I’ve been reading queries on various mailing lists I belong to, about joint expeditions to Hosur to buy fireworks for the approaching festival of Deepavali. Some of the members ask, since the tax differential is large enough to make a difference, why not share a car and go to buy fireworks?

Indeed, there will be a price difference between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka (Hosur and Bangalore) for fireworks, as for many other things.

However, I  remember that one year everyone was up in arms about  child labour being utilised in making fireworks and we all boycotted fireworks. Have things changed at all, since then, at Sivakasi? I continue to boycott personal  fireworks for safety reasons, too and only go to see anything set off by KGA, Bangalore Club, etc. Once, we used to have community fireworks in Kanteerava Stadium, I wonder what happened to them. They were safe, and it was fun to go together to watch.

And if we have to buy fireworks, could we just stick to the light-effects ones and not buy noisy ones, and be considerate of babies, elders, sick people, and pets/animals? One of our friends, I am not joking, was killed by a stray firework that went into his ear one Deepavali.

Of course, this is up to each person; it’s only a suggestion.But I can’t help feeling that if all of us acted in unison, it would be a less noisy, disturbing, and more safe Deepavali for all of us.

A documentary on Sivakasi’s child labourers can be seen here.

Let’s think a little before going out to buy those firecrackers not only with regard to child labour, but of safety, pollution,  and disturbance, too. ⊕