Delhi’s air pollution masks a class war that nobody is willing to talk about

Patakha over Parali appears to be the choice that many Delhi residents have made in the war between bursting crackers and farmers burning stubble.

There is a class angle to the war against pollution in Delhi. And nobody is ready to talk about it. It is being waged every day – in media, judiciary, law enforcement, pollution masks and in AQI data. Both the privileged and the under-privileged contribute to the pollution and suffer from it, but the debate is dominated by the former.

India’s mainstream media kicked off the debate this year by using government data that said 35 per cent of Delhi’s pollution is due to Punjab and Haryana farmers burning their straw stubble (the residue of rice plant called parali in local parlance). People in Delhi finally found the culprit responsible for the poor air quality in their city.

As is common with such identifications, culprits were caught and punished. Seventeen FIRs have been registered in Fatehabad district in Haryana alone as the number of FIRs in connection with stubble burning across Punjab and Haryana runs into hundreds. Haryana Police has formed special teams to identify farmers who pollute the air that residents of Delhi breathe. The Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal have also come down heavily on the farmers. In 2017, more than 1,000 farmers in Haryana were fined for burning the stubble, with the government saying it was only following the Supreme Court order. Punjab has threatened farmers that they won’t get land on lease to cultivate next year if they are caught burning the stubble.

The mighty state, the Supreme court, and nearly every environmental institutions have been up in arms against farmers reportedly responsible for the one-third of Delhi’s pollution (as per government data).

People walk past the India Gate monument shrouded in smog in New Delhi. | Photo: Anindito Mukherjee | Bloomberg File Photo

But what about the rest two-third of it?

Why don’t India’s courts and its governments (both central and states) show similar resoluteness in not only identifying but also penalising the culprits responsible for choking the lungs of Delhi’s residents rest of the year? Stubble burning can be blamed for the pollution in early winters. Is air pollution a seasonal problem in Delhi?

Who pollutes Delhi’s air when farmers in Punjab and Haryana are not burning the stubble?

We know who else pollutes
The privileged gated communities of Delhi can arrange for private water (tankers of underground water), private electricity (back-up generators) and private security. They know how to exit the state and its inefficiencies. But air pollution is something that affects them, no matter how high their ivory towers go. That is why they have raised the pitch on the pollution debate, but in a way that absolves them and their own complicity. By entirely blaming the farmers from Punjab and Haryana.

It’s is not that we or the governments do not know the reason for pollution. If the government can tell us the exact share of stubble burning (35 per cent), then it must also know how much pollution Delhi’s residents cause by using their cars and air conditioners.

The Environment Pollution Control Authority has pointed out that vehicles contribute 40 per cent of the emission load in Delhi. Since all commercial vehicles in Delhi run on CNG, it’s private vehicles running on petrol and diesel, that are the main culprit for polluting Delhi’s air. Imagine the kind of outrage there will be if the government or the court passed an order mandating use of only CNG and LPG for cars on Delhi roads.

And what about firecrackers? Last year, 50,00,000 kilograms of firecrackers were burst on the day of Diwali in Delhi alone. Since there is a ban on sale of firecrackers in Delhi (except on the green ones especially developed by the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), the government acts against sellers and those bursting ‘illegal’ firecrackers. Interestingly, eco-friendly firecrackers are not completely green and they also pollute the air. This Diwali, 371 cases were registered with 166 people arrested and 3,500 kg of firecrackers seized, according to the Delhi Police.

But there is a stark difference between how the government acts against patakha and parali. The night of Diwali, the Air Quality Index (AQI) had hit 999, the maximum reading possible in the meter; Twitter was abuzz with the hashtag #CrackersWaliDiwali as people posted videos of themselves bursting firecrackers that are known to release more poisonous gases in the air. Not surprisingly, when media reports came out Wednesday about the rise in demand for pollution masks in Delhi, the blame once again went to the farmers, citing “government agencies”.

Farmers don’t burn stubble for fun
Unlike firecrackers, which are burst for entertainment, stubble burning is a necessity. There is a time-limit and urgency in the sowing pattern of crops in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh. This pattern changed after the green revolution in the 1960s. Farmers in these regions sow crops three times a year. This pattern makes it a necessity for them to keep the land ready for the next season.

Punjab agriculture secretary Kahan Singh Pannu has explained this to ThePrint’s Chitleen K. Sethi: “Since there is a very small window of sowing the next Rabi crop (mainly wheat) after paddy harvest, farmers tend to burn the paddy straw in the fields to prepare them for the next crop.”

