Wednesday, November 01, 2006

LACK OF CIVIC SENSE

India is poised to become a major economic force in the coming years. As economic influence of India in the world is reaching new heights, Indians on the other hand are becoming increasingly uncivil. As a frequent traveler of Metro, I’ve seen that people don’t have basic courtesy to offer their seat to a woman or at least to an old person! And while a pregnant woman is trying to maintain balance in the Metro, conscious youngsters are sitting and chatting, and even the men or other women for that matter don’t have the basic courtesy to get up and offer their seat. India was seen as a country where the old are respected but this has now just reduced to being a farce.

Moreover, thanks to common man our state is untidy and public offices reek of foul smell. A corner in the public office is reduced to a garbage dump and on every road in the city, one can see people answering the call of nature. And even if there is a garbage can 10 meters down the road, people will anyway throw the garbage on the road. Though some people might not want to follow rules as they are above them, but don’t they realize some responsibility towards fellow citizens or at least nature!

Also, there is a growing disregard for the common man by those in power. It’s an assumption that the rules are not made for them, and they are not obliged to follow any law of the land. Standing in a queue at banks, I’ve often seen people getting there work done in a jiffy without having to wait like a common man. Just because they are connected, do they become more important? Why are they considered to be in a more hurry than us, what about us, isn’t our time as precious as theirs? Moreover, when we’re traveling by air, our flight is, more often than not, delayed because of some or the other VIP. Why don’t these VIPs realize that it is because of us, they are who they are and that they should be concerned with our issues rather than show apathy towards us. But I believe, it’s our fault, we’re the ones who have put them on this pedestal where they can afford to ignore our concerns, as for us Indians we only respect those who are never punctual and make us wait.

5 comments:

The.Dream.Catcher said...

well..(not going against u) but then, what ru trying to tell?
lack of civic sense..or something darker..as the sayin goes, "he who doesnt read books,is worse than one who can't"..ppl want to live in the world, which is comfortable to them, where they want to rule..and they always r finding ways to damn "thy" world!!

people r nw scared!they r running as fast possible, not to get caught/exposed of their chinks in armour..of course their "true self" would catch up someday or the other..they r unintelligent butwant to "be" everywhere..comment on evrything..but a lil peep in their lives, it's murkier..

i met my friend's would be suitor..and beat it..(he's iim+stanford grad), the first thing he asked my friend was the obvious "did she bite the apple?"..needless to say she asked him to take a long walk in the park..

what civic sense r v talking bout.i mean this is ur blog, i dnt want to sound the author, but...when no sense prevails wat civic sense r v talking bout??

SANDEEP said...

one good adage that charity begins at home...we all wants to get our things first..we want first in every aspect...we want evrything fast and easy..and that attitude creates problems..we blame indians,,but we forget that we are a part of it..why do we buy black tickets just not to ruin our date..
is it so..very well said in lage raho munna bhai that the true attitude of any person can be known through his behaviour towards his relatively poor..why do we shout bluntly when we feel that we are not been served good food...
in india each wall can be considered as a sulabh complex(public toilet)..but that makes us quite comfortable as we dont get enough services from the govt...
we split from our car windows so easily as we are exhaling...
wat else we can say..hmmmm...
try to be nice..just like that..

Tuhin Chaturvedi said...

It actually comes down to what one is programmed to be by one's family and elders.Most of these examples you site are of learned behaviour.It is quite common for animals and birds to "litter" anywhere as this is an an innate behaviour.Birds and animals are programmed from birth to indulge in this behaviour.In human beings it is not innate.It is very much learned wherein the learning happens by seeing one's parents and other citizens.

And once programmed,Indians are not easily dissuaded from such habits.

Anonymous said...

reading books cannot help to gain civic sense it is all in the mind..

IIM + Stanford ... so .. what is the big deal top gun ?

i support tuhin it is all in the blood all in the family

Anonymous said...

Whatever you have said in here is the immidte reaction that our mind and heart gives to us,instantaneously,whn we look arnd us. Try thinking deeper, and you will come to know that we r in a real big mess, leave alone the prospects of india becoming a superpower in the near future.

The internal impulse dat an induvidual ought to have regarding cleanliness,respect and whtever seems to be morally beautiful can cme abt only when they have studied the need fr such,ie, lack of proper education is the problem.

For people in general to think wht u or i think regrding the ideality of envirnment around us, they'll have to go thru proper schooling, proper college education which is all about interation which makes us progress both conciously and subconciously.

Even if those who r going to college behave strangely in metro as uve mentioned, remember its the family frm which those people r coming frm also matters.Education isnt the root cause of the problems regarding civic sense and all,but in the long-term,it is. this is so because the structure of the family and thier thinking is changing.They r only slowly evolving to wht we call a realistic family which wont creep up the demand fr dowry,which allows the females to work etc,etc.Howsoever slow it may be, but indian families r slowly getting there. But education system smehow isnt growing at a rate which is desirable. instead of expanding fast so that everyone could be included, large proporion of our population is getting excluded.

somehow, i cant forsee india becoming a superpower in the near future. economically and politically it mite, but on the frnt of factors that uve highlighted upon, We r far far away frm there.

keep it up.