A day after Diwali, a busy road in Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh was left covered in piles of garbage. A video showed heaps of plastic wrappers, burnt firecrackers, and flowers lying in front of a Shiva statue.
The sight shocked many people online, who questioned why public spaces are left dirty after festivals.
In the video, a man filming the scene can be heard expressing anger over how people celebrate Diwali but do not clean up afterwards. He said the problem isn’t just pollution, but the careless attitude that someone else will clean everything the next day.
Is The Joy of Diwali Worth The Mess We Leave Behind?
“This is why I don’t like Diwali anymore. If the smog wasn’t bad enough, look at the situation on the road just one day after Diwali,” the man says. He adds, “The problem with India is that we take everything for granted. We feel that if it’s our festival to celebrate, we can do anything just because koi na koi saaf karne wala agle din aayega. Do you think this is justified just for our pleasure, just for our faith?”
Watch the video here:
Social Media Reacts To The Mess
Shared on October 21, the video has received over 2.4 million views and triggered a heated discussion on civic sense during festivals. Many agreed that people celebrate Diwali with great enthusiasm but fail to take responsibility for cleanliness afterwards.
A user commented, “Good job, brother! We need to shine light upon this issue. We clean our homes to invite Lakshmi, but what about our neighbourhood? I’m sure Lakshmi Maa sees that as well… don’t you think?”
Another wrote, “True. Every word of it. The charm is gone, and the sheer idiocy and crass way of celebrating Diwali by our top-notch civic-sense-maintaining citizens is for everyone to see and bear.”
Some blamed a lack of awareness and civic discipline. “Most Indians have no civic sense. I feel bad when educated people do such things. We have to change our mindset,” a person said.
Others felt festivals are losing their true meaning. “The unconscious and entitled people only disrespect the festival, which had a beautiful meaning, but human beings have given it a bad name,” another wrote.