The government is taking various steps, including providing 50 per cent subsidy on Super Straw Management System (SMS) for combine harvester machines. This means that farmers have to spend money on machines so that Delhi can breathe easily. The farmers are being asked by the governments to pay for clean air to Delhi’s residents.

But Delhi’s residents are not sharing this burden. They are only compounding the problem.

Delhiites burst firecrackers to celebrate
Diwali crackers are either about fun or some sort of status symbol for the people in Delhi. Firecrackers are a novelty in Indian culture, as “modern fireworks were only invented in the 1830s”. The first factory came up in present-day Kolkata sometime in the 19th century. Hence, the bursting of firecrackers cannot be said to be any ancient religious practice. There is no credible argument to defend the practice of bursting firecrackers in a city like Delhi where there’s a lot of hue and cry over pollution from stubble burning every year.

Not surprisingly, the Supreme Court has taken a middle path by not banning the sale and bursting of all firecrackers. The government has walked the extra mile and launched eco-friendly firecrackers. But the AQI reading on the night of Diwali and the day after were proof that Delhi’s residents flouted the Supreme Court ban on polluting firecrackers.

So, this is where we stand at the moment: Delhi’s wealthy residents can happily pollute the city’s air in an act of celebration without any consideration for others’ health (or their own), but they want the farmers to stop burning the stubble, which is a necessity for them and doesn’t come with an easy alternative. The state and all its apparatus – the government, the judiciary, the police – will go hard against the farmers while coming up with ineffective alternatives or a way out for people’s celebratory acts.

The way Delhi’s burden of air pollution is shared among societies today is like ancient India’s division of labourers, where some people existed only to consume and others to serve. Today, some hold the privilege to pollute Delhi’s air while others are forced to look for alternatives or face action.

(Source: The Print)

Satyabhama: The fiery woman who killed Narakasura

Five days of Diwali and each has a different story behind it. One Diwali story of this particular day – Narakchaturdashi is interesting essentially because it celebrates an unusual aspect in love and relationship: that of gender equality in marriage.  Though Narakchaturdashi, which falls on the second day, is often observed as the commemoration of the death and destruction of the tyrant Narkasura, what most often do not know is that it was a woman who killed him: Satyabhama, the fiery wife of Krishna, her partner in peril who helped her case and cause.

What lies behind this simple story of victory of good over evil is the subtle subtext: illuminating the importance of cooperation and collaboration for perfect partnership in a relationship. The story goes that it was Satyabhama who with her husband, Krishna, killed the demon king Narkasura with whom this day is associated with. He was the demon son of Vishnu’s boar avatar Varaha and the earth-goddess Bhudevi.  As the unrivalled emperor of Pragjyotishpur, Narakrasura brought all the kingdoms on earth under his sway, capturing 16,000 princesses of defeated kingdoms, and imprisoning them at Audaka atop the mountain Maniparvata, guarded by Mura, the five-headed demon and his ten sons.

What lies behind this simple story of victory of good over evil is the subtle subtext: illuminating the importance of cooperation and collaboration for perfect partnership in a relationship.

Spurred by his success and ambition, he turned towards Amravati and Swargalok and defeated the mighty Indra, forcing him to flee the heavens. To add insult to injury, Narakasura stole the precious earrings of the heavenly Aditi, mother of Indra and the devas. An enraged Aditi, who was a relative of Satyabhama, approached Krishna’s wife for help. An indignant Satyabhama readily agreed and sought her husband as an ally. Krishna who was aware that Narakasura as per the boon by Brahma, could only be killed by his ‘mother’ Bhumidevi, and that his wife was an avatar of Bhudevi, decides to help Satyabhama as her charioteer in her battle against Narakasura. As promised to the Devas and Aditi, Krishna attacked the impregnable fortress at Pragjyotisha, riding his mount Garuda with wife Satyabhama.

Krishna who was aware that Narakasura as per the boon by Brahma, could only be killed by his ‘mother’ Bhumidevi, and that  his wife was an avatar of Bhudevi, decides to help Satyabhama as her charioteer in her battle against Narakasura.

A great war was fought where Narakasura attacked Krishna and rendered him unconscious. A livid Satyabhama retaliates and with all her fury, attacks and kills Narakasura. As an incarnation of Bhudevi and thus, Narakasura’s mother, she was able to rid the earth of his terrors, while honouring Brahma’s boon. As he lay dying, Narakasura begged his mother for a blessing: that the world remember him with joy, not hate. His mother, Bhudevi as Satyabhama agrees and announces that this day of his death be celebrated, never mourned, as a day of joy and celebration:  Satyabhama not just wins the war, but kills Narakasura, but not before recovering the precious earrings and freeing the 16,000 girls who later married Krishna in a gesture of retrieving lost honour and conquered territories.

