[wheeledwanderer]

Just the other day couple of days ago, i took Vande Bharat from Goa to Mangalore and it was nothing less than a "Fish Market" and even the "Noise Cancellation" mode on latest Airpods refused to work:-(

Sadly this was the only mode of transport available to reach Mangalore in less than 4.5 hours!

[KRIPS99]

I used to go to the nearby lake for a morning jog and after the jog, i spent few minutes to meditate.
Unfortunately, i used to see one lady daily sitting between few meditators and watch you tube videos with high volume.

[Torque123]

Wildlife safaris is a place where silence is of utmost importance. However, the exact opposite of it happens which is very very irritating. On my recent visit to Panna Tiger Reserve, more than the tourists, the drivers & guides were a nuisance & causing chaos during one of the bigcat sightings.

[lancia_fanboy]

This is very true. Other nationalities with social structures like India would be very similar. I remember sitting in the waiting room at Nuwara Eliya train station in Sri Lanka. It was a tranquil place with every guest minding their own business. On cue, an Italian group appeared, and the entire peace of the place was shattered. As it was a big group, and I guess Italians are also expressive people, they felt like another big "Indian" group on the move.

[Praveen.gr]

I so many times think on this, when I see indians behave in a very anarchy manner. Forget in India, even outside inside our people just create mess starting from bus station to airport. Even during on board flight, it is only our people who stand, eat or talk loudly, although we have so many vibrant festivals, it should be confined to our space, I see lot of videos where even so called educated people dance, litter, or put loud music on road abroad. It is so embarrassing when I go on a international vacation and people there put everyone in one shoe and call us mannerlessly people.

[Wanderers]

While I am not advocating for we loud Indians, I am also not in favour of quiet and dull life of Europeans. So much so that people in Europe are taking small talk sessions to get someone to talk in daily life – in the lift, metro, or bus. Loud music and conversation is one thing but being quiet is another extreme, the gentlemen in Europe were expecting pin drop silence. Don’t expect me to be quiet as in a funeral, neither will I immerse myself into a book or mobile. I will use the earphone for music or movie but they use the same with ANC when a group of friends or family. I think US is best of both world, if I may add.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by sjain2054

India is a big country. It is the world within one country.
People focus on the bad in others. That is human nature.
So, if one family is loud on a train, we will have a dedicated thread to it and long discussions about it. But there are many other Indians who travel with a lot of responsibility but there is no talk about that.

Indians, who have not previously traveled abroad are now doing so because of increasing wealth. They will learn with time. Someone's normal is another person's uncouth (sometimes rightly so but not always).

But yes, we need to improve as a country. All Indians must strive to understand other people's personal space, to not spit, to not litter, to drive better, to keep things clean etc etc.. we have to improve. I will take the first step and start with myself. I will not talk about others until I am perfect.

Its interesting to see in every post how "everyone else" is a "moron", "lacks civic sense" etc etc..

Cheers!

Such a nice, balanced post. Thank you.
Indeed, we are all very quick to Judge but it isn’t as if we ourselves are perfect in every way.

If we go into our hinterland and villages and small towns we will see instantly that there is a different ‘politeness’ inherently visible than we will ever see in the ‘cities’.

This is basically because in the cities there is a perpetual paucity of time and everyone is always in a rush, the overall ambient noise is very high and all of this automatically makes people increase their decibel levels when they communicate.

I think also that we are a more ‘excitable’ race than perhaps others. We also like to roam about the world in ‘packs’. And these things also come with a higher decibel level.

[Sk8r]

Slightly related incident, here it goes.

So we entered the ever crowded “free lounge” at Chennai Airport while waiting for our flight to Bombay. As expected there were people all around, few seated and few standing scurrying to find empty chairs.

My wife got a table and “a” seat and while I was looking for one, I spotted a family of 3 sitting in a table of 2 with 4 chairs - one for their child and one for their “luggage”.

I approached them and the conversation went like this :
Me - is someone using this chair ??
He - No
Me - Can I take the chair ??
He - I need to keep my bags
Me - sorry, chairs are for sitting
He - then where will I keep my bags ?
Me - Down
He - everyone has done the same. ( looks around and looks like everyone has common sense )
Me - I need the chair

Finally, takes his bag and lets me take the chair.

10 mins into my yummy breakfast of Caesar salad and some sausages, someone is on a video call with speaker on. No brownie points for the right answer.

PS - I would have understood if it was Bagvathi

[Sargent_dallas]

When I first moved to the USA 6 years ago; one of my business school classmates, pointed out politely that Indian students smell of spices and they talk in the Indian language in the presence of Non- Indians. That’s because 99.99% of the houses are equipped with Centralized HVAC and when we cook Indian food with our bedrooms open, the smells percolate into our clothes and we talk in our native Indian language with fellow Indians fearing that our English will be judged by native speakers. When I got the chance to Head the Indian Student Association, the first thing we did as a group was to conduct the events on time. We had a rule that whenever we needed to meet someone representing the Indian Student Association, we dressed in formals. At last, I realized that- “We have civic sense, but we will only use it if there is a bigger reward for being civic”.

