Spice of Life: Common sense, not so common after all

Earlier this year, while I was travelling to New Delhi on a premium train, I had a chance to see first-hand how some people go about their lives without any care for the inconvenience they may be causing to others through their actions. Minutes after the early-morning train pulled out of the station, a well-dressed co-passenger, seemingly in his sixties, took out his mobile phone and started watching a movie at full volume.

Neither did he care for the time of the day, nor did the repeated glances from other passengers have any effect on him. Sadly, no one, including me, had the courage to request him to take it down a notch, for fear of triggering an argument. We kept hoping that he would take a break, but he proved us wrong. He watched the entire movie without a pause, interjecting only with loud laughs during comic scenes and increasing the volume every time a song came.

And if that weren’t enough, we also had the company of another passenger, who engaged in loud, unending conversations on his phone through the entire journey.

No doubt that my joy knew no bounds when the train finally reached its destination – New Delhi. I was doubly excited as I was to meet my friends over lunch right after my arrival. As I waited for my friends at Connaught Place, I noticed a young man stepping out of a Starbucks store with a cup of cold coffee in one hand and a straw, wrapped in a paper cover, in the other. Much to my dismay, the youngster, after unwrapping the straw, mindlessly littered it on the road. He then took a few steps forward and discarded the lid of the cup on a plant. Minutes later, two others, with bank ID cards around their necks, turned up there with kulfis in their hands. They too did not give a hoot to keeping the surroundings clean and flung the plastic covers of their kulfis on the road even though the vendor that they had brought it from had a little bin attached to his cart.

The other day as I was driving, I saw a woman in an autorickshaw sitting with her sandals resting on the seat in front of her. Of course, she didn’t bother about the inconvenience she would cause to the passengers who would come after her.

One morning, I was going to drop a neighbour to the bus stand. I wanted to take the right route but as the roads were empty, he told me to take the short-cut, which required me to go on the wrong side. Unwillingly, I gave in to his request only to immediately regret it. A few miles away, we saw a truck coming. As I was about to make way for it, the neighbour, who happens to be a university professor, told me not to do so, saying that the driver can find a way on his own. Why not, I wondered and paved the way for it. We kept going ahead and I prayed for a clear road, wishing that I had not listened to him in the first place.

All these instances make one wonder if we are really living in an educated society. The truth is, one may have attended the best of schools and colleges but still be oblivious to basic etiquette and civic sense. We are all quick to point out others’ mistakes and question the chaotic system of our country. But the question is what are we doing to help achieve the dream of a disciplined country. Change begins from home. Till we don’t take a step towards change, nothing much will help.

The writer is an Amritsar-based freelance contributor and can be reached at rameshinder.sandhu@gmail.com