Mumbai: The festival of lights brings on joy, togetherness and gorging on sweet delights for a string of TV celebrities, including Mona Singh, Karan Kundra, Gautami Kapoor and Vivian Dsena. The actors have urged their fans to celebrate sans crackers for a clean and green environment.
Here's what the actors have to say:
* Mona Singh: I love lights and hence I love Diwali. As a child, Diwali was all about good food. What I loved the most was fried food and mithais, homemade sweets were my favorite. Even now I cannot resist sweets. When you are part of a Punjabi family, celebrations are incomplete without good food. So, nothing much has changed! This year I am planning to do pooja at my home and I will invite all my friends and family.
* Aamir Dalvi: Diwali is the festival of lights and of good over evil. It means coming together of loved ones and spending some quality time and making memories. I would suggest that this Diwali, people should use eco-friendly products that do not pollute the environment. People should enjoy this festival by lighting diyas and making rangoli rather than burning crackers.
* Sangeeta Ghosh: Diwali brings in a reunion of families and friends. I love the tradition of rangoli and I love decorating my house with the lanterns and Diyas but I don't support burning fire crackers. I love dressing up and every year this time I get an opportunity to dress up in the Rajasthani attire and celebrate it with my family and friends, where we feast on Diwali delicacies and sweets.
* Gautami Kapoor: Diwali celebration is very special for our entire family especially for me as my mother along with my grandmother used to make lovely sweets. I have learnt to make Besan Laddoos from my mother. This year we are going to make food without onions and lot of other dishes. We are not going to burst crackers as it pollutes the environment.
* Annup Sonii: As a kid, I have been really fond of sweets and eagerly used to wait for Diwali as it gave me a chance to indulge in sweets. As a ritual, my mother used to make Besan Laddoos every Diwali and she still makes them and they taste absolutely lovely. I don't believe in bursting crackers as it results in a lot of pollution and the same goes for this year as well.
* Divyanka Tripathi: I support noise-free and eco-friendly Diwali. The only Diwali ritual but which is close to my heart is visiting my grandfather's place where entire family gathers.
* Vivian Dsena: My wife and I enjoy decorating our house and prepare for Lakshmi puja. Every year I gift something to my wife or buy something for my parents. I want to tell everyone that we should believe in noise-free Diwali. The crackers not only create pollution they also disturb our peace and that of the animals too.
* Mohit Malik: I do not burn crackers when I am in Mumbai, I rather enjoy with candles and diyas. Mumbai is already very polluted and crackers are expensive. I enjoy when people come over and gift each other. Have a good time and enjoy yourself.
* Rithvik Dhanjani: Diwali always reminds me of a lot of sweets. The one thing that I don't like about Diwali is that the day after the festival is over, the road is a mess. This is not what you would want to do to your city. I have realized the consequences of this momentary thrill, so I don't burst crackers anymore.
* Bharti Singh: The environment is getting polluted and I would request people to buy and burst less crackers. I would also request people to donate the money they spend on crackers to poor people who can't celebrate Diwali. I believe bursting crackers is equal to burning money.
* Drashti Dhami: We have parties to go to where all friends meet, chat, play cards and hang around. I love Diwali because you get to meet your family and are able to have a good time with them. I love bursting crackers but because of the noise and pollution it creates, I prefer not to burst them anymore.
* Chetan Hansraj: All the sweets and delicacies, the gifts, the lights and celebrating with your loved ones makes the festival so special. we need to be responsible to our environment and not go crazy with all the polluting firecrackers just to show off how grandly we can celebrate.
* Karan Kundra: I just love how the whole of India lights up during Diwali. Now that people are becoming more environmentally conscious and not bursting too many crackers it makes festivities even better.
