Perplexing Morals

Two days back I sat in the usually noisy dining hall. All eyes around me were glued to the (noisier) TV, which was showing two girls from Rohtak, Haryana beating two men on a bus, apparently in defence to the advances made by them. The news channels had already declared that the boys were ‘molesters’ and the girls were giving interviews in these channels. The channels ran shows on the incident all day long (even the next day in fact). The girls became local heroes, an inspiration to many, the Chief Minister of the state declared bravery awards for the girls, importantly the news gave confidence to many women to face such untoward behaviour by men courageously. This entire episode transpired over just 48 hours. As much as I was happy that the two girls had defended themselves from the wrongdoers without any help from others, I wanted to know the whole story and the correct story and not what was being shown to me by the news channels. Also I was curious to know why the onlookers in the bus (highlighted repeatedly by the media) had not come to the girls’ aid?

Today, I got my answers when I read that some witnesses to the incident that transpired on the bus, have submitted affidavits with the local police saying that the boys had not done anything wrong and some reports say that they had in fact stood up against the girls when they had demanded an old woman to get up from her seat, so that they could occupy it. Their statements bring fresh perspective and though the story still remains unclear as to why the boys were subject to the wrath of those two girls, I was happy that people are coming out and stating the truth (or lie). It is too early to judge who is right and wrong, and I better leave that to whomever. I only want to tell that there are always two sides to such stories and we, the janta, must not jump and take sides with the more colourful version shown in the news etc. I am not a male chauvinist, but let me go ahead and ask- “What if those jailed boys, who were beaten up by those girls on the bus, are actually innocent?”

As a civilised society, we must prepare our women to face perpetrators of crimes on them, but we can’t allow them to take advantage of it. Forget men, what if they had beaten another woman for standing up against them, or an old man or a little child?

Now, at the same time when the Rohtak incident was taking its course, in Indore, MP, in the middle of India, there was a less televised incident of similar kind transpiring. Only this time it was a man who beat other men engaged in eve teasing. On receiving complaints from women and schoolgirls in Malaharganj, their MLA (a male), from the ruling government, trashed 15 eve teasers (who were on drugs too). The women, grateful for receiving support, joined the MLA in beating the perpetrators. However, the spokesperson of the opposition party of that state has called this incident a ‘law and order’ problem and has accused the MLA for taking law into his own hands rather than report and leave such matters to the police. But hey, I am confused.

Now, if the Rohtak girls are right for what they did, then shouldn’t the MLA be more right for what he did? But, if the MLA is wrong for what he did, then are the women who joined him also wrong?

Namesake

O

ff late I have been deprived of the local news of my home town, Bangalore. So, I make it a point to read the Deccan Herald epaper to keep myself abreast of the happenings in my city and also because the Deccan gives that slightly local flavor, which appeals to me and makes me feel less homesick. 

Recently I was late to the office, and I wanted to give a quick glance at the newspaper. While I was reading, I chanced upon the word Kempegowda. Kempegowda, the Nada Prabhu (Lord of the land) was the ruler of the old city of Bangalore, back when Bangalore was the vassal state of the erstwhile kingdom of Vijayanagara. For the myriad of good done by the former ruler, the city has immense respect for the personality and has honored the man by naming a few landmarks in Bangalore after him. As most of the readers of this article would know, the famous bus station in the Majestic area, at the heart of Bangalore, is named as ‘The Kempegowda Bus Terminus’.  Famous as it is, when I read Kempegowda in the paper, my mind automatically went to the bus terminus.

Later, at some point in the day when I happened to think about it again, I realized that it was actually the newly named airport in Bangalore that was being referred to in the newspaper. Now, I am sure that this confusion has happened to several of you and won’t stop with me either. Indeed a great landmark, the Bangalore International Airport, ought to be named after someone important, and who else can be more important to the Bangaloreans than its founder ruler. But why name two important landmarks in the same city, with similar nature of business with the same name? If a tourist friend of mine tells me “I’ll meet you at 0230 at Kempegowda and we shall catch a bus to your home from there.”, then he better meet me at the platform where the 31E busses stop at Majestic because that’s where I’ll be waiting.

