TO BURST OR NOT TO BURST
LT COL NOEL ELLIS
05/XI/2021
There is a lot of debate whether we should light
firecrackers on Diwali or not. Some say to hell with Court orders. Who are they
to decide? ‘Air Pollution’ is not due to crackers alone, they argue. Well, I am
not getting into the ‘ifs and buts’ of all that.
Definitely a small Rangoli, ‘earthen lamps’,
candles & fairy lights are part of the outdoors. Our daughter does the
honours for ‘Rangoli’. Earlier, I would take her to the market to buy colours,
now she has grown up and gets them on her own.
As a child she would insist on buying crackers too.
Most girls are not into bombs, especially loud sounding ones. Flares, anars,
fulljharis, snake ki tikli, chakris and rockets are fine. Papas are around to
ensure that there is a lit candle available to light the next cracker.
The local potter market too does brisk business.
Diya’s are bought well in advance, soaked in water, filled with oil and kept
aside. Wicks of cotton are made at home. One diya is dedicated to the armed
forces personnel serving at the borders and missing their homes.
Personally, one was never fond of crackers.
Especially the ‘Atom Bomb’ kinds. We would put those under old jam tins, light
them and run for life. More than the bomb it would be the height to which that
tin would be thrown in the air which mattered. Old ‘manjha’ used to fly kites
was tied between electric poles to watch a cracker called ‘Whistling Train’. It
would go one way and then return on the same line exactly like a train.
One never realised that crackers would turn to
‘real explosives’ and ‘missiles’ after joining the Army. When a rocket launcher
fires, it seems someone has taken off your pants, when the ‘back blast’ hits
the 'firer'. Huge detonations and firing weapons became routine.
More than kids, it is the animals who have a
terrible time. Earlier we used to stay on the sixteenth floor and the
neighbour’s dog would go bonkers. Reason was that a rocket would woosh up
sixteen floors and burst at window height.
It was terrible to see ‘Oreo’ and the other colony
dogs trembling. Many strays who used to growl at us found refuge between our
legs. A hand on their head calmed them down temporarily. ‘Boozo’ too was scared
but would run to bite off the cracker in frustration. Moment it would burst he
would run yelping and keep barking at even an anar. Oreo stayed indoors with us
at our feet, till it appeared all was clear. He won’t eat anything out of fear.
Worst time for them. The neighbour’s cat disappeared when the cracker bursting
started. They are still looking for it.
The sudden high pitched sound startles birds too. I
was visiting my brother in Sainik School Chittorgarh. It is a haven for
parrots. Thousands of them flock to the huge neem trees around the campus. We
all would go for a walk after dinner and invariably find our shirts smudged
with their droppings.
My brother found a solution to that. As we would
approach a tree next to the road & tell us to halt. He would then clap his
hands loudly. It was out of reflex action the parrots would release hundreds of
droppings out of fear. Imagine their reaction to a firecracker. A few claps and
we would pass under the tree fairly safe from getting painted with the smelly
poo.
As a child one recalled, dad used to keep crackers
for the ‘Sound and Light show’ which was held as part of our annual day. To
depict bombings and cannon fire while enacting scenes from wars, there had to
be loud explosions. Those days huge green coloured ‘Sutli bombs’ as big as ‘Green
label’ tea leaves box were common. They were supported by bamboo stilts for
stability. One day, yours truly took a chance, took it to the main road and lit
it. The explosion was followed by deafening for quite a while, thereafter
calling it curtains for me to light firecrackers.
Once we were buying crackers and a relative of mine
explained to the shopkeeper the type of rocket he wanted to buy. Bhaiya, show
us one which goes ‘Faaat-Phooosh-Phaat’. Faaat was when it was lit, Phooosh was
when it travelled and Phaat was the explosion in the sky. It took us some time
to decipher the secret code.
To burst or not to burst crackers is an individual
choice. What worries me most is the animals who shiver and urinate at every
burst of a cracker. Shouldn’t we spare a thought for them? I wonder!!!!!!!!!
JAI HIND & A HAPPY DIWALI
© NOEL ELLIS
Comments
Post a Comment