BANGALORE- A CHANGED CITY

People in Bangalore are so busy and tensed that they forget about their health. They want to make money, invest and gain profit. I once overheard a lady say, “My husband has to leave early for office today. So even I had to leave for my walk early because I’ve to go back as soon as possible and prepare his lunch. He is obese and has high blood pressure. He isn’t allowed to have outside food. Oh god!”

Sometimes I wonder why it is such a necessity for a person to labour so hard for money to such an extent that he falls prey to dreadful diseases.

In some areas of Bangalore, we come across beautiful paintings on the wall with slogans like, ‘Keep your city clean!’ and ‘This is my city.’ It fills me with such pride, the fact that I stay in such a big and famous city like Bangalore. But then sights like an old woman sitting on the roadside, crying for food or money haunt me. I wonder…is this my city where there is no shelter for this woman? Is this really my city where we find people who long for even a simple meal a day? There are countless stomachs that sleep hungry at night in a city like Bangalore.

The citizens of Bangalore are well-educated people. When we come across a sensational piece of news, we get excited and we pass comments on it. But we never pause to question the reasons behind the emergence of such news. We wholeheartedly point fingers at the administrative setup of the country and forget that we’re the ones who vote for these people and it’s actually we who are to blame.

A majority of people are money-minded and only think about their well-being. It doesn’t matter to them what befalls their neighbours. Yet, when it’s time to pass judgments they very grandly say, ‘Oh this shouldn’t have happened. What a disgrace!” The famous saying by Leo Tolstoy, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” is very true.

People come across petty problems everyday that all of us have experienced at some point or the other. I’ve come across some individuals who make a big fuss and create a scene for stupid little things to which their solution is verbal abuse. Sadly, I sometimes experience such nonsense early in the morning. It is a time when we treat ourselves to slokas and devotional songs. Instead we are forced to get an earful of such convoluted vocabulary. And it is coming out of the mouth of a literate person who is probably working in a big MNC. Why can’t such silly problems be solved by peaceful means? What is the necessity for such a big scene to be created?

We see bus drivers, traffic police and many government employees who themselves break the law. Fastening of the seat belts is made compulsory. We rarely ever see the police with belts locked into place. They check us for our driving licenses and we’re fined if we’re unable to display it. However, we rarely ever see a minister’s driver holding his license with him. Big banners of ‘Have you thanked a traffic police today for keeping your roads safe?’ make me laugh.

Can we put an end to all these flaws within us? Can we expect people to come up with a solution regarding the care, concern and maintenance of rules and regulations of public areas? Well, these questions can be answered with a firm ‘yes!’ But how firm will our resolution be? As human beings, how many resolutions have we sustained so far? I would say that the record consists of very few.

I’d like to end with a plea to you. Be concerned about other people and not just yourself. Respect your society, city and nation. No matter what happens, we must stay together, work together. As the saying goes, a single stick can be broken easily but a bundle of sticks cannot. It is our one duty to fulfill Dr. APJ’S vision of India 2020.


Neeraja B. Shringeri
II BA (HEE)