Satyabhama not just wins the war, but kills Narakasura, but not before recovering the precious earrings and freeing the 16,000 girls who later married Krishna in a gesture of retrieving lost honour and conquered territories.

As a mark of victory, Krishna is said to have streaked his forehead with Narkasura’s blood and when he returned home, his wives washed the blood off him, and anointed him with perfumed oils and an elaborate bath: an early morning ritual still followed by many to wake up at dawn on Narak Chaturdashi and have an uttan perfumed oil-bath before sunrise. Some apply kumkum on their foreheads before the bath, akin to the smearing of the blood of Narakasur by Lord Krishna.

What this day celebrates is equality in marriage, the day when a man and woman come together to fight a battle and win a war.

But what this day celebrates is equality in marriage, the day when a man and woman come together to fight a battle and win a war. It is support which is celebrated, not subservience, the day commemorating love and trust in each other with the promise to assist one another. What is significant here is the acknowledgement of our partners as equals, not subordinates and the story is told through the rightful character of the vivid Satyabhama. She, as an incarnation of the earth goddess, like Bhudevi is naturally earthy, of the primeval, fierce woman archetype, who never submits to authority. As his wife, Satyabahama demands to be an equal, accompanying Krishna even on the battlefield. Krishna respects her demands as a wife and as a trained, capable warrior who is to play a part in the drama of destiny to unfold.

This story of Satyabhama also leads to the story of Vishnu having two wives – Sridevi (Lakshmi) and Bhudevi which stems from the legend of the Varaha avatar of Vishnu who in the form of a boar rescued Bhudevi, the earth goddess from under the primordial seas, where the demon, Hiranyaksha had captured her. As Bhudevi takes her rescuer, Vishnu as her husband, she has a chance to return the favour in her avatar as Satyabhama, Krishna’s co-wife and co-warrior. Love also means fighting battles and winning wars – together.

(Source: She the People TV)

Glow of innocence

Gita Haldankar was 16 when she posed for the iconic ‘Lady With the Lamp’ painting. At 100, she is still a picture of elegance

A thing of beauty is a joy forever/Its loveliness increases; it will never/Pass into nothingness, wrote John Keats in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the lines ring true for Gita Krishnakant Uplekar, who as a 16-year-old beauty posed for her father, S.L. Haldankar, the renowned painter. Seeing her in a Nauvari sari holding a lamp during Diwali celebrations, he immediately decided to capture the image on his canvas and thus was born ‘Lady With the Lamp’, aka ‘Glow of Hope’ painting. The painting is now displayed at the Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery at the Jaganmohan Palace in Mysuru.

Gita is now 100, but she continues to be a picture of grace and elegance, and shutterbugs simply can’t have enough of her. “Recently, we celebrated her 100th birthday with a grand feast for 150 people and the guest of honour was Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur,” says her son Raj Prakash Krishnakant Uplekar.

Timeless beauty: Gita with a copy of the painting | Amey Mansabdar

Although Gita’s vision has blurred and she is a little hard of hearing, she remembers the events leading to the painting vividly. “It was the day of Diwali and I was lighting lamps on our big terraced flat. When my father saw me with a lamp, wearing my mother’s sari [I used to wear only skirt and blouse], he told me that he would make my portrait,” says Gita, at her home in Kolhapur. “Immediately after Diwali, he made me stand for the portrait in his studio downstairs. Later, the Maharaja of Mysore bought the painting for Rs 300.”

Haldankar, who hailed from Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, was persuaded to go to Mumbai by his headmaster, who saw his talent early on. Though it was a life of hardship initially, Haldankar carved a niche for himself. “He went on to establish the Haldankar Fine Arts Institute in 1908, as well as the Art Society of India, along with a few friends, in 1918,” says Sampada Haldankar, his granddaughter. “He also received two commendation certificates from the Royal Society of British Artists, London, and the Governor’s Prize by the British Government of Bombay Presidency in 1910, 1927 and 1932. In Independent India, he was felicitated by Dr Rajendra Prasad, and was made a fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi.”

Place in posterity: Gita’s brother Vijay Anand Sawlaram Haldankar and his daughter Aradhana pose next to the original painting kept at the Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery in Mysuru.

