August 15th was the 65th independence day of India, and we could hear most people saying that a change needs to be brought about make India a cleaner, safer and 'saner' country to live in.
People are of the view that this 'change' can happen only if each one of us change ourselves.
I completely agree with that, but the problem is that this is something that cannot be taught.
I want to list down a few of examples which I recently witnessed which show that if a person does not want to do something about his surroundings, he will never do it. This holds true for a very well educated as well as a sparsely educated individual
Swachcha Bangalore
I saw a small autorikshaw type vehicle, which is used to transport garbage and has "Swachcha Bangalore" written on it. The driver was drinking tea in a paper cup.
When he finished, he threw the cup on the street, when he had a truck full of garbage being transported to the right place!! Now, you don't have to be a educated even one bit, to understand this.
Me first, Me first !!
In a very posh apartment complex, which houses about 1000 of the most well to do and well educated families of Bangalore, had a Independence day celebration going on. Parents were in a queue to get tricolour tatoos made for their children. At least 4 out of the 10 people there, were shameless enough to break the queue and push ahead of their turn. If this what they teach their children here, in such a trivial scenario, what would their children do in the train reservation queue, RTO queue and even a hospital queue??
No time for manners!!
In the same apartment complex, the aerobics room had chocolate wrappers strewn all over the floor. Maybe the parents had enough time and money to buy chocolates for their children, but did not have enough time to teach them not to litter !!
On the other hand, world is made up of some amazing people who go out of their way to make a 'positive change'.
What do you expect at a traffic signal in Bangalore, where the traffic lights are not working? Chaos?
But today morning, I was surprised to come by such a junction where the traffic was very disciplined.
He was not in a traffic cop's uniform, he was just a regular guy like you and me, who had taken some time out of his busy schedule to direct the traffic and make everyone's life easier.