Wasn't Diwali enough?

I am actually surprised that there are advertisements for purchasing crackers for "Pongal". Never heard or seen this one before. Having sensitive ears I have detested these high decibel crackers all my life. When I see small kids being encouraged by their elders to light and burst them I am appalled by the dumbness of these folks who think they can make a "brave" child out of their kids by doing so. Actually when I was a small child I did it for the same reasons too but as I grew older it just looked so ridiculous. There is absolutely nothing brave about it. Instead these high decibel explosions are only going to cause ear damage. Maybe many of these guys actually are hard of hearing and that's why seem impervious to these noises.

Apart from personal injury from fire crackers, noise is another thing these guys must be concerned about, particularly when there are the old and the convlascent around. Inspite of bans on loudspeakers and crackers being used after 10.00 P.M many folks indulge in them giving the law a "damn".

Luckily these days there's a growing trend in the fire crackers that fly up like rockets and light the sky (another thing we are taking from the west?). Whatever, this is a better way to go. In Singapore I was told that the a government ban on firecrackers had to be put into effect after at least three or four homes used to go up in flames every year (apart from accidents) during Chinese New Year celebrations when anyone (as it is in India) could light and play with firecrackers. I am not implying that we ban firecrackers but the noisy ones MUST go. We shouldn't forget that even these and most of the rest of the fireworks involve huge amount of child labour.