The Festival of Victory by Mannat Malhotra

 

Dussehra is a famous festival of Hindus which is celebrated before Dipawali. It is also known a Vijayadashmi . Dussehra is celebrated on the tenth day in the shukla pakshaof the Ashwin month which is a Indian calender.

People all over India celebrate Dussehra with great pomp and show. Dussehra is the festivals which remarks victory of good over evil. But in my heart an evil of having a school holiday and taking a break from studies wins in this festive season. It is believed that , on this day lord Rama killed Ravan and goddess Durga killed mahishasura on this day.

Dussehra is celebrated in different manner in various parts of the country. On dussehra, effigies of Ravana along with his brothers kunbhakarna and son meghnath are burnt . Fairs and exhibitions are held at various places. People start new work on this day.

Though every year we plan to go for seeing effigy burning but this Dashera we made a conscious decision not to visit public places. The primary reason was maddening crowd and callous arrangements. At some places we saw arrangements were being made in close vicinity of residential houses to burn the effigies. This sight itself was scary. The organisers ignoring the laws and compromising the safety of people living in neighbourhood, have installed these effigies to celebrate the occasion. Though there is a freedom of religion in India, but the freedom should not come at the cost of compromising the safety and security measures especially when due to heavy car parking and traffic snarls the travelling  time of fire brigades have increased significantly.

When I am writing this blog, the AQI in Delhi has crossed 500. GRAP IV restrictions have been implemented. Schools have been shut and operating in virtual mode. Though we all love and crave to see burning of effigies, but still, I feel we need to respect the environment and should avoid activities which cause pollution. Instead, we may choose to burn the effigy of evil inside us and spread light and happiness in people around us by continuing our little philanthropic humble initiatives!