Group Discussion- Do we really need religious celebrations in public?

As I ve mentioned in the earlier posts, if regulations are followed when celebrating the festivals in public places it will not cause any inconveniences. So let me share about celebrations in Imphal. 

Imphal has people of different religions but is dominated by Hindus. I ve never seen people of other religions taking out processions. For those practising Hinduism, big processions are taken out during three festivals - 1st day of Holi, Rath Yatra and Lai Haraoba. In all these processions, large numbers of people gather but I have never heard of any mishaps taking place because of them. During rath yatra processions, as processions are taken from two important temples police are given duties to see that everything goes smoothly. The other two festivals are organized at locality levels, so there are many volunteers from locality who ensures that traffic is not disturbed and only half of the road is taken.

Religion has become a part and parcel of human life and most democratic nation's across the world have a state religion which is followed by the majority of the population . This does not in any way come in the way of being secular and accepting other religious practices. 

Coming to India's context , it is very disorganized and the politicians keep playing one religion against the other and what better opportunity than festivals especially when two festivals of different religions fall on the same day. West Bengal under the present leader has been a prime example of this , without elaborating !

Once the citizens themselves draw a line as to what is in the best interest of the nation and what is not with regard to religious celebrations , no one can manipulate any religious groups.

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suni51 wrote:

@Anil- Okay I will not compare India with small countries like America, Russia, Canada etc but let me share my experience of China which is bigger than India and has a rich tradition of festivals. By the way, I have never seen a public gathering for any religious purpose during my multiple visits to China.Here is a list of Chinese festivals-

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/

@Sunil, thanks for sharing list of Chinese festivals. We must be remember that China is not republic like India. China is communist country. Second thing structure of China society and Indian society is differ. We Indian believe that our happiness increase when we share it with other and sorrow lessen if we share it. We Indian like to meet with community peoples on festivals.

@Jabeen. I totally agree with you. If the processions or celebrations are in limited numbers in a year, it is easier to have a peaceful ones with all rules and regulations. There are certain celebrations which are part of our culture and and they can not be stopped or rather should not be stopped. They represent our rich culture. Puri Rath Yatra is one of them and there are others as you have mentioned. In such cases we can use police to take care of safety and to make sure that it goes peacefully. But the problem is that police force can not be employed for every big and small celebrations. SO the number of them have to be limited and they do not have to go all over city or town disrupting everything. They can be assigned a place or route for procession. Such inconvenience can be tolerated a few times in a year but it becomes a nonsense when you encounter it everyday.

Now with this Ganesha festival we will have inconvenience for almost 10 days. Everyday there will be a visarjana and a procession with it blocking the traffic. Can we just have a single day or may be two for visarjana and we can work on the route of it.

Democracy gives us right to celebrate but it comes with social responsibility. Now as per democracy we can have Ganesha beautifully painted and of huge sizes. But are not we using our conscience and going for small size and eco friendly ones. We are also opting for immersion in our home in a bucket. Well I am doing that for last few years. Everything , social and cultural have to adapt to the changing needs of the time. 

jabeen wrote:

As I ve mentioned in the earlier posts, if regulations are followed when celebrating the festivals in public places it will not cause any inconveniences. So let me share about celebrations in Imphal. 

Imphal has people of different religions but is dominated by Hindus. I ve never seen people of other religions taking out processions. For those practising Hinduism, big processions are taken out during three festivals - 1st day of Holi, Rath Yatra and Lai Haraoba. In all these processions, large numbers of people gather but I have never heard of any mishaps taking place because of them. During rath yatra processions, as processions are taken from two important temples police are given duties to see that everything goes smoothly. The other two festivals are organized at locality levels, so there are many volunteers from locality who ensures that traffic is not disturbed and only half of the road is taken.

@jabeen Delhi as you know is big city and to control traffic during festive season is itself a very big task. Everywhere barricades can be seen for security purpose as vehicles are checked and are then allowed to pass. In such situation even if we don't celebrate festivals and don't have a mass gathering still its very difficult to commute from one place to another.

I know how tough is to go to office daily during dussehra and diwali. Everywhere there is a traffic jam which Delhi traffic police is unable to manage. 

Thats the reason I don't feel like going out of the home during festivals. I hate when my kids ask to take them to fates during diwali but have to bow done against their request. 

In our country there are celebrations like Jalikattu where people try to tame a wild bull which is reason for death of so many people. This festival is celebrated in Tamil Nadu and it is said that the festival was celebrated from past 2400 yrs. Supreme court had banned the traditional sport by getting inputs from Animal Welfare Board of India. The members of the board told that even though the bulls cannot speak, they definitely have their rights against torture. The members of the board described the torture received by the poor animal while the group of people tried to overpower it. But since feelings of millions of people were attached to the sport, the ban was lifted in year 2017. Since India is a democracy, the government had to listen when millions say something. I am not against celebrations of festival in public but I am definitely not in favour of any festival which causes harm to any living being. 

