With Malice towards One and All
By Col Vijay Manral
The article may read like a passionate commentary, a raw and intense critique on general apathy, indiscipline, and civic irresponsibility witnessed across India. A deep frustration with a system and society that has somehow normalised indifference. Take a look around you at the railway station, inside trains, airports, highways and in shopping malls – you will find the Indian described in the title everywhere. Every day we witness small acts of defiance and utter disregard of civic norms that collectively paint a disturbing picture of our society. An epidemic of apathy with complete lack of concern for others.
Observe on our roads, vehicles parked haphazardly in front of gates, at intersections, on turns, wherever one pleases. Two wheelers riding on footpaths, cars stopping mid road for drivers to chat, buses overtaking from the left. Tractors and bikes brazenly coming head-on in the wrong direction on highways. There is no fear, shame or accountability. At railway crossings, we inch forward and jostle aggressively with a Me-First mentality jamming up every bit of space blocking each other and creating a gridlock. It’s everyone for themselves, an absolute absence of discipline.
While when one points out the act of indiscipline you will hear the same refrain everywhere – “Twaanu kee? (what’s it to you?) … “tum ko kya farak padta hai?” (how does it affect you?)”. East, West, North and South, we have different cultures, but the attitude never changes. In a country where food and language change every 50 kms, the attitude remains uniformly and constantly consistent.
Cleanliness and discipline seem to be a foreign concept. We keep our homes sparkling clean but the moment we step out, we feel no qualms in chucking a Kurkure packet or a Bisleri bottle out of the car window. I drive to and from Almora and Haldwani every weekend – a scenic 90 km road with Deodar, Oak and Pine forests and rivers winding through valleys. A drive which should be rejuvenating, but for the clones of Michael Schumacher … the NCR based drivers in their lumbering SUVs zipping on the roads with no thought of incoming vehicles and rules for driving in hills. Apart from this, the area astride the road tells another tale…have a look around you will wince at the sight of plastic bottles, chips packets, beer bottles/cans and Gutka packets all strewn around. It’s a veritable buffet of trash on the road as well as nationwide. If one had the will, courage and initiative to clean up the garbage along the road stretch, one could fill the Caspian Sea surely, if not the Bay of Bengal.
We Indians always seem to demand our fundamental rights loudly but never worry about or carry out the fundamental duties. Either we are blissfully unaware or we just don’t care. This gap between the demand for rights and fulfilling of duties is troubling.
Discipline is a choice – it is simply consistently choosing the hard right versus the easy wrong. But then we take the easier wrong every time. This apathy has crept into our institutions too. Visit any government office or public facility and you will see it in action. To give an example – basements of buildings have been turned into coaching centres with no emergency exits or ventilation – fire safety norms, civic planning, safety standards all ignored. Once tragedy strikes the realisation strikes and then action comes in the end. A classic case of closing the stable doors once the horses have bolted.
In my humble opinion the Indian population is largely caricatured into 4 distinct personalities. First are the ones with Paternity issues who don’t know who their fathers are, as they keep asking policemen and others on the road… “Jaanta nahin mera baap kaun hai?”. The second lot are the ones with Identity crises, who aren’t sure who they are as they keep asking “Jaanta hai main kaun hoon?”…. third are the well-connected ones who have their Chachas and Maamas as MLAs, or chhutbhaiyya politicians who keep flaunting their proximity or relations. The fourth are the hapless and remaining lot of Indians like you and me who don’t have paternity/ identity issues nor have chhutbhalyya netas as relatives…….the common person, ‘saamanya vyakti’, who stands in queues, drives in lanes – the disciplined Indian who silently props up whatever order remains and makes the country what it is today.
Yet, all is not lost, we are a nation of resilience, culture, intellect and capability. Cities with strong community action and rule enforcement such as Indore have shown that discipline and order can take root. Change will happen…it doesn’t start with policies but within each of us in queues, on roads, outside our homes where we choose the hard right over the easy wrong consistently. We will soon see a better India. It is important to note that change begins with individual actions, this rekindling of civic pride can create a ripple effect that will transform communities.
(Col Vijay Manral is retired and settled in Haldwani. With a military career spanning 34 years in India and abroad, he now looks forward to contributing towards ecological conservation in Uttarakhand).
