Diwali - festival of pollution

Yet another Diwali has passed us. As I was driving today morning to office, and I start quite early, I could see the havoc caused by the firecrackers. In addition to the normal Indian street squalor, there was debris of the firecrackers strewn all over the place. I just cannot understand what right do we have to treat our roads and environment with such utter callousness? In what scripture is it mentioned that Diwali is to be celebrated in such a way?

According to the authorities, in Delhi there was more air and noise pollution than last year, as people preferred colorful and noisy firecrackers then ever before. Times of India Bangalore edition, dated 19th Oct, reported more than 25 eye injuries caused by firecrackers and quite a few of them resulting in permanent loss of sight. It is very hard to justify what goes on in the name of festival of lights, even if you are overly religious. It is not as if people don't know the problems of air and noise pollution. There have been numerous campaigns and awareness programs driven by NGOs requesting people to celebrate Diwali as festival of just lights. Even the central and state governments have exhorted Indians not to pollute the environment in the name of Diwali festivals. But, as it always happens in India when it comes to good civic sense, it is just ignored. Self pleasure and celebration always prevail over public good.

Here is yet another stark reflection of reality.

http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/oct/16/slide-show-1-world-food-day-the-worrying-indian-case.htm

It is even accepted by the Govt of India that of the one Rupee spent, not even 15 paise reaches the utterly poor. And there are NGOs who take your taxable money and return you back black money for a fee. I have read about misuse of funds collected for relief programs such as flood & Sunami victims rehab...and apart from everything else, most of the population is blissfully ignorant of either the problems or solutions. How do we hope for a change in this country?

Nobel goes to an Indian scientist...

I was very pleasantly surprised to see the news papers today morning. The head lines read - India-born scientist wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry! There cannot be a better news than this for a rational Indian like me. I read through the column to know more about the hitherto unknown Mr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and found out that he started off as a Physicist, transformed himself into a Biologist and won the Nobel for Chemistry!! He must have had a wonder lust doing research in various fields of science. He should be such an inspiration for young students in India to choose fundamental science rather than run-of-the-mill IT or medicine as professional careers. It is time that we, as a society, got rid of our fixation with these professional courses and develop a healthy respect and a sense of inquisitiveness towards science before it is too late. It is already alarming to note that we (Indians) produce far less number of scientific papers, publications and doctoral thesis than we ourselves did in the 1970s. Emergence of IT may have been a boon to Indian economy but, certainly it seems to have been detrimental to our contribution towards research in fundamental science. And more importantly, one can never over emphasize the significance of scientific temper in a society mired in blind beliefs and irrational practices in day to day life.