As Navratri comes to an end, I must confess to a few excesses: eating too much, sleeping too little, meeting friends and buying new clothes. Partly, it is the festive abundance; partly, it is simply the joy of the season.
Navratri celebrates the abundance of the earth. The festival coincides with India’s brief autumn, when rice is harvested, new crops are sown, animals prepare for hibernation and migratory birds arrive. I rarely think about the festival’s ecological significance as much as I do about that of other celebrations. Perhaps I should. With a severe El Niño affecting the country, unseasonal storms damaging crops and climate change becoming harder to ignore, a festival rooted in nature should prompt us to reflect on our relationship with the planet.
I believe in celebrating, meeting people and embracing our diverse traditions. But we must also find ways to celebrate without harming the earth. Burning Ravan’s effigy, for instance, could be replaced with creative ways of symbolically decapitating his ten heads. It could be just as satisfying while serving the same purpose: celebrating the triumph of good over evil.
There are other ways to make Navratri greener. We could waste less food, give away clothes instead of buying more than we need, run electric transport to major celebration hubs and build pandals using reusable materials. We could also switch to renewable energy and source festive food from organic farmers, with plastic-free packaging, making it as pure for the planet as it is for our bodies and souls.
Some of these ideas may seem tokenistic, but the larger question remains: if our festivals celebrate the earth and its abundance, how can we enjoy them without placing an additional burden on the planet.
(The writer is the founder and director of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Groups)