National 1 (Spotlight Weekly)

Quiet Celebration

The bursts of firecrackers and chorus of deusi-bhailo revelers recede this year

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Rakesh Neupane used to be an avid firecracker enthusiast. Each year Neupane, who often bought the crackers from Indian border towns, used to burst the fire-crackers to the envy of his neighbors during the festival of Tihar.

"In fact, I used to begin bursting crackers a week before the festival," said Neupane, a businessman. His two sons also used to actively take part in the ritual. "It used to be such fun bursting Patakas, rockets and so on," mused Aashish, his younger son.

This year, however, the Neupanes' neighborhood in Sanepa remained silent during the festival. Thanks to the heightened security checks and gloomy mood, Rakesh did not even buy a single cracker. "Beside the heightened security checks, I had no mood to celebrate the festival with similar zest this year."

There are scores of persons like Neupane who celebrated the festival of lights in a low-key manner this time. Even a cursory glance around the night sky during Tihar was enough to prove how 'quiet' this year has been. "Unlike past years, when one would have to close his/her ears often to escape the deafening noises of bursting crackers in the neighborhood, this year we had to search for that noise which was way few and far between," said Amrit Basnet, another cracker-buff.

Even the shop-keepers in Ason and Bhotahity acknowledged that they had brought very few crackers for sales this year. Many say that for whatever reason, the decline in the use of fire-crackers is good news. "Spending millions of rupees in bursting useless crackers that can only hurt people made no sense. It is good that people are avoiding such flagrant use of money," said Kul Prasad Sapkota, a resident of Chabahil.

In fact, people say that bursting crackers had never been a Nepalese culture. "It was imported from India where people celebrate Diwali by bursting fire-crackers," said Sapkota, who had worked for many years in Indian cities.

For the last couple of years, however, even Indian people have started to burst fewer crackers. Because of a campaign against crackers and its health hazards including noise and air pollution, people of Delhi, known for their cracker-frenzy, have cut down their zeal. The authorities there have announced that people could play crackers only at certain hours of the day (6pm till 10pm).

Another major departure in the celebration of Tihar this year has been the absence of crowds of deusi-bhailo players. "In fact, it has been the trend for the last few years in urban areas. But this year even the deusi-bhailo players in rural areas have kept away thanks to the situation of insecurity," said Sapkota.

During the three days of Tihar celebration, groups of boys and girls go from house to house playing deusi-bhailo singing songs and dancing in the evenings. By tradition, the house-owners are bound to give whatever amount of money they want to give plus sweets and gifts to the players who, in turn, give blessings to them. "It is a totally Nepalese culture and it is sad that people neglect it. If we do not rise up to the occasion, this culture could get wiped out in few years' time," said Sapkota.

At a time when the country is passing through a terrible phase in its history, it is up to the Nepalese people to protect their culture and hand it down to their posterity intact.