Every Indian holiday requires fireworks, and every god has a holiday, some of which stretch over several days. Since – not counting Jesus and Allah – there are about 300 gods in the Hindu pantheon, pretty much every day around here lends itself to an excuse to set off loud noisemakers or hire a drum band in the name of religion. (And whatever days are left over, chances are there’ll be a sporting event, political rally, or birthday party to pick up the slack.)
The fireworks that are available are pretty incredible – we’ve seen enormous displays going off from the streets and rooftops around us. There are multirocket packs that you can buy that set off exploding rockets for 20 minutes – just light and leave. The firecracker packs are huge, loud, and cheap. Of course, they’re not always very safe. There are news stories nearly every day about people (kids) hurt, blinded, and killed by them.
Of course, I would never think of doing anything irresponsible with fireworks. But in case anyone asks, remember that the Rambo brand firecrackers go off instantaneously and will burn your hand badly unless you lay a lit incense stick across the fuse, run away, and wait for it to burn down to the firework fuse and set it off. In case you were wondering.
Speaking of irresponsibility, Tuesday was the big kite flying day around the country. While not really as popular in Mumbai - since there are buildings and that sort of thing that block most of the open air space - in many of the smaller towns, the holiday of Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan is a huge deal. It is a celebration of the day the sun supposedly begins to travel back north (I had always been taught that this day is December 22, the day after the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, but it is marked on January 14 here. Who knew that the laws of solar movement differed from country to country?).
People fly kites using strings coated with powdered glass and try to cut each others’ strings. If you read the book “The Kite Runner” you know what I’m talking about. Apparently numerous birds are injured or killed every year, both during the festival itself and in the weeks following it as the strings caught in trees or power lines continue to ensnarl them. Birds’ wings get cut open, their feet get sliced off, and they get wrapped up and bleed to death. Animal rights groups are not too excited about all this.
Even worse, Wednesday’s papers were full of articles about all the people who were killed due to the festival. The causes of death ranged from kite flyers who fell off their roofs, kids getting electrocuted retrieving kites from power lines, people chasing kites and getting smacked by cars, buses, or trains, and innocent bystanders driving down the road on motorcycles and having their throats slit by the sharpened string (actually, decapitated was the word used in several news stories).
Yee haw.
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