New Year’s Eve without fire hazards? It’s more doable than you think.

Over the years, Dhaka has had an increasingly difficult time trying to create a culture around celebrating the Gregorian new year. And understandably so, as the celebration is often looked at as an unnecessary Western import, given that we have our own Pahela Baishakh.

However, a series of mishaps/crimes on New Year's Eve, like the assault of a woman on the Dhaka University campus in 1999 or any number of road accidents that have taken place on the nights of December 31 in recent years, have soured the public perception of this global celebration. It has reached a stage where the police have now consistently banned public gatherings, fireworks, and flying sky lanterns on New Year's Eve for the past few years.

Then again, few things are as good at getting people to work together than the inclination to disregard the lawman's orders. Even in a city that lacks a sense of community the way Dhaka does, rooftops come alive every year on New Year's Eve, and the capital's sky is filled with the colours of a thousand fireworks, the air congested with the noise of explosions. Many will feel the need to romanticise this act of rebelling against police directives, fighting from the shadows to keep up with the glamour and glitter of celebrations such as in Sydney, New York, or Mumbai.

But these "rebels" fail to think of the old and the frail, the infants, the street and pet animals, or the birds. If they did, they'd know that the rooftops from which they love setting off fireworks are held up by buildings housing people, including not just the young and the spritely, but infants, the elderly, and others for whom a night's sleep is not up for sacrifice. Lighting sky lanterns in the electricity-powered tinderbox that is Dhaka is an extremely bad idea, as has been proven by the fires that have gone off in recent years during New Year's Eve celebrations. For instance, last year, within two days of the Dhaka MRT Line-6's inauguration, a stray lantern landed on the tracks and delayed service the next day. What if the lantern had landed on an active power line instead? Or crashed into a tree full of dry, fire-prone winter leaves?

Humans, at least, can complain, wait for the carnage to stop, or prepare in advance by getting earplugs and drawing up thick curtains. But what about animals, for whom a night of fireworks is nothing remotely joyful? Those with pets know what a terrorising night they have to suffer through when the sky above them erupts with fireworks. Cats hide in terror; dogs, who have an audible range much higher than humans, are sent into frenzies of anxiety and panic at the unrelenting barrage of noise. For animals, loud noises and flashing lights are usually signs of natural calamities, which is why they respond to these noises by trying to hide and protect themselves. But when the sounds don't stop, they become confused and feel terrorised.

Birds suffer from disorientation, often mistaking the light from the fireworks as daylight and flying out into the open sky, only to be greeted with terror and confusion. The anxiety that sustained noise from fireworks creates may drive birds away from their natural habitats permanently. Or, in a deadly outcome, make them fly straight at building walls or into dangerous airspace.

All across the world, it has been reported that zoo animals respond very badly to fireworks. The animals at Bangladesh National Zoo, located near dense residential quarters in Mirpur, may be particularly affected by the noise and lights of fireworks set off by humans who want a grand celebration to the beginning of 2024. Given that we have already taken so much natural environment away from animals, with our urban ecosystems that we call home, isn't it unnecessarily cruel to inflict more torture on these species which have painstakingly adapted to us?

One has to wonder why people refuse to obey Dhaka Metropolitan Police's ban on fireworks and sky lanterns on New Year's Eve. Let's consider the point-of-view of a Dhaka resident who has very few things to do in this city other than work, eat, and sleep. Come New Year's Eve, another item is being added to the list of things that this Dhakaite is not allowed to do. Given their increasingly narrowing space for individuality, this person may think, "To hell with that," and make use of one of the last open spaces left to them: the rooftop on their building. The rebellious zeal in this case may be a strong force, but it is neither rational nor justified.

Instead of imposing tough-sounding bans and threats of action against anyone who doesn't comply, a heartfelt word appealing to the humane side of people may work better to keep them from setting off noisy fire hazards. In any case, if authorities are banning fireworks and sky lanterns, it's crucial to ensure that the ban is effective in order to protect people, animals, and our own environment. 

Azmin Azran is a journalist at The Daily Star.