Ganesh Chaturthi is
one of the finest festivals celebrated in India. It is a treat to watch the processions
during the festival; especially during Ganesh
Visarjan.
The procession always goes pomp. Music, dance, throwing colors,
lights and burning crackers are very common during Ganesh Visrajan.
While we see the great enchantment in the processions of
farewells of Street Ganesh idols.
Individual house will not stay far behind. Every house bid adieu to their
respective idols founded and worshiped in their house during the festival.
Individual house cannot afford orchestra, loud speakers. But
most houses burn crackers to their financial capacity. They invite friends,
relatives while leaving Ganesh.
Why reduce crackers
It’s the burning of
crackers, that has not just become an usual practice; but, the matter of pride
for the individual families.
Burning crackers can be fun; but, if we think of the
pollution, it is huge. When the number of people who burn crackers are huge,
pollution will be automatically high. Though social workers and
environmentalists spread a lot of lessons, but it’s of less use.
Apart from the awareness that environmentalists create, there are
hardly any measures taken to reduce burning crackers.
Shanknaad
Shanknaad is not new;
it is an age old tradition in India. Coonch,
bells, anklets, small drums were the regular instruments in orchestra in any
festival celebration in Hinduism.
The same old orchestra tradition was planned to bring to
their residences by 5 environment caretakers in my town Ilkal. They collected 5 Coonch’s
to initiate the process. They brought back this age old tradition to the town
to reduce burning of crackers.
These guys took their Coonch’s and address the people to stop burning
cracker during Ganesh processions. They blew these Coonch’s to produce good and loud ornamental voice in the Ganesh Visarjan procession in their
house along with a few of friends and their neighbor’s houses.
Inspiration
5 friends went to trip to Ladakh few months before Ganesh
festival. On their way back to home they visited Haridwar. In Haridwar,
one among these five saw a big size Coonch in one of the shops and he got
astonished to see its size.
He then inquired the shop owner about conch and got interested in buying it. The shop owner told him a rate of 5000 rupees; which, he thought, was
too much for the Coonch. He blamed the shop owner for telling high rate, but the shop owner justified it’s rate and explained
the guy about its quality, and offered him a pamphlet printed the announcement
of rupees 1 lakh on proving his Coonch’s duplicate.
After giving pamphlet, shop owner blew the Coonch. It’s mesmerizing sound and
loudness impressed the guy and he bought it. By watching this Shanknaad; the concept was incepted in
another guy; and he explained the concept to his other friends. They were
impressed and each of them bought a Coonch
and stayed one day in Haridwar to
learn blowing it from that shop owner.
Effect
Though the effect of this concept could not achieve huge
success, but till now they have stopped cracker burning in 11 houses, which avoided
burning at-least 15000 rupees of crackers accumulating those 11 houses.
