When things are left to the market to decide, there is no chance of reform in society. Two decades ago, people were discussing patriarchy, caste discrimination and superstition in our society, but today all of this is being justified. Arguments are made that there is a "scientific" basis for our "customs". Young boys and girls do not feel that things around them are wrong. Instead, they are "celebrating" everything in the name of "culture" and "tradition", which must be protected even if it does not conform to the value system of our modern times or to the constitutional value system, which says that every human being is equal.
In the last few decades, we have seen the "nationalisation" of various festivals such as Chhath and Karwa Chauth, which were basically regional festivals of Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and other areas. During Dussehra, we used to have a week of holidays for Ramleela celebrations, while Diwali was just a couple of days off in schools. But in the last decade, it seems India lives only in festivals and has no time to work. Celebrating and remembering your ancestors is great, but if it becomes a hurdle, how can it be justified? From the month of Shravan, when thousands of devotees go on the Kanwar Yatra to collect Ganga water from Haridwar and Baba Dham and carry it to their home towns, until Chhath Puja, north India is almost shut down. Every other day brings some celebration. I wonder when people find the time to work.
In the last decade, the Indian economy has been turning primarily towards a "religious economy". With every hour, some "auspicious" or "inauspicious" timing is declared, and the real beneficiaries of this "theocratic economy" are the collective interests of Brahmins and Banias. Each festival brings millions in business, with Brahmins legitimising them. When everything is left to the market, who is bothered about reform? Swami Dayanand Saraswati would not have dared to speak against superstition in today's time, as the Bhakt Mandali would have put him in jail for "blasphemy". Swami Vivekananda, Saint Kabir, Raidas, Guru Nanak and all those who questioned Brahmanical wisdom and its monopoly over our traditions and customs would have faced the tyranny of the state and of the extra-state actors who are mushrooming today.
The problem is not with the celebrations. Everyone wants to look "beautiful", and there is no issue with that. You can watch the moon, as it is always lovely. I love to watch it, despite knowing that it is not a "god" or God but simply a place where human beings may want to settle in the future. Yet I would not like to be so rigid a "rationalist" that I ignore the beautiful poetry and romantic songs woven around the moon. Sadly, yesterday the moon was not visible, so the Brahmins would have had to tell people how to "break" the fast.
Relationships between men and women should be based on equality, and they will work only that way. Fasting is good for those who keep it, not for "those" for whom it is being kept. It does not help them. Secondly, why should a partner bow and touch the feet of her partner? A wife touching her husband's feet is being actively promoted by new-age social media influencers. In the videos circulating from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where two lovers are caught and forced to marry, it is the young "activists" who ensure that the boy puts sindoor on the girl and that she touches his feet. I do not know whether our youth have stopped thinking, or whether everybody with a mike and a camera has become an "expert" and is therefore justifying everything in the name of "tradition". As I said, when you leave everything to the market, you will only get mediocre literature and culture.
Interestingly, with growing urbanisation, people have forgotten many things. The chhanni, or mesh sieve, has gone out of use in our homes. Once upon a time it was part and parcel of every kitchen, but now that everything comes packaged and delivered to order, these things can be found only in rural households. Thanks to Karwa Chauth, however, the mesh sieve is back in the market, in many different designs. It is now used to "break the fast", after the married woman looks at the moon through the sieve. I am not sure about the science behind this, but then religion cannot answer your questions with rationality and reasoning.
Anyway, with Karwa Chauth over, people will be busy with more festivals in the coming days. You can still breathe fresh air now, as afterwards it will become difficult to breathe in Delhi and other north Indian cities, but you cannot question this. After all, people have a right to celebrate, and then to spoil the environment, even if it violates my right to breathe clean air and live in a peaceful environment. As I said, when religion becomes the economy, you cannot get justice in modern times, with capitalism controlling the levers of power. When everything is about profiteering, who cares about your sentiment for clean air and a peaceful environment? I hope good sense prevails and we learn to live in harmony with nature, otherwise things will go out of control. When celebrating loudly, please think of those who want to live with clean air and in a peaceful environment. Those who do not participate in these celebrations for fear of loud noise and pollution also have the right to live peacefully. Let us hope people understand this and act.
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*Human rights defender
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