 |
Kathmandu Thursday November 15, 2001 Kartik 30, 2058.
|
Deadly
crackers
Tihar is one of the
biggest religious festivals of Hindus which brings happiness and glory to every house. It
is indeed a festival of colours, lights and vigour. But for me it is a nightmare. A few
years ago, a group of our close friends decided to play Deusi on the fourth day of Tihar.
We wanted to collect
money after singing Deusi songs. So we went from door to door in our neighbourhood.
Everything went well till then. At about 9 o’clock, we entered a house and started
singing Deusi songs. After a while, an elderly man appeared and gave us some fruits. On
our way back, one of my friends took out a few firecrackers, lit them and kept them on the
wall of the house. But they did not explode. I went near them. I could not see any sparks
on firecrackers. I stooped down for a closer inspection. DOOM......, UUUUH.... one of the
firecrackers struck my face. It was terribly painful, and I fell down. And on that fateful
night of Tihar, I lost one of my eyes.
Every year during
Tihar, I cry in agony. Every time I hear the sound of firecrackers, I tremble. I
don’t want others to confront such a tragedy. So, I request all not to play with
firecrackers; they are very dangerous. And the authority concerned should also ban
firecrackers for peace and safety during Tihar.
Vaskar Dahal
Grade-8
Occidental Public School |
