Standing up to your family - A Diwali story
My metro-riding, super ecological conscious husband succumbed to peer pressure once. He joined in the mindlessness of cracker bursting and hasn’t celebrated a single Diwali, ever since, not regretting it. No one on this page bursts crackers, I am certain. But have some of us kept quiet or even gingerly swirled a phuljhadi or two, because its tough to stand up and say NO, especially when its your family? (By the way, Phuljhadi is one of the MOST polluting of crackers that there is…) That fateful night of lapsed reasoning, was in my in-law’s house. The whole family was bursting crackers and apparently enjoying the toxic air. I remember standing in the balcony, glaring and refusing to participate. Today, my parents in-law have a solar panel installed, lead a very conscious zero waste life and wouldn’t dream of pumping in fumes into their children/grand-childrens’ lungs. It is easy to dial 100 and complain about a neighbour bursting crackers. But its TOUGH when its your ...