India is a land of hero worshippers, from kings to movie stars, we love them all. We have also had a lot of heroes over time. I mean lots. So it only means that there was a broad scope for us to revere some other hero, by bestowing his/ her name to the airport in Bangalore, but since the issue got politicized, people had little say and there ended the matter.

Bangaloreans have been very diverse and it is reflected in the way they have named various places around the city. We have named places after scientists (C.V. Raman Nagar, C.N.R Rao Circle), kings (K.R. Circle, N.R. Colony, J.C. Road, Jayanagar), freedom fighters (Jawahar Bal Bhavan, Ambedkar Nagar, M.G Road), soldiers (Maneckshaw Parade Grounds, Field Marshall Cariappa road), saints (Thyagaraja Nagar, St. Marks Road), actors (Raj Kumar Road, Shankar Nag Circle), cricketer (Anil Kumble Circle), the British names (Frazer Town, Richmond Circle), the list is long and broad.

So, ultimately we can say that it is the politics (or certain pressure groups influencing the people in politics) that has its say in the big matters and since we vote certain people to power, we can’t even complain for what they end up doing. The ruling government, invariably names roads, buildings, bridges, even parks after leaders from its own parties. I have noticed that the Yashwantpur Flyover is called the ‘Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Flyover’ (after the prominent member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, from which the current BJP was born) and the bus stand at Shanthi Nagar is called ‘The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bus Terminus’ (after the BJP’s famous Prime Minster), both of which I am sure, was inaugurated during the BJP’s regime in our state. The value and integrity of the people whose names are given are unquestionable, they are indeed honourable, but the people who use their names are the ones who do it with all the wrong intentions. It would have been truly great if the same flyover and bus terminus would have been given the same names but when a different party was in power. But we do not see such non- partisan behavior even in a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore and end up with instances like the present the Kempegowda debacle. Forming a small committee to name a landmark, empowering the locals, to decide based on popular mandate and logic can do the trick which is apparently too burdensome to a few.

Well, it’s done and I have to be careful when I read the newspaper from now on. But what if I were appointed to give the new airport a name, what would I have named it?

Wright Brothers International Airport? (after all they invented the aircraft), JRD Tata International Airport? (He brought civil aviation to my country), Rakesh Sharma International? ( He was the first Indian to fly to outer space and lived in Bangalore for sometime), Tipu Sultan International? (after the great ruler, freedom fighter from Karnataka), Rani Chenamma International? (after the patriot warrior, plus it would be the second airport to be named after a woman in India), Visvesvaraya International? (after the greatest engineer of the country, Kannadiga), Kuvempu International? (after the recipient of the Gnana peetha Award and our Rashtrakavi), N.R. Narayana Murthy International? (after the Employer for lakhs across the state and country and a Bangalorean), Rahul Dravid International? (after the International Cricketer who has won hearts of the entire nation and a Bangalorean).

Sunday at Chennai Central

The alarm in my phone went off and I woke up only to realize it was a Sunday. I had a whole day to spend. With very little plans for the day, I was sure I would get bored. So I got ready and headed to Guindy, which is the nearest train station from where I live and got a 2 way ticket to the Park Station. I had heard from my friends that the Park was one of the busiest stations and managed a large volume of people. The Park station was important as the Chennai Central Station, which is the main train terminus in Chennai, is right opposite to it. The crowd got me out of the station in no time and before I could realize, I was crossing the subway and was on the other side of the road, in front of the Chennai Central.

  

I began by exploring the Moore Market, which is right next to Central. It is similar to Avenue Road in Bangalore, where buying and selling of used books is the main business of the place. Students had thronged the book shops, bargaining hard. As I walked around Moore Market, I caught a glimpse of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium before heading into the bustle of Chennai Central. There was a mob near the bus stand outside and a queue at the taxi stand. A flight of NCC cadets who seemed to have just arrived, were loading a truck with their luggage. Travelers had taken over the ticket counters and the waiting area was packed with people watching TV commercials. The tea and snacks shops too were thronged.

