MADRAS MUSINGS

The air was hung with the odour of sulphur laced smoke..The festival of lights was over, and the air was all that harked back to the pomp and gaiety of the day before... People had clearly put their seemingly generous bonuses to good use, splashing out on crackers that ranged from the traditional to the 30-thousand-crackers-going-off-at-a-tim-name-be-damned!!

Chikungunya has been all the rage in Chennai these past few days, people from 2 years to 80 years contracting it.. Diwali, in this sense, couldnt be better timed, for there is nothing better than chemical laced smoke to drive away mosquitoes of any kind.. Could Diwali be the brainchild of anti-malaria activists trying to garner support from all and sundry for their noble cause?

I have never seen such festivity in my life.. In all my 8 Diwalis in Dubai combined my auditory and olfactory capacities have not had to undetgo such an assault!! Here comes two styles of celebration; One showing extraordinary largesse toward a more proclamatory tone, while another more muted, enforced as it may be..

I cannot help but mull: Have people forgot the essence of Diwali? That which was supposed to be the festival of lights now comes with extra trimmings: It is now the festival of lights, cacophony and smoke...The India of now may make the Vietnam, Korea et al of yore seem like marble playing fields!!

I have no issues with gunpowder that exudes ephemeral patterns of multicoloured luminescence.. Anything purchased and detonated with the intention of gaining that extra 100 decibels in the friendly neighbourhood rat race is what pisses me off, as it not only goes against the spirit of the festival, it's also very bad for the ears!!!!