Anupam- The Dreamer

Ganwar (गंवार) is a Hindi word, which literally refers to the person living in villages. But, often, it is used in the negative sense meaning someone who is illiterate, ill-mannered and foolish! But, I often think that the actual गंवार is far better than the people living in the urban areas in many dimensions. The village people have better civic sense in general, as they have to care for their surroundings on their own, because of the low presence of the “government machinery” as such for doing their daily tasks like road cleaning, collection of trash etc. So, the villagers themselves try to keep their surroundings clean.

But, look at the urban ganwars, who actually deserve to be called as such. Barring a few, most of the people have no civic sense. A few days back, I was watching an “uber rich guy” who stepped down from a multi-million car, to buy an ice-cream. As soon as he opened the wrapper, he threw it on the road, despite the fact that the ice-cream seller had placed a dustbin near the cart! Now, what would you call this guy, if not a true ganwar (गंवार)?

Similar things can be seen in many public places in our country. One of the best example is the train. Many of the so called “educated people” use the wash-basin in such a “beautiful” manner in the morning that the other people can’t even afford to touch the tap, leave alone using it! The situation of the toilets is at next level, which cannot be even described at times. Sometimes, I had to take a deep breath before entering and hold it till I come out of that “intense aroma-filled space”. Sometimes, if your breath-hold broke, then a part of your soul had to leave this mortal world 😀

In other public places too, you can find similar behavior of a lot of people. What is more appalling is that, many of the times the so called “literate” and “educated” people are seen indulging in these behaviours like littering, throwing wrappers outside the vehicles, some even throw cigarette butts everywhere. Many of the well-to-do people don’t like to follow the traffic rules. There is a crossing near my home, where I often see that the rich people often taking a wrong turn just to avoid 200m of extra travel. And in case, there is an accident, then who is to blame? In general, there is a lack of basic civic sense in the people, which is all pervasive, irrespective of region, religion, caste, sex, gender etc.

In my college IIT Guwahati, once I was having a tea near the canteen. It was a night time and I stood near the ground area located at the center of our hostel. As I was having the tea, a junior fellow came and stood near me. And as soon as he finished his tea, he threw the empty cup on the ground! A young chap who was otherwise intelligent enough to crack the JEE-exam, had no civic sense even after coming to the college! I confronted that chap to put that empty cup in the dustbin, but he stood there like a statue, as if he didn’t care. And as a sign of protest, he didn’t budge, as if I had asked him to give his kidney. Even if that chap would have become a high-income earning technocrat later in life, he could never become a good citizen by this attitude of his. And infact, inculcating basic civic sense does not take much effort on our part to improve our own lives and the lives of others around us. If that chap would have bent this body to lift up the cup and put it in the dustbin, it would not have broken his knees or made him tired. Infact, it could have kept the surrounding area clean and aesthetic. But, some people don’t have a conscience, so it doesn’t matter if someone else tries to prick their conscience, as they don’t have any in the first place!

And after doing these sorts of behavior, we complain that the Indians don’t have a good civic sense and we are not a clean, orderly and a law-abiding country. This change of behavior is not a big thing, small steps like not littering the surroundings and following the basic rules, can help to make the lives of everyone better. But, the irony is that, it is “most difficult thing” to teach to anyone! Some people may blame schools for not teaching the basic civic sense, some may blame parents and family, while others may blame society in general. This blame game will not take us anywhere. The golden rule that we can follow is beautifully summed up in the quote I read somewhere, which goes like this:

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town, and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”

Till next time….