Haldankar had, in fact, painted the pictures of all his three daughters. He also had four sons. “It was because of the 3D effect of sorts that Gita’s painting received so much critical acclaim,” says Sampada. “A painting of another aunt is displayed at the Nagpur Museum. My father took us to Mysuru to see the painting, and when he said he was Haldankar’s son, everybody was so excited to have us there. We were told that ‘Lady With the Lamp’ gets several visitors each day, besides the Raja Ravi Varma Gallery, of course, which is right next door. Only this painting is on display in that particular room. They switch off the lights and because the painting has a 3D effect, you actually feel that the light is glowing on her face. It is when the lights are switched off that the real effect is felt, and you can see the orange colour of the flame on her fingers.”

Most people mistake it for one of Raja Ravi Varma’s works. “It is a pre-Independence watercolour painting by Haldankar and he deliberately created a watercolour painting, and not an oil painting because he wanted to show that a watercolour painting could be made without any errors,” says Sampada, who grew up in a house full of paintings, with models walking in and out at all times. “In fact, it was over there that my father’s brother, Gajanan Sawlaram Haldankar, did a beautiful painting of Sam Manekshaw.”

Gita with son Raj Prakash Krishnakant Uplekar and daughter-in-law Rajlakshmi | Amey Mansabdar

According to Professor Prabhakar Kolte, who went to and later taught at J.J. School of Arts, the painting is a “wonderful study of light and human form. Light was his subject and his reason for expression. He wanted to paint the light and not the model is what I feel,” says Kolte. “Haldankar’s treatment of the sari is very personal. He is deeply concerned with the texture of the sari, and that can be seen in the strokes for the folds.”

Poet and art critic Ranjit Hoskote says “Works like Haldankar’s passed into a popular vocabulary of art partly because the paintings were reproduced extensively. Images such as ‘Lady With the Lamp’ came to embody a new emerging modern Indian art in the popular consciousness.” Also, watercolour portraits and landscapes happen to be one of the traditions of J.J. School of Arts, where Haldankar studied, says Hoskote.

Mumbai has paid its dues to Haldankar by naming a road after him. A few years ago, the French government expressed interest in acquiring the painting for a handsome sum, says Sampada, but the Maharaja of Mysore politely declined saying that the painting would never leave his art gallery.

(Source: The Week)

Why celebrate Naraka Chaturdashi?

This happened in the Krita Yuga (Golden Age). Hiranyaksha, an asura, dived into the ocean. To rescue earth, Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a wild boar, Varaaha, and went after the asura.

Varaaha overpowered Hiranyaksha in the duel that he fought under the water, and restored earth to its original position in the universe.

Varaaha achieved this magnificent feat with apparent ease, and the only sign of his exertion was a drop of sweat, which fell on the ground. A fully grown young warrior arose from this drop of Lord Varaaha’s sweat. His name was Naraka.

Bhoodevi or Mother Earth took a liking to this son of hers and asked Lord Varaaha that her son should become invincible. Varaaha pulled out one of his tusks and gave it to Naraka saying he could use it as a weapon whenever he was in great danger.

“Use your great powers to do only good, son,” said Lord Varaaha. “Uphold dharma.”

Naraka went away to seek his fortune.

“I’ve no doubt he will become the most powerful warrior in the three worlds,” said Bhoodevi expressing admiration for her son.

“Powerful, he will certainly be,” said Lord Varaaha. “Will he also uphold dharma? What makes an individual great is his adherence to dharma.”

To strike at Naraka’s capital, Krishna had to penetrate four layers of its defenses. He flew over the outermost ring of walls made of rocks, he crossed the rings of fire and of spears.

Centuries rolled by. Krita Yuga was followed by Treta Yuga and then came Dwapara Yuga (we are in the Kali Yuga that followed the Dwapara Yuga). By then, people who had acquired power but brushed aside dharma had grown in number. Simply put, upholding dharma means being kind, truthful, caring and helpful. Its opposite, adharma, means being untruthful, arrogant, violent and destructive.

Lord Vishnu would take birth on earth to uphold dharma and to root out adharma. Each of his births is called an avatar or the descent of the Lord.

In the Dwapara Yuga, Lord Vishnu had come down to Earth as Krishna, the Yadava hero. He vanquished his wicked uncle Kamsa. He brought about the destruction of kings who were not adhering to dharma.

Meanwhile, Naraka had grown very powerful. Ruling from his impregnable fortress of Prag-jyotisha-pura or the land of the rising sun, he had conquered earth and heaven. Drunk with power, he snatched away the celestial ear rings of Aditi, the mother of the devas.

