Wednesday, June 20, 2007

il(l)literate!

"Please Do not dump garbage here - Bangalore Mahanagar Palike" -> And the same was inscribed in Hindi and also presumably the same in Kannada! Saw this on the one of the walls on my way home.
Now either the statistics are wrong (claims Bengaluru to have the second-highest literacy rate among the metropolitan cities in the nation) or the citizens of this city have absolute disregard for instructions!
Right in front of the the inscriptions on the wall was a HUGE pile of dump and garbage. And right there when I was pondering about this, I saw couple of really respectable ppl (atleast their dressing sense led me to believe their respectability) comes with few garbage bags and dumps on top of this pile. And next to this huge dump are very posh-styled residential buildings!! It would be least bit surprising if the residents of this residence were the main reason for this filth.
Whats with the common sense of these ppl? Dont they realise they are staying in dirt and they are going to affect their own health by all this? Hygiene ??- whats that? The very word seems to have disappeared from everyone's dictionary.. Its not only these, even the highly educated and sophisticated software engineers lack the etiquettes. How many of us have resisted a pee at the roadside/ a shady corner due to hygiene/environmental reasons? We'd rather have our "release" rather than hold back and think about the environment.
Is this indifference only to our country? How is that when on foreign soil, each one of us Indians transform into a perfect gentleman - where does the extra endurance, patience, politeness, tolerance etc. come from? A simple example is if we walk into someone absent-mindedly in some foreign country, we are courteous enough to apologise and carry on. But in India, you walk into someone - you first check your pockets to see if your pocket was picked. Once you are assured of that, a 95% chance is there of abusing the other person publicly and slinging abuses at each other till each is out of earshot of the other! Why the difference? Do we consider each other (read as Indians) as inferiors and hence this attitude?
What use was it for the British to leave the country and let us rule ourselves? Has our country really developed post-Bristish rule? Or are we still stuck in 1947!
If people can't read, understand and follow a simple rule, how is this economy going to get out of the clutches of "developing" and become a "developed"!God's own country can be saved only by GOD himself now!
ps. for all my atheists friends - this country of ours can be saved only by each one of your efforts (no help from GOD from you!)
As A.P.J. said -
"It's time to wait and see.
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the shadow"

Meanwhile read a related article about the Perennial Problems in Vishakapatnam (Vizag) - once known for its UNspoilt beaches.

3 comments:

glob8 said...

Dude.. you back with a bang or what !!

Lots of catching up (or should I say reading up) to do..

Aslan said...

man i read this now wonly. hehe the effect hits every person who returns to india after a trip abroad. i guess the educated rich indians who pollute the most need to see what UK or US is like, with their own eyes, to start mending their ways.

Anonymous said...

Is this indifference only to our country? How is that when on foreign soil, each one of us Indians transform into a perfect gentleman .... But in India, you walk into someone - you first check your pockets to see if your pocket was picked. Once you are assured of that, a 95% chance is there of abusing the other person publicly and slinging abuses at each other till each is out of earshot of the other! Why the difference? Do we consider each other (read as Indians) as inferiors and hence this attitude?


Brotherly love, i guess...!!