In Hindu mythology Lord Ganesha is known as the lord of beginnings and as the lord of obstacle remover. Hence all auspicious occasions and religious functions begin by invoking his blessings. According to Hindu mythology anyone who reveres Lord Ganesha before starting any religious occasion or marriage ceremony receives his blessings which help in a successful culmination of the occasion. Lord Ganesha is also associated with commerce and traders till date seek his blessings before starting any new venture.
Preparations for Ganesh Chaturthi- which marks the birth of the Lord Ganesh- begin up to ten days in advance, and sometimes even months in advance. In virtually every neighborhood a brightly decorated and painstakingly crafted Ganesh idol is made, to be illuminated and worshiped for all of the ten days leading up to Ganesh Chaturthi.Grand pandals or stages are set up and filled with fresh flowers and the idols are dressed up in colorful clothes and glittering ornaments. There is keen competition to see which pandal has been most artistically decorated and sometimes there is even a prize for the best dressed idol!
The fervor with which devotees celebrate the birthday of their most loved deity – Lord Ganesha suggests the significance of Ganesh Chaturthi in their lives. According to the popular belief, Lord Ganesha descends on the earth on Ganesh Chaturthi to stay with his devotees for the course of ten days and clear all their obstacles. In return devotees pamper their beloved Lord Ganesha as an honoured guest and prepare his favorite sweets – modaks. The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is observed on the fourth day of Bhadrapad Shukla Paksha (ascending moon phase), of the Hindu lunar month of Magh. It is believed that Lord Ganesha was born on the fourth day of the bright fortnight of Magh, thereby establishing an association between Ganesh and chaturthi (four). Vocal music and musical instruments during the festival causes high levels of noise. In general, ambient levels of noise increase considerably.
Noise is defined as the undesirable sound. Sound which pleases the listeners is music and that which causes pain and annoyance is noise. At times what is music for some can be noise for others. To some people the roar of an engine is satisfying or thrilling and to others it may be annoying. Noise is transient; once the pollution stops, the environment is free of it. We can measure individual sounds that may damage human hearing, but it is difficult to monitor cumulative exposure to noise. The effect of noise pollution is multifaceted and inter related. The effect of noise pollution can lead to decrease in efficiency, lack of concentration, fatigue, increase in blood pressure, temporary deafness, could lead to abortion etc.
This effect is well known the citizens but then also how we are becoming a part of polluting the environment. To get the answer I interviewed some of the members of the respective pandals and also the residents to know their views regarding the same. On the whole I interviewed 3 members from different Pandals and 5 residents from different localities and got different views from all.
Looking from the side of pandals Mr. Swapnil Kamble from Om Sai Seva Mandal told that Ganesh Utsav is the festival started by Lokmanya Tilak to unite people and them in groups to worship the God. So it is the happiest moment and we should enjoy that and I don’t think that playing songs, organizing Dance Competition is Bad thing as that will create noise pollution. If we are organizing then we too take precaution to lower noise pollution as much we can but we can’t stop organizing it. Whereas Mr. Rajesh Madhavi from Gajanan Mitra Mandal told us that we follow the rules and play music in slow volume till the time is permitted. Mr. Shyam Patil from Utkarsh Mitra Mandal stated that we enjoy this 10 days festival but not by polluting the environment, we avoid D J Set and also our Ganesh Idol is made up of mud.
On the other side if we see the views of residents then we are getting totally mixed results. Mr. Viral Toliya a resident of Shripal Nagar, Dombivli stated that when Lokmanya Tilak started this festival that time there were no sound systems and they didn’t enjoyed it in this manner. If we are enjoying the trend then we should follow it in the way they were following and avoid to find our way to entertainment through this festival. Mr. Mangesh Maskare resident of Rajaji Path, Dombivli. Told that we are habitual to this type of noise as it became our part of life, if suppose we stop playing music then the taste of festival will vanish we will not enjoy in the way we are enjoying today. Mr. Gajraj Vala resident of Dombivli (West) told that he likes the festival and all the activities performed during the festival and I don’t have any problem if Pandals performin such activities. Where as Mr. Raj Gadre another resident of Dombivli criticized on playing Item songs as it does not make any sense on dancing on such music during Ganesh Idol Immersion, they should play cultural and devotional songs. Mr. Rohan Bhagat student from Dombivli supported Dhol Tasha Music as it is the trend followed in past and replaced by D J Sound.
There has been enough discussion about noise pollution. There are people who want to abide by rules and provide quality of life to all. And there are others who have single motto, “It’s my choice to play the music at whatever level I want”. The war is between them and us.People forget that one cannot confine the noise levels to a certain area. Noise travels in all directions, and hearing is also not a voluntary act. We cannot stop hearing at any time of the day. Our process of hearing is active for 24x7. Whether you like it or not, one needs to hear all kinds of sounds because it’s around us. Naturally our auditory system experiences fatigue. There are many known ill effects of it, such as insomnia, irritability, lack of concentration and poor attention span. We all are not aspiring to be great thinkers, philosophers, or scientists but we all have right to be human beings with good quality of life.
We need to understand that certain frequencies are injurious to health. This has become obvious because of current discussion of traditional instruments used in this Ganesh festival. These are considered as substitute for loud speakers. It is certainly a strange assumption and it’s hard to understand on what grounds Police Department has given a nod to this option. These instruments certainly generate significantly louder sound, and these instruments will cross the prescribed noise level stated in the noise pollution rules. Here we need to understand the frequency spectrum. Traditional instruments ‘Dhol’ and ‘Tasha’ may be more injurious to health.
Dhol generates low frequencies, and low frequencies always give a volume, though on intensity scale the level may not be very high, but psychological percept of this sound will be very loud. Low frequencies are actually transmitted into human body more easily, and would create more harm to the human body. The person who plays this instrument ties the Dhol on his/her waist. Naturally maximum sound energy will be transmitted to a human body. And others who are passing by this dhol player also get affected. People often feel vibrations in the chest, which implies that our lungs vibrate with these external sound sources. Vibrations of organs and soft tissues in the body are certainly injurious tothe human body. There is adequate research available on the topic called as Human body Vibration. Let us try to understand this concept.
Mumbai is among the noisiest cities in the country. Nearly all residents are impacted by adverse health effects of noise continuously, some without any apparent immediate effects and the majority with severe symptoms. In an endeavor to make the Ganesha festival noise-free.
According to law, a residential area cannot exceed 55dB between 6am and 10pm and 45dB between 10pm and 6am, even if time limits for use of loudspeakers is extended until midnight.
It is observed that, there is significant change in noise levels in all the cities. There is a reduction of Noise this year in some cities, but in some cities Noise level is increased as compared to the previous years. Decreasing trends in noise levels are observed in Navi Mumbai & Aurangabad Regions during the last three years. This is due to increasing awareness among citizens and enforcement, as a result of various citizen awareness programs and campaigns conducted by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and other Regulatory Agencies.In order to make more and more people aware of noise pollution and its adverse effects on environment & health, a social mission supported by capacity building in the Regulatory Agencies, for effective implementation of noise standards, is required.
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