During festivals, people like to be merry and enjoy themselves. When enjoying themselves they should also care about the environment. For instance, many festivals are boisterous, with the sounds of loud speakers and bursting of firecrackers. If the rules and regulations prescribed at The Noise pollution ( Regulations and control) Rule, 1999 is strictly enforced in every states properly, the noise can be controlled to a large extent. In one of the articles that I read, it was mentioned that only Goa follow most of the rules prescribed.

Earlier in Imphal too during festivals, loud speakers could be heard as late as 2-3AM. But following the diktats of underground extremists, nowadays it ends much before midnight.

Likewise as far as possible eco friendly methods should be adopted during festivals. I read that in some places instead of immersing the idols in the rivers which cause pollutions, the devotees immerse it in special tanks.

Peoples are became aware about pollution. For some year in my city trend of immersing idols begins. People immerse idols in canals. New papers became aware people to make idols of sand not of Plastic of Paris.People are like and avoid to use idols make of PP. Our every state have some local persons to who they worship. In Rajasthan, Baba Ram Dev is one of them. In this month a big fair is held at birth place of Baba Ram Dev. Some lacs devotee visit their. I never listen about any mismanagement there. It is all possible with volunteers. If people wants gathering will not prove problem. Fair festivals are our indentity. It is not good to stop them.

The festival of Holi is celebrated every year in most parts of Northern India. It is celebrated in the month of February or March. This festival is celebrated in huge groups in public. There are many reasons why the rest of Holi is celebrated. For some it is harvest season and the spiritual reason is that Holika who was a asura was killed that day by grace of lord Vishnu as she tried to kill Prahalada who was ardent devotee of lord Vishnu. So it also symbolises the victory of good over evil. People use almost all colours of nature to play with each other in groups which is the most beautiful part of this festival. Even if you have an enemy or unknown person, on the day of Holi you will forget everything and apply color on his face. This strengthen the bond of humanity and trust between society. But lately this festival has been taking ugly shape. There are few negative elements in society who use this opportunity to settle their personal grudges. There have been several news where acid was thrown over girl's face on pretext of applying colours. Some negative elements use this festival to take undue advantage of touching girls inappropriately on pretext of applying colours. There were news that few people molested with foreign girls and made them drink alcohol on pretext of playing Holi with them. After watching that news even i was very disappointed. If such festival are celebrated in public, proper police arrangements should be made so that no one harms anyone. Due to those negative people our country has a bad image among foreigners. If proper security arrangements are made and hooligans are punished, this festival is the best festival which can help develop strong bonds between society.

@Arjun Sai Police protection for Holi? Policemen offially celebrate Holi the next day and the way they do it is something scary to watch. They behave even worse within police stations.

Religion is here to stay and it has by now become part of human existence , all over the world. It is also true that there is a vast difference between eastern and Western religions . It is interesting to note that India is the place where Buddhism, Sikkhism and Jainism took their birth and have survived alongside of Hinduism . Islam and Christianity, both of which took their birth in Asia  too have same roots although as they grew into different Faiths , developed totally different identities.

 Religious celebrations are no doubt  a way of continuing the customs and traditions which enrich our lives . In many European countries and in other developed nations religion does not overpower people's identity like it does in India and other developing countries. It is only when we reach a state where we are able to focus on progress and let  religion and religious celebrations take a back seat , can we call ourselves a developing economy .Because , to me religion proves to be a stumbling block to many progressive ideas that can take our country forward.

suni51 wrote:

@Arjun Sai Police protection for Holi? Policemen offially celebrate Holi the next day and the way they do it is something scary to watch. They behave even worse within police stations.

Correct Sir . What alternatives we have Sir ? I really get panic a policeman stops me while I am riding a scooter on road even though I am not a thief , I have valid licence, registration number, insurance. It's just because I have seen those policeman slap or hit random passerby for no reason but just to find a fault and grab Rs 500-1000 as bribe .

It is not only about a public celebration during major festivals. Sometimes many people cause nonsense in daily life due to their illogical ways to please God. Be it loudspeakers at temple or mosque.

I have a family from North India living as tenant in the next door. I do not want to name the community to which they belong as I do not want to demean any caste or state. Now it is a joint family and they claim to be very religious. Every month they have some pooja and they have kirthanna going for long four days. They scream their lungs out and mock the bhajans on tune of some Bollywood numbers. They keep their front door open and it disturbs all. Everyone tolerates them on the account of not hurting their sentiments. It is a nonsense especially when it is exam time for kids. I have politely asked them to close their door but they give me a look as if I am going to be cursed by their God. 

