Spring-clean everything polluting

Harvinder Khetal

If the various jokes lighting up Diwali on the social media, this one stood out for its clean humour:

Mom: Kam se kam naha to le Diwali hai. 
Me *sprinkles a few drops of water on myself*
Mom: Yeh kya?
Me: Kam se kam naha liya.

It rotates around a ritual routinely ringing in Diwali, replete with the rich wisdom regarding cleanliness rendered by our reverend forefathers. We roll in the festival of lights, marking the triumph of right over wrong, with a spring in our step (in high spirits) and with spring cleaning. Difficult-to-reach crooks and corners and high lofts get the annual dusting down. The painters and whitewashers are the busiest around this period. The drapery and upholstery business too sees a spike as people give their homes a squeaky new makeover. If not, just wash the old stuff to give it a spotless shine. It will sparkle as your spiffy little kid does after a head bath. Add a bit of fresh flowers to your living room, and you are proud-ready to receive your guests. Resplendent with a radiant glow, the dazzling diyas define the finishing touch of your décor on D-Day.

Spring cleaning is the practice of thoroughly cleaning a house.  In many cultures, annual cleaning occurs at the end of the year, which may be in spring or winter, depending on the calendar. The term is also used metaphorically for any kind of heavy duty cleaning or organising enterprise. A person who gets his work affairs in order before an audit or inspection is said to be doing some spring cleaning. 

In fact, history shows that cleanliness has been sacrosanct in most cultures as forefathers everywhere seem to have passed on this rite. Some attribute the origin of spring cleaning to the festival of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which falls on the first day of spring. Even today, the Iranians zealously indulge in khooneh tekouni (literally means “shaking the house”) to usher in Nowruz. Similarly, there is this ancient Jewish practice of tidying up the home in anticipation of the festival of Passover. In the seven days of the Passover holiday, the Jews are prohibited from eating or drinking anything which may have been leavened or fermented with yeast (chametz). This is in remembrance of the Israelites’ hasty flight from Egypt following their captivity there. Not only do the Jews refrain from leavened foodstuff, they also rid their homes of any remnants of chametz for the week-long holiday. Therefore, after the spring cleaning of their homes, they hold an interesting traditional hunt for chametz crumbs (bedikat chametz) by candlelight on the evening before the holiday begins.

In the Christian faith, it is Good Friday that occurs in Spring. Conventionally, the Catholic church cleans the church altar on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. In Greece, homes are cleaned right before or during the first week of Great Lent, which is referred to as the Clean Week. This also often corresponds with the Julian New Year, or April 1.

In 19th century America, too, though there’s no festival association, most people took to dusting their homes in March since it was getting warm enough to open windows and the winds could carry the dust out of the house. Also, around this time, coal furnaces and chimneys were not required to be run anymore and you could wash all the soot from the walls and furniture left by the furnace.

This simple practice of cleaning held good in the good-old simple days of the pre-industrial simple times. Not anymore: Today, pollution by chemicals and effluents and fumes and plastic and… — the list is endless — has taken on a dangerous form. Air and water, both the essentials for life, are polluted to toxic levels.

On Diwali, we are being told to keep it green; we are being warned against the ill effects of bursting firecrackers as their fumes contribute to the already polluted air; the polluted air that is causing many of us to die of respiratory diseases. It reminds me of my uncle who about a decade back, in his old age, shifted from Delhi to the comparatively cleaner ambience of Chandigarh. We are being told to do away with diesel vehicles: keep it green and drive electrical ones; we are being told to keep it green: plant trees. The farmers are being told to keep it green: don’t burn crop residue. Industrial units are being told follow green norms. Keep it green: don’t pollute rivers. Keep it green: The planet is becoming warmer. Animal species are becoming extinct. Glaciers are melting.

And, it would be for our own and our own children’s benefit to keep it green. A study by The Lancet journal shows that pollution is killing millions of people. Nine million people died in 2015 as a result of unclean air and water the world over, with a quarter of them in India alone. It cost trillions of dollars. A little action by each one will go a long way in making our Earth habitable. 

We will have to add another ‘diya’ to this other joke making the rounds around Diwali:

Driver ko bonus diya?

Clients ko dry fruits diya?

Friends ko Whatsapp greetings diya?

Happy Diwali. The festivals of diyas.

And that ‘diya’ is: Environment ko tree diya?

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