Diwali Creates Record Polluted Air in Delhi

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/partys-over-diwali-leaves-delhi-041746890.html

[PADA: I really don't understand the whole fire crackers thing. It makes a hell of a racket and frightens animals and babies. It seems like a very cheap way of making a meaningful festival. It is like so many things in India, a sort of show bottle with very little substance -- or thought -- behind the real meanings of the various so-called Hindu traditions. 

And worse, they already know the fire crackers makes the air quality -- even worse, and then everyone suffers. As Srila Prabhupada says, India has become a place of sentimentalism and they are drifting away from Vedic culture towards a Western-ized lifestyle. They blow off some fire crackers, then the mad rush to get on crowded trains and busses to get their jobs in the city starts off the next day. Very sad state of affairs. Of course there are some sincere folks there, but it seems the larger majority is drifting off the Vedic reservation... ys pd]