NEW DELHI: Parents and teachers might behave like separated twins with joint agendas throughout the year, but around Diwali, they seem to be on very different tracks. In many of the schools in the city, right before the Diwali break, the students are made to stand in the assembly ground and collectively swear that they will not celebrate Diwali with crackers. They are even asked to make charts and models on the theme of a 'green Diwali.' But even the students who take the whole process seriously say that they ultimately break down and light a phuljhadi or burst a gola bomb, not because they are tempted to do so, but because parents, grandparents, relatives and even peers make them.
Granny said it would be ashubh
Granny might always be your go-to person when you want to get your parents to give you more money, but on Diwali, her sense of shubh and ashubh doesn't exactly work in your favour. Ankit Sharma, 16, says, "Last Diwali, I refused to burst crackers because we had been to made to take an oath in our school that we will celebrate a green Diwali. Nobody said much when I did not burst crackers as a build up to Diwali, but when I did not light even a phuljhadi on the day of the festival, my daadi got mad. She was like, 'Joh teachers ne kaha bas wohi sahi hai? Saal mein ek baar Diwali aati hai, aur tum shagun ke patakhe tak nahin jalaoge?' So I had to burst some crackers."
Mom said it would be a waste of money
Just the way you can't buy super expensive shoes and then complain of shoe bites in front of your mom, you can't say no to crackers as long as your parents buy them for you on Diwali. Tia Anand, 14, says, "I never go Diwali shopping with my parents because I want to avoid the Diwali rush. And also because I mostly have exams right after the Diwali break, so I am swamped with work. So, my parents got me large boxes of crackers despite me telling them that I have taken the no-crackers oath in school. And when I said I don't want to burst crackers, they were like, 'How were we supposed to know that you were serious? We have spent so much money on the crackers, so now you can't waste it all."
Couldn't play the spoilsport at family Diwali get-togethers
For some students, compliance with what the 'society' thinks plays a role even on Diwali. Raghav Makkhan, 11, says, "Every Diwali, my family has a get-together with some fifty relatives, which cousins and all the uncles and aunties attend. And at the get-together, everybody wants to light chakris, ladis and anars. That and eating are pretty much what the kids are supposed to do there, so joining them is like an obligation. If you try to fight them too much, you are labelled the spoilsport."
Relatives got us crackers for presents
Zhilmil Nanda, 14, says, "On Diwali, you get so many gifts that if I were allowed to make a list of gifts I want and give it to the relatives, life would be perfect. But instead, I am always given big packs of crackers as Diwali gifts. Even if I tell my parents to just pass the stuff on, there are always those relatives who get you crackers on the day of the festival, so you have to use at least some of them or your parents give you the whole 'How come you don't think of the environment while doing 30 other silly things' look."
It's girly to not burst crackers, guy friends said
Twisted gender notions never fail to surprise you and Diwali is no surprise. Angad Raj, 15, says, "If the boys around you happen to like crackers, you cannot not be part of it, because they label you a sissy if you don't. If you try to tell the guys that you don't want to burst crackers because it's bad for the environment or simply because your teachers made you swear against it, they call you girly. And because of that, many guys just choose to burst crackers."
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