Festivals – Are They More Important Than a Global Pandemic?

Life has been so different since the year 2020. And so are the extravagant festivals celebrated in India. Gone are the days when festivals in India meant a surreal experience with fanfare at a different level. I still vividly remember how the first blow to Indian festivities was when the larger-than-life Ganpati celebrations were banned in Maharashtra, followed by the ban on the most-awaited Durga Puja in West Bengal.

The pandemic was clutching its grip and the only way to fight it was – SOCIAL DISTANCING.

It was a great feeling to experience the country coming together as one and fighting this nasty virus. It almost felt like we have half-won the battle. Little did I know, that the euphoric feeling would be short-lived.

A Personal Experience

Today, as I reminisce about the festivals of India in 2020, I cannot help but remember the festival of joy and lights – DIWALI – which left me with mixed emotions of sorts. It seemed like a strange concoction of extreme HIGHS and depressing LOWS.

It was after 8 years that my husband was celebrating Diwali in his hometown, with parents. The house reverberated with action and his child-like excitement with the lights and warm vibes of family, was infectious. Needless to say, the joy in his eyes has always been the joy of my life. My Diwali of 2020 was already sorted.

Then, evening beckons. And all the good vibes suddenly seemed to dissolve. I went out to take a glimpse of our home adorned with lights and diyas. And what a sight!

Inspite of the constant reminders of how dangerous air pollution can be in the ongoing pandemic situation, the sky was roaring with firecrackers. There was a thick layer of smoke all around and it was hardly 7 PM. The crackers lit the sky until the wee hours of the next morning.

People boasted about how much they spent on crackers this year. Some even tried to justify this reckless fanfare by stating that ‘our state government has not banned firecrackers’. Some even proudly announced that ‘this corona virus can never affect us, our immunity is too strong’.

Honestly, I am still speechless with the audacity of people. Call this arrogance, ignorance, insensitive or inhuman. This attitude is something which I find very hard to fathom. I do not want to make this a debate on which state of the country followed the COVID-19 guidelines for festivals and which did not. Even if the rest of the country was engulfed in silence and bound by guidelines, we failed as a nation when one particular region’s skies were roaring with crackers.

What insensitivity! What ignorance! How selfish an attitude as fellow human beings!

The homes struggling with COVID patients needed our support. And the least that we could do was simply light a diya and make a silent prayer. Was it too much to ask for? Have we really become that insensitive?

If yes, we deserve to die maybe.

By next morning, the streets were strewn with burnt remains of firecrackers. I woke up with the blaring sound from the garbage-collecting van singing ‘Gaadi wala aaya, ghar se kachra nikaal’. As if anyone genuinely cared for Swachh Bharat. Undoubtedly, the farce continues.

Have We Learnt Our Lesson Yet?

Today as I sit down to write this post, my heart feels so heavy already. The second wave of the pandemic is back in the country and we are still organising a Kumbh Mela with more than 3 million visitors thronging the city of Haridwar. And this is just one example. We can sit and blame the government machinery or the ignorance of the people. But, the infection of the corona virus is spreading, the death toll is increasing and the callousness continues.

If a festival paves a path of bad times and death for us, what good is its purpose?

If religion makes us so blinded in faith that we lose the most powerful sense of a human i.e rational thinking, what good is its essence of being?

Stop treating COVID-19 as a trivial pandemic phase which will pass. And stop treating festivals as a paramount necessity of life in these trying times. Most importantly, stop behaving as if you will become immortal, only if you celebrate festivals with the regular fanfare and get-togethers. Stay confined to your homes and celebrate in your own little way.

Wake up to be human beings, in the real sense. We need each other’s support the most in these difficult times.