We, the people

This is going to be "crib" post, but with a difference. This post is not meant to be a complaint about life, but rather a reflection on our true selves and our capabilities as thinking individuals.

If you ever gave me a chance to speak about my life, I will bore you to death, I promise. Obviously you aren't here seeking death. If death is what you really wanted, please venture your lives on the roads of Bangalore. Yes, roads, or rather the traffic in Bangalore, will figure prominently in this post. I have always believed that if you wanted to get a measure of how civilized a nation is, take a look at how people behave on its roads. A month ago, I wrote about an incident that took place in front of the Forum mall. While the generous act was duly appreciated by the needy, the world around didn't seem to like it at all. Be that as it may, for changing minds is a tough process. I have tried it several times with several people. It takes quite an effort. However indulging in a take-a-look-at-yourself act every once in a while is not going to be wasteful either.

The Diary Circle - Bannerghatta Road intersection is quite an interesting case study if you wanted to know more about the psychology of the "India Driver". I was driving towards the Forum mall yesterday at 10 in the morning. As I reached the Dairy Circle on Bannerghatta road, the traffic signal turned red. Back in primary school, I was taught to stop at the red light and so I brought all my learning to the front and slowed down my car. However, a lot of people driving ahead of me weren't keen on breaking their inertia and so, they decided to jump the signal. Their mindless act ended up creating a jam under the ramp that goes over the intersection. I didn't want to contribute to the prevailing entropy and so I decided to stop. Plus the signal was red. I had to stop. It turned out that this very act of bringing my vehicle to a halt resulted in more confusion and more angry drivers on the road. The stage for the opera was set by yours truly and as expected, the musical began. Four cars with perhaps the loudest horns that I had ever heard in my life went blaring as though they were being trampled by an elephant or something. It didn't seem like Earth for a moment. I turned on the radio, hoping for some instant relief. A couple of seconds later, a guy dressed in a three piece suit knocked at my window. He looked very irritated and wanted to talk to me urgently. People who have known me will tell you that I am one those guys who would listen to all your crap and keep listening and listening and listening until you ran out of things to say. Relieved at having emptied your mind at my expense, you would leave happier and lighter. (Thankfully I am not a piss pot). Thinking that Mr three-piece needed some help, I rolled the window down facilitating a conversation between the two of us. He scowled at first and then with a loud high pitched voice screamed at me "Just what are you doing ?". I found it rather amusing to be honest. I replied back "Just following the law". Mr. three-piece threw his arms up in the air, showered the usual Hindi abuses at me and made his way back to his car. I stood still because, you see, the signal showed red. Meanwhile, a rickshaw driver pulled over by my car and said "En maadthideera saar ?? hogtaayirbeku..." (What are you doing sir ? Keep moving). Just like most others, he too jumped the signal. The dude in the suit had to wait though. I was blocking his way and he didn't have enough clearance to manoeuvre his car past mine. A minute later, the signal turned green and I drove towards Forum. Mr three-piece, who was now following me, still seemed miffed with the whole incident.

Anyway, now let us involve ourselves in a serious exchange of thoughts. Most of us seemed to be perennially unhappy with our roads, our country and our politicians. We blame the government (or the lack of it) for all our miseries. We blame others on the road for the mad traffic. We blame the traffic cops, who quite honestly, are a helpless lot. Almost anything that the cops do (including using BlackBerries), seems to backfire. The increasingly cunning Indian always has a way around things. We rue the lack of legislation in our country. "I wish we had a law that prevented people from switching lanes whenever they felt like", "I wish we had a law against honking on the roads", "I wish we had a law that gave the first right of use on roads to the pedestrians, the old and the buffaloes". The funniest part is, as a nation, we have failed to respect the limited amount of restriction that has been imposed on us by way of law. And here we are complaining about the inadequacy of law in our country.

I think India's biggest problem is it's people (and that includes me as well). For when you try to follow the law, what you get to hear is the unfriendly MCs and BCs. You are considered dumb if you agree to follow a set of rules that are designed to bring in some order in your lives. How will tightening the law ever help solve our problems unless we are prepared to follow the law ? How will a strict legislation ever help us when we don't think twice about bribing a cop to escape a ticket ? How will we keep our cities clean unless we stop spitting on the roads, dumping garbage outside our home and decorating the walls of our cities with posters of our politicians, their fathers, their mothers and their wives ? And oh, here's one complaint that my grandmom always has "Why is it that we behave ourselves when we are in a foreign country, but let ourselves loose when we return to India ?" Your first meeting with corruption in India happens as soon as you land..yeah the customs in the airport ! And you will find Indians, who have probably shopped their wallets out like crazy, bribing their way through customs. A guy in the Bangalore airport actually offered to take me out of the customs queue if I paid him a dollar ! A lot of my co-passengers, i.e citizens of the great country of India, obliged. Not sure what they had in their bags.

Some of you may read this and think that I am probably jobless on a Saturday afternoon. Some may appreciate this post and my simple act of stopping at the red light. But the question is, how many of us are willing to follow the law, come what may. As long as we are happy punching our favourite bags i.e politicians, corruption, population, illiteracy and these days even global warming, our country will continue to rot under the surface. And we will have always things to bitch about in the kitchen or in the hallways at work. I have always believed that as individuals, we have the power to influence others. We have the ability to make an impression. Through our actions, we can make people around us think and take a look at themselves. More importantly, we can change people around us. If hanging out on Orkut is considered "cool", why isn't following a set of laws considered cool as well ? Would you help usher a new trend ? A trend where the coolest thing to do is to let the old man cross, to seldom honk, to use the garbage bin to throw your movie tickets when you don't need them any longer.... the list goes on. The more the merrier. If you are already doing all of this, I couldn't be more thankful to you.