We, the pissing

So the BMC in Mumbai has decided to fine or force people to clean up all the mess they spit out on the city streets, and you can’t possibly argue that’s not a sensible move. The whole city has turned into one huge kachra bin, as we pee, spit, throw stuff out without a care. If you dare to stare at the city roads, you’ll see more red than the potholes, and that’s saying a lot. The real problem however is this: how can you fine a billion dirty cads? We people are so used to treating anything outside our own homes as a garbage bin, the entire BMC force will have to be unleashed on the roads to nab the culprits, there are just so many of us litterers. And even that won’t be enough. And I will be entirely surprised if some of the BMC staffers themselves aren’t found to be guilty too. So then what’s the practical solution? None, actually. How on earth can you change something that’s embedded inside our DNA? We Indians simply lack the particular gene that monitors civic sense, we just don’t know how to respect our city and the environment. And worse, we lack basic courtesy for fellow citizens, and this shows up in our behaviour at public places. We break queues with impunity, we never say thanks when served, we clean our noses (and scratch our balls) for all to see, we don’t even bother to cough into the damn hanky. As for the kachra, I think ‘lack of enough dustbins’ is a pathetic excuse, even when the bins are in the vicinity, we carelessly chuck rubbish on the roads. So the BMC better not waste its time keeping an eye on us. Rather, it should worry about quicker clean up systems and mechanisms, so that the damn Mithi river can suck efficiently. We do, and will always litter. We are like that only, and perhaps even proud of it.