Nov 12, 2010
Despite those titles, power and pelp,
The wretch, centred all in all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair reknown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from where he sprung,
Unwept, unhonoured and unsung.
- Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist (1771-1832).
Echoing Scott is George Eliot (Real name: Mary Ann Evans Cross), English author (1819-1880): “He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow”.
Take, for instance, Suresh Kalmadi, the chief architect of Commonwealth Games scam, confusing Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles, second wife of Prince Charles, who had come to inaugurate the Games, for the divorced wife of the Prince, Princess Diana. Again, Kalmadi addressed, at the Games inauguration, addressed the former President of India as Abdul Kalam Azad. It reflects uncouthness of a person addressing 60,000 spectators and world press and electronic media. He was not addressing a street corner political rabble and he had the option to read from a prepared script.
Ego-bloated Minister
Take, another instance, the front-page lead report in The New Indian Express (17-8-10) titled “Bachche Gowda, gunman assault motorist for overtaking his car”. Who is this Gowda? Express gives an answer in its lead line: “He was not even aware that I am a Minister, how can he overtake my car, fumes Minister after joining his aides in hitting, abusing businessman near Nelamangala on Sunday (Independence Day!); case also booked against victim.”
The incident occurred when Gowda was returning from Hassan on Sunday. Near Nelamangala, Bharath, overtook the Minister’s car. Offended by this, Gowda’s driver intercepted the car. When Bharath stopped, the driver and gunman left Bharath’s nose bloodied. The Minister too came out of the car and assaulted and abused Bharath even as his children, wife and father-in-law pleaded for forgiveness. The Minister lodged a complaint with the police who booked a case of negligent driving. Express quoted the police saying Bharath was innocent and the case was filed following the Minister’s insistence. (The only saving factor in this episode is that the Chief Minister apologized for the Minister’s uncouth conduct). Gowda complained that Bharath spoke to him in the singular, hurting his ego. He and his ilk need a lesson from William Hazlitt, English writer (1778-1830): “A gentleman is one who understands and shows every mark of deference to the claims of self-love in others, and expects it in return”.
The Minister’s action is typical of many of his ilk whose vehicles rush off at breakneck speed, with pilot cars blaring, and sometimes hitting other vehicles and pedestrians. But, such arrogance is not the monopoly of netas in power. Writing in India Today (16-8-10) on The Uncivil Indian, Ravi Shankar notes that “Courtesy is necessary for an evolved society but India is missing the point in its haste for progress”. He cites the case of an urban bully intimidating a traffic cop by asking (a la Gowda), “Do you know who I am?”; five young, drunk citizens abusing reporters and the police after crashing their car, narrowly missing four labourers. “In the increasingly uncouth world, the Indian stands out as an uncivil being…The offence of communities make up the rap sheet of history. The graffiti that deface monuments is the calligraphy of our times, the screams of lovers being tortured with heated iron rods is the soundtrack of a diseased society”.
Public Vandalism
A Kannada epigram says: “Horage Thota Singara, Volage Goli Soppu”. (Decorated external façade, indoor shamble) But Shankar has a different take. Most Indians lead an existence of comfortable speciousness. Come morning, they sweep and scrub their floors clean enough to reflect their pious soul; they then proceed to throw their garbage into the streets outside. We plaster road signs and milestones with posters and political pamphlets showing young, rosy-cheeked politicians smiling like deceptive cherubs of democracy.
Politics is traditionally the science of confrontation and subterfuge but our lawmakers smash benches and heads in legislatures. Perhaps only in India exist walls bearing ‘stick no bills’ notices, walls which passerby treat like a dog a lamppost. Spitting is a national pastime, and the surfaces of most buildings are stained paan-red with the residue of masticatory pleasure. Indians defecate on roadsides and along railway lines. The citizen who prides himself as global Indian may be adept at beheading artichokes, but his pastoral cousins back home use axes to decapitate those the khaps disapprove of. These may be extreme examples of inhuman behaviour, but everywhere in India incivility is on rampart display – jostling crowds cause stampedes, murderous driving sprees and road rage result in fatalities. Dowry deaths are unique to Indian society, with brides murdered for things as banal as a steel almirah or a scooter.