Indra, the Lord of the devas, sought Krishna’s help to vanquish the invincible Naraka. Sathyabhama, one of Krishna’s wives, was upset when she heard about the misdeeds of Naraka. She urged her husband to act. Armed with his Sudarshana chakra and other weapons, Krishna left for Prag-joyitisha-pura. Sathyabhama went with him. Both of them rode on Garuda, the celestial eagle, which served as a vehicle for Krishna.

To strike at Naraka’s capital, Krishna had to penetrate four layers of its defenses. He flew over the outermost ring of walls made of rocks, he crossed the rings of fire and of spears. Whoever tried to stop him was struck down. The chief defender of Naraka’s fort was Mura. Confident that none could penetrate the rings of defenses he had set up, Mura was relaxing deep down in the ring of water. As each layer of defense crumbled under Krishna’s attack, it caused violent ripples in the water, arousing Mura out of his slumber. Then he heard an ear shattering sound — it was Krishna blowing his conch, Panchajanya.

Enraged, Mura rushed out to stage a counter attack. He fell fighting Krishna, who earned the name, Muraari, the enemy of Mura.

Ultimately Naraka himself came out of his palace to battle Krishna. The two fought day and night. It was hard to say who was more powerful. Naraka was saving the weapon given to him by his father, Lord Varaaha, precisely for such an occasion. On the dark night of Chaturdashi, the fourteenth day of the fortnight of new moon, Naraka took out the deadly tusk of Lord Varaaha and threw it at Krishna. Struck in the chest Krishna fell unconscious. Even as Naraka raised a cry of victory, Sathyabhama picked up the bow and continued the fight. In Satyabhama, Naraka found a worthy foe. He had no clue as to how to stop her onslaught.

As the duel between the two raged on, Krishna opened his eyes. Naraka was startled to see Krishna stand up. If the dreaded weapon of Lord Varaaha had failed, it meant only one thing — his opponent was none other than Lord Varaaha himself, his father. Naraka was dazed. Lord Varaaha’s warning words now rang in his ears: “Use your powers to do only good, son. Uphold dharma.”

He had failed to follow his father’s advice. He meekly submitted, as Krishna threw his Sudarshana chakra at him.

As his life was webbing away, Naraka joined his hands in salutation to Krishna and Sathyabhama. Moved at the sight of the fallen asura, Sathyabhama rushed to him.

Krishna silently watched the reunion of mother and son. Sathyabhama was none other than Bhoodevi, born again!

Naraka saw the light in his dying moments. The darkness was lifted as the dawn broke. That day is celebrated as the festival of lights, Deepavali or Diwali, which signifies that we have to emerge from darkness to light.

(Adapted from the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana.)

(Source: Katha Kids)

An open letter by a chauvinist Hindu to the secular haze-clogged Shashi Tharoor

“Wasting water” during Holi and “colours on innocent animals” become a matter of concern for you who sits inside your private pools and travels in Business class planes. You cry of Patriarchal oppression during Karwa Chauth. But you don’t see patriarchy in “Mutilating female gentiles. “ With Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja you crib about polluting water but ironically you don’t talk about the rivers of blood and animal waste that flows into the same water sources. You pick on every single Hindu celebration and mock our culture with a simple claim of being Environment unfriendly. Dear sir, we are tired of the Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations & outright lies that you speak, write, opinion about and sell in the name of being secular, writes Ashish Saradka, an engineer working for HP, in an open letter to Shahsi Tharoor on Readoo. Read on: 

Dear Shashi Tharoor sir,

This is an open letter to address the difference of opinions I have with the ‘Hindu Haze’ that you see in Deepawali,” and by a Hindu who is sad to be called “an individual polarized by the triumphalist people. Let us not barge into personal conflicts of deciding who is polarized and who is triumphalist. At least these words get huge on an average Indian travelling on an economy class seat in an aeroplane, unlike someone who thinks economy class as a “Cattle herd”.

Shashi Tharoor 

✔@ShashiTharoor

Bakr-Id sacrifices hurt only goats; Muharram mourners flagellate themselves, but Diwali firecrackers affect celebrants&non-revellers alike.

11:15 PM - Oct 10, 2017

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To start with, you go on to mention the pleas of parents to ban crackers has been an age-old demand in Delhi and how it causes pollution in the city by smog which clouds above the city during winters. Delhi NCR experiences winter in the months of December and January, which is over 45 days away from the Deepawali celebrations. To add furthermore, let us just look into what actually pushes in more pollutants to the atmosphere.

