Pollution is a modern problem.
I am perturbed when armchair preachers wake up on every Hindu festival and behave as though our festivals are the cause of all the environmenal ills in the world.
Have these goole-search activists methodically collected data of how much pollution happens throughout the year and how much our festivals have contributed to that ?
Do we even know if all this hue and cry by activists is even worth talking about ?
Are other festivals so eco-friendly that no activist thinks of passing on advisories ?
It is when each and every Hindu celebration becomes a time for over-activism, that I see a threat and a problem.
So, why do activists remember and remind us about responsibilities of environment protection only for 5 or 6 times a year during Hindu festivals and not bother at all for rest of the year or the New Year craze?
Isn't the problem big enough to be worried about all through the year ?
Hindus have celebrated these festivals for thousands of years without any issues. The problem lies in the mordenrity of last 150 years which is causing so much of harm to the environment. It is a complex problem to solve.
I have issues when activists with their limited intellect, simplify the problem domain, blame our festivals, pass sermons and feel happy having contributed to the environmenal cause. Instead of targetting Hindu festivals, let them apply their mind to analyze the problems brought about by mordernity and address those issues.
Why is it that some preacher-activist always assumes that Hindus need gyan about environmenal protection ?
Criticisms commence across Social Media just before any Hindu Festival. The impact of this is that our Children (most of them, if not all) see our festivals as polluting festivals.
We are self-incriminating. Flogging ourselves for all mistakes - those committed by others too!
Only we are responsible for all the ills plaguing the society. The responsibility for the entire environment protection efforts rests on us.
For every one else festivals are celebrations. But, we Hindus are made to believe they are polluting nuisance. This self-berating pointed advisories singling out our cherished festivals and events is a common phenomenon to belittle and demean our consciousness and to numb us into believing that we are eternally the wrongdoers!
Yes. We need to encourage eco-friendly ways of enjoying and celebrating our festivals. But, selectively targeting Hindu festivals under the veil of anti-pollution activism is not to be tolerated.
We have been celebrating these festivals for ages. We are a self-correcting community; we have corrected ourselves in the past and will do so in future. We don't want outsiders to tell us how to celebrate our festivals.
Time we prevent negative tainting of Hindu festivals.
