Diwali: A Festival Of Light — Or A Celebration Of Contradictions?

A festival symbolising the victory of light should not leave our neighbourhoods covered in smoke. Yet, every year, fireworks add pollutants and particulate matter to already vulnerable urban air.

The dazzling spectacle lasts for seconds. The resulting pollution does not disappear when the celebrations end. Children, older people, those with respiratory conditions and even animals share the air we pollute.

What is the sense in celebrating light while making the world around us darker?

India ranks 6th most polluted among 143 countries and regions, with an annual average PM2.5 of 48.9 µg/m³ (IQAir World Air Quality Report 2025).

Festivals are occasions for sharing delicious food and enjoying hospitality. But when celebration becomes an excuse for endless sweets, fried snacks, overeating and food wastage, are we really celebrating well-being?

India is already confronting serious public-health challenges, including diabetes and obesity. Our festive habits should not add to them.

Enjoy food. Share generously. But remember: affection is not measured by how much we eat, and hospitality is not measured by how much we waste.

About 101 million Indians have diabetes and 136 million have prediabetes (ICMR-INDIAB study, 2023; report in Gulf News).

Diwali carries the profound message of knowledge overcoming ignorance. Yet how often do we examine our own practices?

“We have always done it this way.” “Everyone is doing it.” “What difference will my one decision make?”

These are not expressions of wisdom. They are excuses for surrendering independent thought.

A living tradition should welcome questioning. Education should help us distinguish meaningful customs from habits that need reform.

Respect tradition. But never stop thinking.

What does celebration mean to a newborn startled by explosions, an elderly person unable to sleep, someone suffering from respiratory distress, or a street animal trembling beneath a parked vehicle?

Our enjoyment may last a few moments. Their distress may last much longer.

Love cannot be confined to our families and friends. It must extend to all living beings and to people whose circumstances make them especially vulnerable.

A celebration of love should not depend on someone else’s suffering.

Firecracker noise is legally capped at 125 dB(AI), or 145 dB(C) peak, measured 4 metres from the burst (Environment (Protection) Rules; Open magazine).

New purchases, elaborate decorations, extravagant packaging, disposable items and mountains of discarded material have increasingly become part of festive consumption.

But is prosperity about acquiring more, or about living better?

A prosperous society is not one that produces the most waste. It is one that uses its resources wisely, values what it already possesses and ensures that well-being is not built on environmental destruction.

Let our homes be beautiful. Let our celebrations be generous. But let our streets, rivers and surroundings not pay the price.

Gifts can express affection. New clothes can bring happiness. Decorations can create beauty.

But when gifts become obligations, shopping becomes competition and celebrations become performances for social media, something precious gets lost.

The most meaningful gifts may cost very little: time, attention, forgiveness, encouragement and genuine companionship.

Let us spend less energy impressing others and more energy making someone feel valued.

Perhaps this is the most important question of all: What is the purpose of celebrating?

If Diwali is about light, let us remove some darkness from our own behaviour. If it is about prosperity, let us make someone else’s life a little better. If it is about knowledge, let us question our assumptions. If it is about love, let us practise compassion.

Let every family light a diya and make one meaningful commitment: a harmful habit to give up, a relationship to repair, a person to help, or a responsibility to fulfil.

Imagine millions of Indian households doing this—not merely for one evening, but throughout the year.

Would that not be a far greater celebration?

Let Us Not Lose The Light While Celebrating It.

We do not need to abandon our festivals. We need to rediscover their wisdom.

We do not need less happiness, less togetherness or less celebration. We need less excess, less indifference and less thoughtlessness.

The true greatness of a civilisation is not demonstrated merely by how magnificently it celebrates its traditions, but by how meaningfully it lives their values.

This Diwali, let our lamps illuminate more than our homes. Let them illuminate our choices, our conduct and our collective conscience.

Light A Diya. Make One Commitment.

Choose one: a harmful habit to give up, a relationship to repair, a person to help, or a responsibility to fulfil. Then tell us, and pass it on.