Pollution, Prayers, and Plaster: How India Celebrates in Style (and Smog)

 

Pollution, Prayers, and Plaster: How India Celebrates in Style (and Smog)

These days are considered celebration days in India, where people are busy reveling in a never-ending loop of festivals across the country. Ah, yes, the joy of festival season! The bright lights, the loud music, and of course, the charming combination of environmental and mental pollution. Let’s pause for a moment and examine this blissful chaos. What a time to be alive, right?

Take, for example, Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja. Nothing quite says devotion like creating giant, brightly painted idols of gods and goddesses, and then dunking them into rivers and lakes like some kind of divine bath time ritual. It started as a simple act of worship but, like all great things in life, someone saw a commercial opportunity. Now, it’s a grand spectacle, complete with heaps of plaster, toxic paints, and enough garbage to make Mother Nature weep. Those once-pure rivers and lakes, so full of life, now serve as the unfortunate burial grounds for our celebratory trash. But hey, what’s a little water pollution when you’ve got tradition on your side?

And let’s not forget Diwali, the festival of lights! What could be more beautiful than lighting up the night sky with fireworks, all while suffocating on the thick, toxic haze they leave behind? Every year, the air quality dips to “congratulations-you’re-breathing-poison” levels, but does anyone care? Of course not. After all, life and death are natural phenomena, so why not speed things along a little? Who needs clean air when you have sparkling fireworks to light up the already-smoggy skies? And if you end up in the hospital wheezing from the pollution, just think of it as an extended holiday celebration.

Now, we need to discuss mental pollution, because what’s a little environmental damage without some emotional chaos to go with it? The real beauty of these festivals lies in the prayers and rituals that have been carefully crafted over centuries. Listen closely to the words recited during worship, and you’ll realize something fascinating: they normalize behaviors that, in any other context, might just raise a few eyebrows. Adultery, betrayal, and violence—oh my! These tales are repeated so often and with such fervor that they’ve become unquestioned truths, seamlessly woven into the fabric of everyday life.

Take the example of the goddess Kali, for instance. What’s not to love about a deity who wears a garland of skulls? Sure, the skulls are supposedly of evil beings, but let’s not get caught up in the details. Just imagine if we applied this to modern-day villains—say, the average corrupt politician. Would it be acceptable to cut off their heads and wear them as jewelry? No? Well, maybe not in reality, but the prayers do plant some pretty intriguing ideas, don’t they?

Speaking of intriguing characters, let’s not forget about figures like Ram Rahim. Some might think he’s a recent addition to the pantheon of dubious spiritual leaders, but the truth is, he’s part of a long-standing tradition. Spiritual leaders involved in all sorts of morally questionable activities? It’s practically a staple of religious storytelling! These stories are passed down, generation after generation until they become part of the background noise, so normalized that no one even bats an eye. And let’s be honest, without these colorful tales of scandal and exploitation, life would be so much duller. Who needs Netflix when you’ve got centuries of juicy religious drama?

Now, let’s talk about the ultimate spiritual hustle: surrender. The message is simple—abandon your ego, give yourself over to God, and peace will follow. Sounds great, right? Except for one little twist: you’re not really surrendering to God. Oh no, you’re surrendering to the guru, the human middleman who, conveniently, is very much real and all too happy to accept your devotion. God, as described in these rituals, might be intangible, but the guru? He’s sitting right there, probably with a smug grin on his face, ready to emotionally exploit you for all you’re worth.

This grand tradition of manipulation goes back centuries. Imagine the good old days, when resources were scarce, and people spent cold months huddled together, with not much to do besides chop wood and, well, make babies. Entertainment options were limited, to say the least. Naturally, this led to a spike in births during certain months, and with limited medical care, it also led to a spike in infant mortality. Ah, the circle of life! People clung to anything that could give them a little comfort in those harsh times, and religion was the cozy blanket they wrapped themselves in.

Fast forward to today, and not much has changed, except that the festivals have gotten bigger and more destructive. People still seek solace in rituals, and these celebrations continue to grow, unchecked by things like reason or environmental concern. The mental conditioning that began centuries ago is alive and well, encouraging people to surrender to questionable moral frameworks and to find comfort in stories that really should have expired by now. But hey, why evolve when you can stay comfortably stuck in a centuries-old cycle of overindulgence and uncritical acceptance?

So, what’s the takeaway here? Festivals are a time of joy, sure, but they also have a not-so-fun dark side that we all seem to conveniently ignore. The environmental and mental pollution caused by these celebrations is a reflection of a society that just can’t seem to quit its bad habits. Maybe it’s time to hit pause, do a little introspection, and ask ourselves: is all this destruction really necessary? Can we still enjoy the festivities without sacrificing the environment and our sanity? Only then can we begin to address the real issues that are holding us back from true progress. Until then, grab your fireworks, your idols, and your unquestioning devotion, and let’s keep the party going! After all, what’s a little pollution when there’s tradition to uphold?