Shankar concludes that we, as trustees of today’s India, need to begin a national conversation on how important it is not to park in a slot meant for the handicapped as much as it is to stay the murdering hands of a caste-blinded khap. Isn’t it our daily experience to see that seats reserved for women, handicapped and senior citizens in buses are occupied by young people and the conductor studiedly pretends to be occupied or looks the other way? There are no such reservations for ladies with infants in arms or women in advanced stages of pregnancy. Yet, they are allowed to hang on the bus strap, while the driver drives jerkily or breaks suddenly endangering the infant or foetus. Can we call ourselves civil or simply uncouth?
The tragedy is the uncouthness of Indians descends from the top.
“Poverty wants much; but avarice, everything.” – Publicius Syrus, Syrian mimographer (Circa BC 42).
Parliamentary Rowdyism
On August 20, 2010, even after the proposed three-fold increase in the pay of MPs, from Rs. 16,000 to Rs, 50,000 per month, members, asking for Rs. 80,001, to beat the salary of Rs. 80,000 paid to Secretaries, got the Lok Sabha adjourned and conducted a mock parliament, designating themselves as Prime Minister, Speakers, etc. This sort of rowdy behaviour is the daily bread of parliamentary conduct at the Central and State levels. In Karnataka the legislative assembly was converted into a choultry (inn) for protesting MLAs to sleep and board. All this gets wide coverage in the print and electronic media and our growing children have perverse role models to imitate.
What does this translate in terms of world image of India and Indians. A website sponsored by Air India and Ministry of Tourism had issued advisories for Commonwealth Games visitors, the most important of which was one about public toilets. “In India, public toilet facilities are few and far between and outside of hotels and restaurants can be of dubious cleanliness. We recommend taking every opportunity you can to use the clean toilet in hotels and restaurants and that you carry tissue/wet wipes with you.”
An Indian multinational I worked for was getting hordes of high profile business visitors to cut deals. The company took care of them from the time they landed to the time they enplaned on the return flight. But, the landing airport was invariably Bangalore. They didn’t want to take the risk of landing at Santacruz in Mumbai or Thambaram in Chennai and driving to the city exposing them to the sight of hundreds of exposed bare bottoms of slum dwellers along the route to the city. In all probability some of the visitors would have requested the company to put them on the first return flight. Once adjusted to the Indian environment via the Bangalore gateway and happy with the company’s hospitality, the other destinations were a cake-walk.
Beyond Redemption?
So, is uncouthness inborn in Indians and are we beyond redemption? This brings me to the tale of three toilets at Gateway of India in Mumbai. Hordes of people, specially north Indians who never get to see the sea, descend on Gateway every single day. They cannot control their bowels and bladders for long and mess up the sea walls and plaza. The Taj Mahal Hotel, which has a ground-level 24-hour coffee shop called Shamiana under its tower block, could not stand the sight and smell. It built a toilet block that happily merged with the surroundings – without shouting out its presence. Another one was taken up for construction on the plaza touching the harbour wall. People calling themselves environmentalists and heritage guardians went to the high court and got an injunction to stop work. It took five years to vacate the stay and now we have a functioning toilet block mimicking the Gateway structure. A third one, on the Gateway south promenade, next to the Radio Club pier, while under construction, was stayed by a local star hotel through the court, and subsequently razed down.
Bowels and Bladders
In the early 1960s, famous nudes artist Ara and his artist friends, who used to hang around Jehangir Art Gallery in the Museum compound, couldn’t stand the sight and smell of the mess made by visiting tourists along the Museum boundary wall. They went and painted the wall with Hindu gods and goddesses, Christian crosses and Muslim crescents. But, all the gods could not control bloated bladders and bowels. Since then a toilet block has been constructed on the pavement.
Thus, there is need to look at things pragmatically and provide requisite infrastructure to take care of cleanliness and hygiene. This applies to garbage collection as well. We, in Mangalore, for in instance, have concrete ring bins. They receive less garbage than what is spilt around them. Do we see letters and parcels spilt around post office letter boxes? Has anybody tried to design a garbage bin on the lines of a letter box? Or, take currency notes. They are full of writings and their life is shortened at considerable expense of replacing with new ones. Do we write on our passports, ration cards or bank pass-books? If it is decreed that bank notes with writings on them will be invalid, would we dare disfigure them? The answer is simple, Mr. Watson. Create a setting to promote and sustain civility and reduce or eliminate uncouth behaviour. Chew on this!
John B Monteiro, author and journalist, is editor of his bebsite www.welcometoreason.com (Interactive Cerebral Challenger).
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