No Honking

The other day on Raksha bandhan I was travelling to town by road. One thing which immediately caught my attention was the huge banners put up by Times of India related to No honking Drive

 (15^th-22 Aug 2016).

What an excellent initiative taken up by TOI to create awareness amongst the people on how hazardous unnecessary honking is. In metro cities like Mumbai especially where the city never sleeps it is extremely important to understand that unnecessary honking should be completely avoided. It not only damages hearing it also leads to anxiety, stress, road rage and hypertension. It actually breaks the silence. The journey from suburb to town which normally takes an hour took us 3 hours with incessant honking which further added to our plight. As we moved inch by inch towards our destination trying to trace the source of the traffic jam but could not find any on our way. Just 4-5 cars which had broken down in the middle of the traffic due to excess heating.

Abroad the scene is totally different there honking is treated as rude. If you honk people stare you with a look which says” My driving is perfect man don’t honk”. There are certain countries which take action against honking, it’s high time that we too follow them and make laws around no honking to deter honking.

Noise pollution is also one of the serious hazard for the environment it disturbs the plant and animal life. As per Awaaz foundation the normal decibel levels should be 55 DB, however they shoot up to 110 DB-140 DB during festivals. By creating awareness through schools and colleges we can sensitise the kids on noise pollution.. this in fact has proved to be an effective tool. The results are showing up, last couple of years there has been reduction in the sale of fire crackers especially sutali bombs which merely burst & penetrate your ears leave you temporarily shaken, they damage the ear organ. Not to forget the air pollution created by the fumes arising out of these fire crackers. Last year my cousin took his kids out for fire cracker shopping when the kids themselves objected to buy these noise polluting fire cracker as they were taught at the school about the hazards of noise pollution.

Some people actually move out of their place and travel off to some far off place during Diwali to avoid the air and noise pollution. During festivals and wedding people play loud music thereby disturbing all around, such occasion are happy and joyful events in ones’s life and shouldn’t be a reason for inconvenience to others. People will have to realise that they have to think about others and environment and maintain civic sense. I recollect this particular instance when fire caught our building on Diwali night due to bursting of fire cracker, we were fortunate enough that we were successful in dousing the flames on time!

Let us all pledge that we will not attribute to noise or air pollution and spread awareness so as to make the earth a better place to live in. 

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Stop taking Pictures ..(stop being unreasonable)

Dear Respected Jaya Bacchan,

With regard to your valuable advise of Stop taking pictures to the students of Narsee Monjee’s annual festival who on seeing you immediately took out their mobile phones and went  click..click..click. Whilst you did get furious and categorically asked the students to stop taking the pictures..kindly note that they were doing what any other individual would have done had he or she been in their place. They were completely awestruck seeing a well-known celebrity who was there to have a chat session with the students. On seeing her raging and furious whereby she mentioned that just because you have a camera and mobile you have the freedom of taking anyone’s picture anytime without seeking their permission. The students got so remorseful that there prevailed pin drop silence in the hall.

Who is  to be blamed in this situation is not the students jayaji , but our very own system which idolises the bollywood hero and heroines to such an extent that they think of them as their real hero and some further go to the extent to literally construct temples in their names and worship them. With the advance in technology , inbuilt camera clicking pictures and videos has become so very easy. These very celebrities are publicity hungry they want their fans to give them the much needed adulation and admiration. What is the fuss about??

Next time you address a similar audience please be cordial and request the organisers itself to make an announcement at the beginning of the function restricting mobile usage..may be such pictures can be taken at the end of the programme.

What irks me is that very jayaji who went for launch of Dilip De’s digital art exhibition has no issues posing for the paparazzi. Depending on the location, people and place how easily the celebrity change their stance.