Once the gas cylinder in their home got over in the morning. I had to leave for my job but this old aunty asked me ( ordered and not requested) to wait till she boils milk to offer it to her Bal Gopal. Out of courtesy and respect for elderly I let them come in and boil it in my kitchen. She entered and gave a dirty look to me as my kitchen was smelling of egg omlette. She ordered me to clean my shelf and stove with detergent. I was all dressed up to leave for job and being a teacher I can not afford to get late. She gave a look as if she does not care. I asked her to call her daughter in law to clean it. To my surprise, she replied that no bod in her house will touch egg and I only have to clean it and let her boil the milk for her thakur. She gave a big lecture as how I was going against the culture and displeasing God. Finally to avoid further useless argument I withstood that and did it for her. And I was delayed to school.

Last week I saw her posting some advertisement for some swami and Pooja in ashram in all the lifts. We have a notice board in our buildings and you have to pay Rs100 to put an advertisement or some invitation there. She chose a free way ad stick it in elevator. I tore the paper with image of Krishna on it and gave it to her and politely told that they can not stick things like this everywhere. It is not allowed. She got a bit angry. Next day again the stickers were there. Finally I had to complain and her sons were caught sticking it on Staircases and lift in CCTV footage. Now she gives me a dirty look whenever she looks at me.

@arjun here they check if the person is drunk or not as during festive season few people drink and drive.

Yes its irritating when they stop and ask for the documents. Here they don't take bribe unless you have broken any traffic rule 

Specially during diwali when many of the people drink and drive which they should not do.

Similarly on holi people forcefully apply color on your face and throw water filled balloons which cause accidents  I don't know what people get through this. We should improve ourself so that we may enjoy the festivals. 

I feel that some benefits of celebrating festivals in public places is that it make us more tolerant about people of other faiths in our societies. It also make us more curious to know about the culture and practises of other faiths. And often people of other religions also take parts in these festivals happily.

Yesterday I was watching a video of Ganpati procession inside a church. It so happened that the priest was seeking permission whether they can take the procession in front of the church as it was the prayer time in church. The authority in church asked them to bring it inside for few minutes so that both the Gods can meet. It was such a beautiful way of celebration.

Diwali is a festival of lights. In the month of December, we will be celebrating the Diwali festival. It is also one of the main festival for Hindus which is celebrated in groups. People gather together in localities to light crackers and fireworks. Lighting crackers sometimes creates nuisance in public as some mischievous children try to fire crackers directing at someone's house.   That happened a few years ago, that few children were lighting rockets, directing at someone's house for prank. This aggrieved the owner of the house. Children who use firecrackers should be taught the proper use of them before they light it outside so that they do not harm anyone or disturb the peace of mind of others. Diwali is an excellent festival which is celebrated in public and it symbolizes love and brotherhood, if it is celebrated responsibly.

Well said Sunil, I think few persons aware about Holi celebration of Police force. They celebrate Holi next day at police line. Celebration of Holi festival of police is a good example of corruption. Then never spend single rupee out their pocket. They arrange all thing from others. They collect cash donation, wine, sound system and all facilities from public. Holi is festival of color but for police it festival  of wine. All senior officer attends and enjoy this festival but never dare to check, from where all these arranged. Think for moment, persons who are supplies wine, sound system, sweets and other facilities will recovers for it many times. It is also reason that police always treats  these persons, like son-in-law.

Since all religions preach the same thing , it is not difficult for them to come together rather than oppose one another . It is the politicians and certain religious leaders regardless of which religion they belong to , who spoil the harmony and mutual trust between people. I remember a time when we had one of the worst Hindu- Muslim communal riots in my town and the whole city and district closed down with curfew being imposed all through the day. In my locality consisting predominantly of Hindus and Christians, there were just two Muslim families living and were understandably very scared. All of us stood with them and made sure they were safe . Religion without humanity is of no use to the society. 

When we reach a stage where we participate in each other's celebrations we can truly call ourselves a secular and progressive society .

I remember when I was a child I never heard of Ganesh Chaturthi or Sai Sandhya in Delhi. Also durga pooja too was very rare to see being celebrated nearby my house but these days these are celebrated everywhere and pandals can be seen everywhere during these festivals. 

It seems people have become more religious or they are more in to the showbiz these days.

I am not against the people celebrating them but they should not make problems to others by it. 

One of the benefit of celebrating festivals together is that it develops a sense of responsibilities. For instance, in my locality whenever its time for festivals that has to be celebrated commonly by the local people such as Lai haraoba or sports during holi, every households get ready to organise it in a successful manner. It is understood that it's a collective responsibilities. So generally every households sends a member or two as volunteers for organising it. The volunteers would be given different tasks including donation drives within the locality, cleaning of the place, decorations etc.