“Shit! …. Thank god! It didn’t dribble on my clothes,” I gasped and expressed gratitude towards my god at the same time, in a split moment, staring at the man who was just on the brink of spoiling my day. The man in question was nobody I knew. An absolute stranger! But that couldn’t impede me from awarding him with the most grisly stare I have ever given to anyone in my life. No, this is not an episode of a roadside molestation at a busy bus stop. This is a centuries old notorious custom that has clasped a large section of Indian society. Yes, I am talking about those who do not mind dirtying a public place in order to release themselves off dirt!
They are criminals. There should be laws against those who carelessly spoil the roads; others have to be extra careful to even move a step forward. I remember an unpleasant incident that just came to pass when once I was walking leisurely on a not-so-crowded road. A lady, probably in her late twenties, was ahead me. We stopped at a bus stop, so did a bus to stack it with maximum number of passengers (as is the tradition followed by all the buses). Before I could realize, a spray of orange-brown paan (several ounces of it, to be precise) someone in the bus had been chewing came flying out of the window and nestled right on the head of the lady in front of me, spilling a few drops on her shoulder. The dumbstruck woman couldn’t believe her fate (and I thanked mine for obvious reasons); and before she would have evened the score with the offender (I wonder what she would have done!), the bus had already made a move.
The desolation doesn’t come to a halt here. You can’t trust looking downwards while walking on an Indian road, especially near areas like bus stops, vegetable markets, small narrow lanes, construction zones, and many more. A sickening dash of sloppy spit, a careless way of blowing nose, an intolerable stance of tossing banana peels and other fruits’ seeds, etc. are simply dreadfully annoying to the individual who happens to glance at it. Another negligent approach is letting one’s pets excrete in the open (do they follow the same ‘negligent’ attitude inside their dwelling places as well?). Now that is what the extreme chance of all to curse those grumpy roads and the anonymous doers!
What calls for a serious attention here is few steps to be taken, not only by the government but also by both the individuals – one, who are responsible for such acts; two, who are the victims (starting your day with such ugly experiences is in itself a suffering, isn’t it?). If asked me, I would like our government to outline an austere rule of fining (a hefty amount of money) the wrongdoer the moment he executes such outrageous act. The goaded citizens should come up with their active participation via alerting the ‘criminals’ as and when such affairs transpire. And last but not the least, the offenders should themselves have to understand that if they won’t like the idea of smudging their homes’ floors and walls with spits, paan-sprays, their pets’ craps, vegetables and fruits’ peels, then why do they do the same to the country they claim is their own?
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