Of Enlightenment and Entitlement

India, with its rich history and cultural diversity is undoubtedly one of the great civilizations of the world. We have survived over 5000 years (if you believe in mythology) and should continue to thrive in the forseeable future, unless the world ends in a cataclysmic armageddon with fire and brimstone, as predicted by various faiths, beliefs and cultures. So we have endured and will continue to do so and call ourselves great and be proud of our heritage and traditions and (self) perceived greatness. This greatness, however, needs to be quantified. How great are we really? How do we measure this greatness?

The greatness of a nation may be measured through various parameters, but for the sake of today’s rant, I am going to look at some very basic qualities. To start with, let us look at a basic respect for your fellow human being, traffic and the rule of law. Last week I was at the airport to pick up someone. As I entered the complex, there were two lanes for vehicles entering the premises. One led to the car park where you could leave your vehicle and wait for your flight to arrive, and the other lane was for pick ups and drops – strictly no stopping and no waiting. Like a good boy, I parked my car in the parking lot and walked over to the arrival gate. There I saw many cars parked under “No Parking” boards, simply standing and waiting for whoever they had come to receive, to exit the arrival gate. Most of these cars were expensive models – BMW’s, Audi’s and Mercedes Benz’s. It’s not like the owners of these cars could not afford to pay for parking. It simply seemed to me a blatant disregard of the rules. Perhaps these people consider themselves above the law. Perhaps driving a fancy car gives these people a sense of entitlement. Perhaps they feel that any cop foolish enough to ask them to move deserves a bollocking – after all, don’t they know better? Don’t they know who I am? How dare they? So while I followed the rules and parked my car in the right place under the blazing sun and paid Rs. 130 for the privilege, the people disregarding the rules were able to park in the shade and avoid paying the parking fees completely.

This is not simply about parking at the airport, but an indicator of a far deeper malaise that ails our nation and our people. You can see it at any traffic signal in any Indian city. People cut lanes, cross the STOP line, enter the yellow box at the intersection and even jump the signal with an impunity so blatant, it has almost become the norm. Meanwhile, the poor sod who is following lane discipline invariably ends up being stuck at the traffic signal while other vehicles merrily zoom past. This only strengthens the belief that if you follow the rules you will not get ahead, and if you want to get ahead just disregard the rules. This is the perfect recipe for anarchy. You can see it everyday on the streets – intersections completely clogged and traffic  gridlocked  simply because vehicles have crossed the STOP line, entered the yellow box and are now impeding oncoming traffic. Road rage is on the rise. Vehicles cut across lanes, driving invariably at a tangent, never straight. Getting ahead is not enough, but getting ahead of the other guy is of paramount importance. After all, my need is greater than his – always. Finding a car without a dent or a scratch is next to impossible, simply because we want to squeeze through the tiniest of gaps, just to get two feet ahead of the other guy. Speeding and wrongful overtaking is yesterday’s news. Honking has become the latest epidemic. Sometimes it seems like the driver is honking to either kill boredom or just trying to keep beat with the latest bollywood chartbuster playing on the radio. And the less said about most call taxi operators, the better. Even women, generally considered safer drivers than men are no longer immune to this disease. In their fight for equal rights, women have lowered their driving skills to compete with men in terms of rashness and lack of basic driving etiquette.

This begs the question – why this blatant disregard for traffic rules? What do we hope to achieve by flaunting established norms for safety and discipline on our roads? It is this attitude that reflects our lack of respect for the rules that keep our society civilized and respect for our fellow human beings. As long as we continue to disrespect each other like this, can we ever hope of achieving greatness as a society and as a nation? Instead of living in the land of enlightenment, we seem to be living in the land of entitlement. Mera Bharat Mahaan…..kab banega?