http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com
Javed
Akhtar, a script writer, a poet and a lyricist, an ex-MP and an intellectual
has recently made a statement against the rising levels of decibels from places
of worship. I, too fully agree and support him.
I
have my own reasons. The urban centres are already very noisy and there does
not seem to be any effort to control the excessive noise. I am an 80+
individual who has to suffer it right through the day and night and frequently
the suffering is right through the week.
Living
on the Ridge Road of the Idgah Hills at Bhopal nights and days are very seldom
quiet. That the stray dog population has exponentially risen does not need any
re-iteration. In our area they seem to be cooling off during the day and are
out as soon as the sun goes down. Nights are for their dog-fights, snarling and
barking away at intruders – human, bovine or canine. Some nights it goes on,
seemingly, till eternity.
When
peace and quiet appears to be imminent, out comes the aazhan popping out from loudspeakers from several mosques one at a
time. Every mosque has its own time for aazhan
and may differ from others by sheer minutes. There are many mosques in the
vicinity and in the quiet of the dying night the loud speakers come loud and
clear even from far-away mosques as they commence broadcasting one after the
other.
Now
that it is winter that is slowly retreating, it is still dark after the session
of aazhans. But just when you start
getting the much-denied sleep it is the aircraft flying low that shatter the
chances of peace and tranquility for some rest and repose. They seemingly line
up in the sky and start descending one by one just after day-break. Living
right on their flight path we get the worst of the noise generated by their jet
or turbo-prop engines. The post-dawn sleep too is also thus trashed.
These
are the specific sources of noise that permeate during the most inconvenient
hours. But there is a general low-density noise all through the day. Automobile
horns, scooters being kicked for a start or a heavy motorcycles booming away or
sundry noises like a mason using electric saws to cut marble slabs or a
carpenter hammering away on nails in a flat in the block are noises that are
ever present.
As
the workers call it a day it is time for planes to home in again using the air
space above us for their landing run in the evenings. And, then at least thrice
in the evening loudspeakers blare out aazhan
again calling the faithful for namaaz
– the noise drowning even the the TV serial dialogues. And as we prepare to get
some sleep the celebratory crackers start going off in this wedding season.
It
is indeed a noisy world. According to the Hindu system of “varnashram”, at my age I should have been in the forests living out
an austere life waiting for the curtains to come down on me. But, no, there are
no forests around to go to as those have been felled for that dreadful word
“vikas”. And whatever are now left to us
are actually those where the burgeoning wildlife has been forced to migrate to
from the so-called parks where they were boxed in. Those are no longer the
forests where an oldie could try and spend peacefully his remaining few days.
They are infested by predators which have spilt over from the game parks
looking for fresh pastures and frequently make meals of a bovine or a hapless
human. I any case, using a forest for a residence would be an anachronistic in
this day and age.
Apparently,
in today’s India the elderly have no alternative. They have to suffer the urban
noises day and night unless the administration becomes gracious and empathises
with them to stamp out, at least, the noises that can be stamped out. While the
noise from aircraft cannot possibly be helped, no government in India has the
guts to put a curb on the noises emanating from religious places. Besides, Maneka
Gandhi being around, we have to co-exist with snarling, barking and quarrelling
street dogs.
Ultimately,
one has to reconcile with the fact that deliverance from this kind of torture
will have to wait till our own day of deliverance and not before that.
*Photo from internet
No comments:
Post a Comment