Now, what should we ban next?

 

The smoking ban is a step in the right direction, but there are other issues that need to be tackled as well

I genuinely welcome the smoking ban. I have not supported many other bans apart from the dance bar ban

Now, I despise people smoking in my face and more so my hair. Hence I am happy that Ramadoss has banned smoking in public. I have no sympathy for smokers.

But what happens to other habits that need to banned immediately. Are the ever-promising-not-committing politicians listening? Our policy-makers seem to be busy passing projects rather than bringing offenders to task.

The most important habit that needs to be immediately banned, considering Diwali is round the corner, are those sutli bombs and those firecrackers that make maximum noise. This noise disturbs not only humans; it is not good for birds, and other animals not to mention the environment.

I am not against celebrating, especially if people use those phuljhadis, and anar type fireworks. See, festivities apart, it is infuriating, because the gunpowder smell spreads across the neighbourhood. It is not healthy and those who have relatives with asthma know how painful it is to sit behind closed doors and windows, to avoid the polluting air.

It also adds to the noise pollution. Loud crackers serve no purpose except to please sadists, who enjoy, at the expense of others' peace of mind. It is extremely distressful. Sudden bursting noises makes one skip a heart beat, the animals in the neighbourhood go berserk and begin barking.

Lastly, but most importantly, it is harmful to those very children and their adult parents who seem to behave like they were deprived in their childhood, as they go around bursting crackers like nobody's business. I live in the heart of the city, which is the auto spare-part market. It is sad to see how people spend lakhs of rupees every Lakshmi pooja day. Tonnes of money is burned to ashes in a matter of seconds. The firecrackers are burst and they not only make a noise, they pose a danger in our lane, thanks to the zillions of vehicles parked there.

The firecrackers also pose a threat to children who burst them. I have got burned as a child and I am well aware of the dangers. Children are also likely to lose their vision if sparks fly into their eyes.

The other important point is banning 'noise' totally from our lives. I recently read that horns have been banned. Yes? Where? I hear the latest horns operating at the highest decibel levels in the shops around my house. The horns are hideous. They are squeaky, extremely noisy and troublesome to normal mortals. Invariably the traffic cops, RTO authority and other officials never conduct raids on these auto-spare part shops to check the horns and their sound levels. PS Pasricha used do that when he was the head of traffic. He ensured horns did not exceed a particular decibel level. The honkers need to be imprisoned. Yes, because they deafen people like us.

The other most irritating noise is that of dholaks, bands and their irritating music. The court has banned people from playing loud music after 10.30pm. I am not at all anti-festival, however, I am a staunch believer that one's personal faith should not be put on public display and especially in a manner that intrudes on another's space and privacy.

Making noise or playing loud music after 10.30pm, singing in tuneless voices over the microphone is intruding into my space, privacy and more so, personal time. Sadly, many fellow Indians have become jingoistic. They feel such bombastic celebration entails being a patriotic, believer in Indian-ness. People like me are termed intolerant. I am sorry. I am NOT going to be tolerant of noise, pollution, and public nuisance. I am one of the few Hindu women in Girgaum, who on every Ganpati, calls the DB Marg police station to lodge my complaint against noise-makers.

Sadly, the police too are divided on caste and religious lines. Every year we have this one episode where I simply call as a normal Girgaum citizen. Last year one police constable had the audacity to ask me if I was a Hindu. Till then I had not revealed my identity as a journalist. Many older cops knew my name at the local police station, thankfully not anymore. I fired him for even asking my religion. More so, I pulled him up for raising religious issue with a citizen. After he heard my credentials, he had the nerve to tell me, "Madam adhi nahi sangayacha ka tumhi patrakar ahat! (Madam couldn't you tell me earlier that you were a journalist?)"

I can imagine what an ordinary citizen must be facing without access to the media or an official contact. This brings us to my other favourite ban item - throwing colour in public.

I have NO intention of being associated with this wild festival where, under the pretext of playing holi, men molest women in public. They molest and even dunk girls in tubs of coloured water.

Yes, I also strongly object the women wearing all those transparent white or pale-coloured clothes that reveal more than colour. It is also inappropriate to throw colour at people walking on the streets and who have little to do with the celebration of others. People should be jailed for doing this.

The list can continue. But lastly I want to highlight the absolute torture of us women seeing men urinate in public. Yes, we women face more problems than men, because there are fewer clean public toilets for women.

It is a most uncivil breach of all normal sensibilities to see men publicly urinate. It speaks of the level of our society.  Nowhere else in the world do people urinate under flyovers, bridges, or any wall the way they do in India. These all should be picked up and imprisoned for a long term so that we normal mortals are spared such harassment.
k_neeta@dnaindia.net