Its that time again

Its that time of the year again, where the skies will be filled with lights and the silence will be disturbed by loud bangs. Now besides the actual fireworks causing a racket, the people will be making quite a noise as well. You see every year around about this time you get those that honestly do care about the noise pollution and trauma it causes to animals then you get those that feel the need to make a noise because they can. You know the type that try to give Hindu's like me a lecture on how to celebrate my culture. Now while I dont want to get into any religious raucous regarding this issue, for those that want to explain to me how I suppose to celebrate Diwali, please dont waste your time. I know back in the day when my lord returned from exile, the small village of Ayodya didnt hire pyrotechnicians to celebrate his home coming with his wife Sita & brother Laxman. They lit lamps and welcomed him with song and dance, most probably like a Bollywood movie, but like many things in this world, things evolve. Cultural celebrations did too and thats exactly what happened with Diwali, please dont tell me Jesus sat there at his birthday pulling crackers with his family & waited with bated breath to see what Santa brought for him. Some where along the years people incorporated fireworks with it and so it went on.

Now dont get me wrong, Im not saying stuff the naysayers and screw the animals, I love pets, be it a dog, cat, bird, monkey. I've seen first hand at what this noise does to them. Its not a laughing matter AT ALL. Hence the reason for this blog. My family owned a business in the Durban CBD for 79 years, we sold fireworks twice a year (legally, with a license to sell explosives issued by the Police & Fire Department) this being for Diwali & the normal year end celebrations. There are a number of different explosives available now to purchase, some so dangerous that it will cause serious bodily harm, hence the warnings that go with them. The SA government did do its best to ban the really loud ones but there are still those on the market that produce the same amount of sound but since its made safer (i.e has a long fuse & a 10 second flare warning before the explosion) that they allowed to be sold. Now Im not a fan of these that just shatter your ear drums, I like the display stuff. You know, the ones that go high up and make pretty flowers in the sky, ya those.

Also as I may like them, I dont buy them, they cost a huge amount of money and in actual sense you are burning money! I rather just stand on my 3rd level balcony and enjoy the view, also try to practice my photography.

Getting back to the issue at hand now, the fireworks itself, we've seen many a year where the front pages have had pictures of kids with half blown of fingers etc. Please for god sake, if you're going to buy fireworks for your kids, please make sure they are old enough to handle it and be there when they are using it! Its not a toy. Also Diwali is one day, not 8 days in a row. You celebrate on the one day and thats it. Some people seem to think they need days of preparation for the main event, I dont like to have the shit scared out of me whilst Im nestled on my sofa enjoying my favourite TV program okay? Also if you dont live in an area where people are tolerable to you bursting these explosives, find a place where you can gather with others to celebrate together. The last thing we want now is to cause trouble on a auspicious day, I know its your house and you can do what you want but sometimes it helps to take the higher ground. Then to those that have pets, please take the proper precautions as you know fully well whats going on. Lastly to those that want to cause trouble, whether its by picking fights or the misuse of fireworks, I honestly have nothing to say to you, besides get a life.

Happy Diwali to all