Gods during Festivals

As the festival season begins, so will the usual rants from the usual suspects on the impact on environment of various things –from threads to idols. We must pay attention to the intention behind such rants for there might be some that are well meaning. But we must also pay attention to the millions of workers and their families who’d have invested their time and money into harnessing the demands of the festival season. From catering orders to selling wild flowers, colored threads to making photo frames and large idols - huge amount of work is anticipated. In a temple economy, festivals are the triggers for consumer spending and economic revival – more so at the bottom of the pyramid. So if anyone argues about the time and money based rationale for an “Abhishekam” or “Govinda or Ganesh”, we must also ask them the rationale for the time and money spent in a pub. I mean, exactly what’s the contribution of few large pegs of Whiskey consumed over couple of hours to any of human/environment indicators? Or for that matter any other non-essential spending like a fancy car or movie at a mall or jewelry or something else. Emotional satisfaction? Well for the religiously inclined, that is exactly what a ritual would offer too in addition to better quality family and social bonding. You will be ridiculed with data on how the liquor industry, for example, employs large number of people and contributes to state coffers etc. Well, so does any festival related activity with lot more self-employment and lot less impact on environment – direct and collateral. There will not be data available due to the informal nature of this activity. So be it. We know it works.

So let’s not only celebrate the spiritual essence of the festivals but also make sure we cut some spending on the other non-essential material items and spend the same (and more) on the rituals. That is also one way of helping the fellow beings with a much lesser environmental cost.