Delhi registers a record growth of around 9.9% vehicles every year, a data from Delhi government shows the increase in the number of vehicles in Delhi from 8.8 million in 2014-15 to 9.7 million in 2015-16. If we try to say cracker bursting is Willful polluting, then adding new vehicles is also the same. A city which hosts around 20 million people having half the number of vehicles in itself is alarming. And remember these vehicles pollute the city every single day, unlike 3 days during Deepawali.

For a moment before we discuss the ‘Hindu Chauvinism’ that is cribbing against the cracker ban let us just look back at old days when you celebrated things. I understand that you feel that stadium inaugurations, political party victories, New Year eve, Christmas can be celebrated with crackers, but celebrating Deepawali with crackers is bad!

Shashi Tharoor 

✔@ShashiTharoor

The fireworks illuminate the sky above Tvm's state-of-the-art stadium after the opening ceremony of @kerala2015

6:04 PM - Jan 31, 2015

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Now coming to the age-old debate of a bloodless Muharram, you speak about only goats being harmed. There are two reasons I am sad about this line of argument sir.

Shashi Tharoor 

✔@ShashiTharoor

Disgraceful BJP political pandering to retrograde elements inTN&Maharashtra results in torture of bulls. Urge Animal Welfare Board to appeal

8:35 AM - Jan 10, 2016

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Shashi Tharoor 

✔@ShashiTharoor

Absurd to justify inhumane conduct on the grounds of traditional culture. Sati was also part of traditional culture:will BJP justify it now?

8:36 AM - Jan 10, 2016

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These were your reactions when people wanted Jallikattu. We can’t justify animal torture in the name of traditional culture. Can we? Isn’t hurting and torturing goats in line with the above sentiments sir? Didn’t we all cry against the torturing of dogs in Yulin festival in China? Wasn’t that just about hurting animals?

Well, again let us not discuss on the sentiments and emotions attached with these celebrations. Let us check it from the perspective of pollution, the carbon footprint and the pollution caused by the meat consumption that accompanies these celebrations! A survey from PETA says that a staggering 51 percent or more of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef. Going by your words banning beef is a way to stop willful pollution of the environment, isn’t it? Let us all consume Tofu instead. Coming back with a prerogative saying “People have the right to eat what they want isn’t allowed. Because people are not let to burn what they feel like for celebrations.

Sir, we agree on your discourse where you say,” Diwali firecrackers effect both revellers and non-revellers alike. And Lord Ram was not welcomed with crackers.” Yes, we need to ban anything that effects the revellers and the non-revellers alike. And also things that were not a part of a tradition. For your information sir, loudspeakers were not a part of any Masjids or any tradition till the late 1920’s, something which isn’t as debatable as the timeline of the invention of gunpowder used in crackers.

Going by your own words and observations, Article 25 of the Indian Constitution grants Indians the freedom to practice religion “subject to public order, morality and health”. But if a religious observance – however, sanctified by centuries of tradition – affects the health of the public, modern civic responsibility suggests it must be modified. There are crores of people effected by noise created 5 times a day 365 days a year and their hearing capacities are in danger. Doesn’t our civic responsibility urge us to stop that?

One more point sir. I strongly disapprove of you denying the claims of Hinduism is in danger, because I am tired of people poking fingers into my eyes every time I celebrate my festivals, every time I try and follow what my ancestors have laid out in front of me to follow. I am afraid of Hinduism being a punching bag for all of you ‘Intellectuals’ to throw punches at whenever you are frustrated or feel like appeasing someone. I am sad about the double standards that you follow dictate terms like, “Harming Nature, sentiments, cruelty” clause in every Hindu celebration.

“Wasting water” during Holi and “colours on innocent animals” become a matter of concern for you who sits inside your private pools and travels in Business class planes. You cry of Patriarchal oppression during Karwa Chauth. But you don’t see patriarchy in “Mutilating female gentiles. “ With Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja you crib about polluting water but ironically you don’t talk about the rivers of blood and animal waste that flows into the same water sources. You pick on every single Hindu celebration and mock our culture with a simple claim of being Environment unfriendly.

Dear sir, we are tired of the Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations & outright lies that you speak, write, opinion about and sell in the name of being secular. Please stop picking on us Hindus and dissecting Hindutva for personal and political gains. Let the ‘Dharma’ of this land flourish for years and years to come. Let us leave the traits of the rich tradition that we have for our descendants to come than try and malign it in the name of liberation.