Notes from the Streets
Breakdown of Civic Sense = f(Proximity to the Homeland)?
…or is there something more to this?
Landing back in India is always a mixed-bag affair. The variables that determine the state of mind one exits the airport with are many. Right from the moment one boards the flight and boarding zones stop having meaning, to encountering people who want to make maximum use of the “free” intoxication, to the wonton destruction of restrooms, to the blatant disregard of announcements the moment the flight lands, to the immigration officer who acts as if they are doing a favour by allowing a citizen to enter their own country, to queues starting where one wills—the list is long, and each variable lies on a spectrum. And while one can luck out on a few low values, there is a variable set that doesn’t seem to shrink over time.
For the record, this time I only lucked out on the khadoos-ness of the immigration officer. Who was snapping at everyone before me, but while I prepared myself for the usual questions of why I dared to leave the country and forced Hindi imposition, he seemed to have lost interest by my turn. Lucky me.
Every other variable was at mid- to high-levels from the time I reached the gate at Addis.
The common response from friends and family is that this is how people are. You do your bit. Keep calm and carry on. Fight only if absolutely necessary.
And carry noise-cancelling headphones.
Aside: another form of inequality here. How disaffected one can be depends on the quality of the ANC headphones they can afford. But truth be told, even the best cannot account for the variance in the ambient cacophony.
Aside, contd.: Funnily enough, this ANC suggestion was what was proffered when I had raised uncivil behaviour traits at the workplace as well. Those with power, responded by not asking people to behave. But instead asking those who complain to adjust.
Whatever said and done, this breakdown of civic sensibilities is something that I’ve heard from a number of friends and colleagues across the global South, not just India. People taking joy in being able to jaywalk after returning to Cape Town after months in Melbourne. In being able to cut queues at Lahore. In tossing things into an overflowing bin instead of looking for the next empty one, in almost every city in India. In being able to grease the wheels in their favour.
The variable set of uncivil behaviour might vary by country. Some might have more variables, some fewer, but all non-null sets.
And it might be wrong of me to classify this as a global South phenomenon. Maybe the reverse is also true—people from, say India, finding some behaviours uncivil in the global North. For example, talking softly and following queues.
So perhaps I am wrong in singling out my homeland. Perhaps all this is that certain behaviour traits start increasing when one approaches their homeland, where they know what they are doing is acceptable.
How one perceives those behaviour traits makes one judge what is civil and what isn’t.
So maybe a system of equations of sorts?
Incidence of behaviour traits acceptable in a country = f(proximity to country)
Perception of civility = g(acceptable behaviour traits)
Anyway, while this analysis continues, my personal perceptions of civility are taking a hit. Quite literally.
As I walked to the neighbourhood cafe, a car just smacked me on my arm with their wing mirror and drove off, with the driver tossing a few choice words my way. So walking on the shoulder of a road with no footpath was wrong of me. Ok.
Then I entered the cafe, stood in queue to order, and two ladies just strolled in, cut the queue, and the barista still served them while my order was left hanging. I needed a caffeine fix as my kitchen is still non-functional. So…
…I kept calm and waited it out.
And then on the way out, someone in front of me tossed their used mug on the road. The dustbin was less than 10 feet away. As I picked it up to put it in the bin, the guy who tossed it looked at me as if I was mad, and the security guard came running as if it was naturally his job to pick up the trash after such high value customers.