Perspectives and perceptions

I, a resident of Takshila, Bldg. No XX would like to bring to your notice the sheer inhumanity with which crackers are being bursted in the colony. One would expect that a colony has some rules and regulations, which must not permit the bursting of crackers beyond a certain time limit. For all practical purposes, a 10 O’Clock deadline must be imposed upon those who wish to burst crackers within the colony. It is sheer insanity to permit the people who burst long malas / laddis at 11:30 PM on the main road of the colony. Presently in our colony, we have around 33 Bldgs each consisting of numerous flats. The people living in these flats range from the young children to the senior citizens. Apart from humans, we also have a healthy population of dogs and cats in the colony. I have observed, every festival crackers are being bursted without any consideration and no action is being taken against the people. Buildings should instruct their members not to burst crackers such as Atom Bomb...

I'm sick and tired of firecrackers! It's always the same story, whether it's Ganeshotsav, Durga Puja, Navratri, Diwali.... I don't understand when the concept of sparklers and anars changed to atom bombs, laxmi bombs and laddis... Why must a child, boys, or anybody even want to crack these crackers?! To what pleasure? To whose liking? For whom? Why must we attempt to stimulate the terror and horror that real terrorists shower upon us? Why must we tune our lives to their sounds? Why should our Diwali be shrouded with sounds and bangs of horrifyingly loud crackers? Is it that big a nexus that the Govt. cannot simply ban the crackers and the allied sound items?! What sort of a Government are we living in? In my school, 10 years ago, we were taught about how entirely harmful crackers are, not just as a product but also as a means... child labour is used to produce crackers, the crackers cause noise pollution, air pollution, land pollution, and yet we continue and allow thei...

Take charge of your own things, no one else will do it for you. I suffered from lack of proactiveness on my part, and I'm going to literally have to pay for it. Rs. 1,000/- for not having submitted my CET form in time, a literal way to show that you got to take charge. Well, life, I'm now listening!

Talking about responsibilities, Civic Responsibilities are the responsibilities that we have for being a citizen of the country. Yes we get a raw deal, I see my parents putting in more than they can, each day and receiving much lesser than what they actually deserve, yet they will make all attempts to be responsible citizens. What is it that defines this spirit? The feeling that when you call it yours, you want to change the way things are, you want to make a difference to the place around you, you want to live in a better environment. In an argument in the local trains, when a woman was stopped from throwing some litter into the creek by a college girl, the woman quite embarassed and miffed, snapped at her, saying, "What's your problem?" The smart girl that she was, replied, "26th July, that's my problem" (26th July 2005 was the year in which Bombay Suburbs received 944 mm of rain in a span of 3 odd hours, it caused absolute havoc to the entire system, and ...