It was late in the evening and we were
returning home after a good dinner at my cousin’s place. The traffic from South to North Bangalore
at 9 pm is generally moderate and flows smoothly – provided all the traffic
lights are functioning. Traffic lights in Bangalore represent an invisible
superior force controlling and regulating our movement. Ninety percent of the
people obey the rules without a second thought. They stop when it is red and
start moving when it is green without any additional prompting. The presence of
a policeman is another effective motivator.
We were cruising along Kasturba Road
listening to some exotic Latino music that night. As we reached the end of Mahatma
Gandhi Circle, all hell broke loose. The most dreaded thing happened – the
traffic lights failed.
The moment the invisible superior
force was removed, the ever dormant primordial behavior – to grab, rush, sneak,
squeeze, took over the entire fleet of cars, buses, two wheelers and autos.
Within a minute, orderliness gave way to random chaos and Mahatma Gandhi Circle,
a junction of six roads resembled peak hour traffic on a suburban train in
Mumbai. May his soul rest in peace. A traffic grid formed within a very short
time and all vehicles came to a grinding halt. Every inch of real estate was
occupied by extra eager drivers elbowing their way out ahead of others. No maneuvering
was possible. To make matters a whole lot worse, there was no policeman in
sight.
If you look closely at this incident –
one thing stands out loud and clear – ‘the moment there is no supervision we
lose all self control – group behaviour is replaced by each individual’s
survival instincts – each one for himself and to hell with rules, orderliness
and teamwork. The same type of behaviour is true in bus stands, self help food
counters, reservation booths and so on. This type of conduct is a typical
‘Indian Trait’.
In a macro sense this trait applies to
every aspect of our daily lives. Without supervision students copy in exams, we
forego official receipts to skip taxes, throw garbage anywhere we like, a deserted
spot becomes a certain and convenient urinal and so on. We care for ourselves
and are least concerned about the community we live in.
I am beginning to believe that as Indians,
we require supervision at all times. Somewhere in our genetic coding ‘self
discipline’ has been left out. Supervision and policing helps tremendously in
turning an Indian from a greedy individual to a team person. If the supervision
is from a foreign source it is even better.
There is nothing else that can explain
our phenomenal success on foreign soil. Uncle Sam’s omnipresence has helped
Indians to excel in every field in the US of A. Strict Singapore laws ensure
that we obey all the rules and regulations to the ‘T’.
The time has come to stop blaming the
BJP or Congress for our fate – it is up to each one of us to work without a
‘danda’ (stick) behind us or a carrot in front of us.
