Monday, February 25, 2008

FESTIVE FILTH

High spirits floating in the air, majestic idols, mouthwatering sweetmeats.. blinding is the flash of festivity. But if eyes rubbed a little, the ebbing darkness brings to sight an alarming picture - pollutants in the air, wastes of idols contaminating the water and a taste of sweet poison…while we may sing the song of happiness during festivals, the environment has a different tune to hum, the tune of an elegy.

Ideal immersion?!
While sweetmeats and gift s are synonymous with festive celebrations, there is yet another side to the fervour which is synonymous with environmental pollution. Idol immersion, a common practice in Hindu festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi & Durga Puja sees devotees escorting idols amid dances and chants, followed by its visarjanon (immersion), on the one hand mark the commensuration of celebrations and on the other, beginning of water contamination. The Plaster of Paris or POP that goes into making these sculptures, (thanks to its easy-to-mould properties and relative costs advantage over natural clay) has made it the first preference of idol makers. Sadly, the POP and paint used for crafting the idols do not dissolve easily in water and if they do, release toxic wastes, depleting the oxygen content in the water, thereby choking all life from in it.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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