air, which I breathed for nearly 15 years, used to be a dead weight in my lungs during Diwali. When I started living in Delhi (2001), the celebrations used to be all night. Blinding lights and deafening sounds. And unbreathable air. For people like me who lived on Otrivin nasal drops and Asthalin inhalers, Diwali was a curse to be endured.

It is not about the breathing problems of a few individuals like me, however. It is about the planet’s longing to breathe, to survive. In this very month (October), the world witnessed many floods. Over 600 people were killed by floods in Nigeria because of unusual rainfall caused by climate change. 1.3 million people were displaced. 340,000 hectares of land was affected adversely. Australia underwent a similar agony in the same period. Damages amounting to $3.3 billion dollars were incurred due to flash floods. 40% of Thailand’s provinces were inundated too affecting about 450,000 homes. My own state of Kerala keeps getting rains at unexpected intervals nowadays. The climate change is a serious affair which should force us to change the ways we celebrate certain festivals like Diwali.

One of the candles I lit for Diwali in 2008 on the terrace of Sawan Public School's staff quarters, Delhi.

Wish you a Green Diwali.