The title of this blog is borrowed from a status
update of my friend Sameer Shisodia. This is probably the most pertinent phrase
on the eve of the election results. Sameer in his post said
"So - now
the wait begins to bring in "change" and outsource our
responsibilities, hopes and duties to a an all new central figure who is
expected to change and fix everything without us having to move a finger, give
up on our greed and needs, change nothing at our end and put in no extra effort
" # Democrazy?
I cannot agree more to his
words. As someone who had responded to his update said "Govt change karne se kya hoga? We are like this only. We will
not wait in line. We will put our trash on the road. We will drive on the wrong
side of the road. We will always hurry but never reach on time. We will always
find someone else to fault. Govt change karne se kya hoga jab hum khudh change
nahi honge".
I am writing this post out of
sheer disgust, frustration and helplessness. People blame everything but for
themselves for all ills in the society. People's
social attitude is becoming worse. Aggression seems to be the
new norm on the roads. Disrespect for rules and insensitivity for others has
become a matter of routine.
I will just pick up an
incident i was involved in today. I have been living in south Bangalore all my
life and have seen it grow (worse) leaps and bounds. Vidhyarthi Bhavan (VB),
located in Gandhi Bazaar is any day my hot favourite for its yummy dosa and
awesome coffee.
Today evening, myself, my
wife and our little Krishna drove to Gandhi Bazaar for that amazing dosa at VB.
As i was crossing the road holding my 8 month old baby Krishna, a man aged
around 40 riding a two wheeler with three people on it almost ran into me
speaking on his cell phone (No helmet of course). When i gave him a glare, he
yelled "Chal re". It was clearly his mistake. Without any
debate, we moved on.
After the yummy dosa and coffee at Vidhyarthi
Bhavan, we were accompanied out by a lady (may be 35 to 38 years old), her two
kids, her secretary (or PA or some assistant). A sedan car stopped outside VB
and her assistant opened the back door for her. All of them got into the car.
We just moved a few steps to cross the road and couple of empty boxes of sweets
and a plastic cover came flying out of the car. A box fell on my feet as well.
I got furious and asked the driver and the lady on the car if this is what they
were teaching their kids. The reply was in Kannada and the madam's driver very rudely said
"ಇವಾಗ ಏನು? ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಹೋಗಿ “It means "I threw, so what now? You just go".
They did not even bother to apologize.
They were from an upper middle class family. When i picked up the box and the
cover from the road, they did not even react. I am sure they were
not embarrassed. They just drove off.
Other than picking those
boxes from the road and throwing in the dustbin, i could not do anything much.
It is unfortunate, but i guess this is how we live.
At this rate, it is dangerous
to think of the future. Discipline in public seems to be totally absent. If
this is our attitude, no leader will be able to change anything. Discipline and
change must come from within.
As sameer put it very beautifully,
we only want to "Outsource" change. But the inconvenient truth is,
there is no messiah with a magic wand who will change the things overnight.
PS: The Bangalore i lived in
my childhood or for that matter even during my engineering days was not this
rude or insensitive. Society has become abusive and aggressive.