[krrisdrive]

"Public Space" is a western construct so are the 'speaking loudly', 'spitting on road', 'inconsiderate person' judgements derived from this construct.

Culturally speaking, it will be an insult to Indians to tone down the noise just to pacify a privileged person who seeks quiet and silence. That's how we are wired. Recently, I was at a family wedding and experienced the most maddening noise from all around. A music band was blasting songs while everyone was speaking loudly to each other, including me. On hindsight, I felt terrible, but I complied to the norm naturally.

However, scientifically speaking, noise pollution is real and its impacts are disastrous. Anyone who has a slightest disposition towards science will not generate/endorse noise pollution. During a festival celebration at my apartment, I measured noise level from my 10th floor home and posted in society WhatApp group. It was way beyond 75 decibel normally considered in industrial environment as upper safe limit. Guess what, I got "rolling eyes" as reward. Forget the adults, I felt sorry for the babies and senior citizens. So I think it is the scientific rigor that we miss in the larger society even though we Indians are excellent in STEM academics.

Having said that, I have two important projects in 2025.

1. Equip home with noise reduction windows. On a recent trip, captured these ads from in flight magazine.




2. Try these ear plugs and make it as part of my body.
This one I tried in industrial environment and is effective.


This seems costly but elegant.


I know that still I have to endure noisy weddings, festivals, IG/FB/YT scrollers, declarations of arrival/departure of souls so as to be a part of India. After all, finding peace in chaos is the mantra of India!

[NomadSK]

It’s high time for introspection !!

Video Link

[carhead]

Originally Posted by saikishor

I dont know if this comes under civic sense, but i absolutely hate it when morons SPIT on the road. If it is so uncontrollable please spit on some grass or sand on the side of the road.

Despite the experiences of the horrific pandemic we still dont learn. India is a nation where the Prime Minister had to launch a National Cleanliness Drive (Swach Bharat Mission). Education is key.

[AceCombatFanIN]

I have to admit the frustration I feel at my fellow Indians no matter where I go. I've been travelling via air to different places within and outside of India for a good 15+ years of my life and every single time, it's a mess with regards to passenger etiquette. I remembered coming back from London once around December 2019.

While approaching Abu Dhabi airport for landing, the air hostess came around and asked everyone to upright their seat. Everyone did so except for this stupid couple in front of me who had their seats reclined all the way back . The worst part? They were from my university only. When I reminded them, they looked at me as if I told them to get lost. Eventually the guy did take his seat forward but the gal was too adamant. So upon landing when they put the arm rests up to cuddle again, I very quietly pressed the button whilst moving to get my luggage and gave them a very nice awakening.

These days though I don't bother and immediately call for the air hostess when I see such blatant violations occurring in front of me.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by krrisdrive

"

Culturally speaking, it will be an insult to Indians to tone down the noise just to pacify a privileged person who seeks quiet and silence. That's how we are wired. Recently, I was at a family wedding and experienced the most maddening noise from all around.

However, scientifically speaking, noise pollution is real and its impacts are disastrous.

It was way beyond 75 decibel normally considered in industrial environment as upper safe limit. Guess what, I got "rolling eyes" as reward.

So I think it is the scientific rigor that we miss in the larger society even though we Indians are excellent in STEM academics.

Having said that, I have two important projects in 2025.

1. Equip home with noise reduction windows. On a recent trip, captured these ads from in flight magazine.

I know that still I have to endure noisy weddings, festivals, IG/FB/YT scrollers, declarations of arrival/departure of souls so as to be a part of India. After all, finding peace in chaos is the mantra of India!

Excellent post and insights on noise pollution.

The ambient noise overall in India is very very high. I think most of us must be quite close to deafness if not already deaf.

My God you’re right about these public and private functions. I actively dislike them and avoid them as much as possible. I simply cannot handle the noise levels. I feel quite ill when the noise levels go up.

Yes we are superb at theory and academic work and but we lack the aptitude and attitude to apply all that book knowledge to ‘real life’. Mostly because there is a certain lack of both civic sense as well as common sense. As someone said, ‘common sense’ is the most ‘uncommon’ thing.

I too observed a number of ads for noise reducing windows in the Air Vistara inflight magazine in August this year. Brands like Fenesta, Encraft, Prominance, Kalco etc. And I thought at the time, what a boon this is in India. And like you, I too am in the process of having these installed at several key points in the home.

With this, not only will I expect to benefit from not having to endure external noise, but I would also not want to impinge upon others, with any noise that may emanate from my home.

In Bangalore on Church Street there used to be a decibel meter outside of the Pollution Control Board Offices. I thought that was a nice touch. Nowadays my Apple Watch warns me every time I am in a ‘loud’ environment.

But then, we are in India. And we are a populous country. It is inevitable that the noise levels will be high.

It is up to us to protect ourselves as best we can.

[czar6502]

As I am going through this thread, a colleague of mine sitting right beside me is watching instagram reels on his phone with the volume level a little too high with respect to office ambience. CIVIC SENSE IS MORE UNCOMMON THAN COMMON SENSE.