A no-brainer indeed!

It wasn't quite a revelation, but I was still perturbed when I stumbled upon this dismal piece of news: They provide the bang for your diwali. I've known for quite some time about the appalling conditions to which scores of small kids are subjected in the firecrackers industry of TamilNadu (the hub) - exposure to chemicals, slave-like wages & work durations, unthinkably woeful fire accidents which the employers try to hush up coercively, and more [illustrated in the video below]. Yet, the confirmation that this monster rears its head in other parts of the country too, was quite disconcerting.

Some try to downplay it nonchalantly suggesting that child labour is not confined to cracker factories alone. While that's true, what needs to be recognized is that what goes on in cracker making is a bug way more venomous than ordinary child labour. Simply put, these young boys and girls are nowhere near equipped to operate in such a hazardous workplace!

The other favourite defense of the escapists is the 'creation of jobs' (through crackers). Without this 'employment' (actually exploitation), the toiling kids, they claim, would be worse off. Well, by that logic, we should bring back all banned drugs and promote tobacco/cigarettes! The reason why we don't - and shouldn't - is the knowledge that as long as we don't hoard our money, it will automatically 'trickle' down to the needy, through one route or the other. Our responsibility is is to choose the route that doesn't bring with it the perils of ill-health & deadly accidents! Besides, if one is truly conscious about the poor, not only can the excess money be directed to a few (of the many) genuine initiatives inducing social change; one can also decide to buy largely from small/local entrepreneurs (e.g., cart vendors) to maximize the % of the spent amount reaching the needy.

For good measure, there are several self-explanatory items in the crime basket of crackers too: the escalation of air pollution (and the accompanying health implications such as a massive surge in asthma), infuriating noise, and fire casualties. Once you factor it all in, you really marvel at those who attempt to defend such a blatant hazard. Can a drive for self-justification derail a mind so astray? Anyhow, I will continue to practice and promote total abstinence, which makes my Diwali free of not only crackers, but also decorative lights/diyas. Bulbs are best lit inside the brain, not outside the house :).

PS: We may have a right to celebrate, but do we want to exercise it at this cost? This poster holds almost as true today as it did 3 years ago.