Amidst all this, I found an unusual lull on platform number 6. A train just started to Mumbai on the opposite platform as I entered, and another from Bangalore had just been emptied on Platform 7. The only people to be seen in sight were the shop vendors and a few travelers who seemed to have come early. So, in a hope to kill time I bought an Outlook magazine from Higginbotham’s and occupied an empty bench on Platform 6. As I read, the sea breeze took over the usually sultry air making it even more pleasant. Only the railway staff went about their work and there was no one else to bother me. By afternoon the crowd gradually increased and I too decided to leave. I walked about for another half hour and reached the Chennai Fort station. Hoping to get a local train back to Guindy, I crossed the road and entered the station.

A train whistled at a distance, so I hurried to the platform and boarded it. It was a train to Velachery, which is close to Guindy. Thankfully, unlike morning, I got a seat this time and the train began to move. As I noticed outside, the train stopped at stations that I had not come across in the morning and I thought the return route might be different. Without any suspicions, I sat gazing outside as the train chugged into the Chepauk Station, from where I could catch a glimpse of the lush green grounds of the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. On the way to the next station, all the people seemed to look to my left and I too turned to look. Outside the window we all caught the vast blue emptiness of the Bay of Bengal. 

  

Though I catch the scent quickly, I missed the fact that I had boarded the wrong train this time. All the subsequent stations were new to me and finally the person next to me confirmed my mistake. I was supposed to catch a train to Tambaram and not Velachery. A few others joined our conversation and ultimately I was able to get my doubts clarified, in the very little Tamil that I can manage. All I had to do was get down at Velachery and take a bus to Guindy. The readiness of the people to help me increased my respect for them. As I headed back, I stopped at the Phoneix Marketcity and picked a few things from Big Bazaar before finally heading home.

Horn- not OK- Please!

One evening, I was walking back from work. The footpaths were absent and the people had thronged the streets, waiting for busses and autos. It was rush hour and it was a hot Chennai evening. I had to negotiate the vehicles on one side and people on the other to walk. Every time I moved a little into the road, someone invariably honked. But then, a city bus stopped and just as I passed by, the driver gave out a nasty horn. For the next few minutes till I crossed to my side of the road, the honking only seemed to only ebb. It got me wondering whether loud horns were actually necessary inside the city. 

Noise pollution in cities are mainly attributed to vehicles and the loud horns they come with. In their rush to move on, drivers blare horns incessantly not minding the people around them. Noise pollution is found to have profound effects on the psychological health of people which makes it a cause for concern. 

Honking has a purpose, it is a way of signalling fellow drivers to move away or watch out. On highways “Horn OK Please” on lorries requests the vehicle overtaking to horn and alert the driver ahead. It is logic itself that, with increase in the number of vehicles, the noise levels tend to increase. But, the time has come to regularise and to keep them in check. We need to show prudence lest it is too late. And what more, it is for our own good. As I kept thinking I thought of a few ways to tackle it.

1. This idea may have crossed several people, automobile manufacturers inclusive, that it is better to toggle between two horns, A ‘loud’ and the other ‘soft’, than keep just one loud horn. When travelling within the city limits, the driver can flick the switch to ‘soft’ mode and switch back to ‘loud’ on the highroads. City busses and auto rickshaws must have only the ‘soft’ horns, maybe with varying frequencies to differentiate between them. Scooters too can have just the ‘soft’ horns whereas bikes can come with the switch. 

2. Domestically, those who are going to buy bikes or cars can request the dealer to install a mellow horn. This may gradually create a demand for such horns and spread. Those who already own vehicles and have a loud horn can simply get them replaced.

3. No Horn zones can be established around critical places like hospitals, schools and universities and certain places of worship. Private companies can enforce their own no horn rules within their campuses as a part of their CSR programs. Residential colonies, staff quarters, apartment complexes can all do the same. 

4. ‘No Horn Day’ ought to be popularized by massive online campaigning and must be celebrated with much pomp in schools and colleges. Awareness campaigns can be initiated more frequently around noisy areas.

5. Policing is an effective measure to keep noise levels in check. Fines and stringent action against repeated offenders can help curb noise pollution to a great extent. But this can come only if all else fails.

If softer horns are used by an entire city, the noise levels of the entire city will come down. If the noise levels of the entire city come down, the stress related health issues will come down and the general health of the population in that city will improve. To reduce noise pollution is a social responsibility today. And if something as trivial as not honking or using a softer horn can help society, then it is time we be civil about it.

  

Note: Subject to newer and better ideas. Kindly refine.