Delhi entrepreneur asks if Diwali celebrations come at too high a cost as AQI rises

A Delhi-based entrepreneur shared an AQI screenshot while questioning the cost of bursting innumerable firecrackers on Diwali. His post highlighted the pollution's impact on vulnerable residents, outdoor workers, animals and birds.A Delhi-based entrepreneur shared a post about the 'cost of Diwali'. (representational photo from Unsplash)New Delhi,Nov 9, 2026 09:02 ISTAn Air Quality Index (AQI) screenshot instead of a festive photograph. That was Delhi-based entrepreneur Saket Sambhav's way of documenting Diwali night in the capital. Posting on LinkedIn at around 10 pm, he questioned the environmental and human cost of firecracker celebrations, drawing attention to those who cannot escape the pollution.Describing the situation as one where people were "paying the price of celebrations", Sambhav reflected on the contrast between Diwali's spiritual significance and the widespread use of firecrackers."The Diwali festival was conceived as a celebration of inner awakening - the victory of light over ignorance, life over decay, consciousness over blindness," he wrote. Questioning how the festival's message had come to be associated with firecrackers, he added, "How did that timeless truth devolve into buying sulphur and heavy metals, setting them on fire in residential alleys, and suffocating our own children?"Sambhav then listed the people and animals he believed were bearing the consequences of the celebrations. His post mentioned newborn infants whose respiratory systems are still developing, elderly people struggling with breathing difficulties and street animals frightened by the deafening sounds of firecrackers. He also highlighted the impact on birds, which he said could suffer from respiratory distress and auditory panic. Street vendors and night guards, meanwhile, often have little choice but to remain outdoors, without access to air purifiers or the option of retreating indoors.The entrepreneur also addressed the arguments often made in defence of bursting crackers in the name of tradition."True spiritual culture does not require you to poison the very air you breathe," he wrote, adding that spiritual wisdom was about inner awareness rather than lighting gunpowder.He further questioned the idea of celebrating at the cost of other living beings, writing, "When your joy relies on deafening blasts that terrorise innocent animals, and your revelry leaves your neighbours choking in the ICU, it is no longer devotion. It is pure, unexamined ego."Concluding his post, Sambhav asked, "If we cannot celebrate victory over darkness without plunging our city into toxic gloom, what darkness have we actually conquered?"See the post here:Several LinkedIn users agreed with his concerns about firecracker pollution and its consequences for people and animals. The discussion has once again brought the environmental and public-health impact of Diwali celebrations into focus.- Ends