The weak, idiotic citizen

What do you do when there is a problem that is staring you in your face, and you step forward to solve it, but you are met with stiff resistance from those who allow that problem to fester? One such case was experienced recently wherein huge amounts of water continued to gush out of one of the main pipes in a neighbouring building in Malleswaram, Bangalore.

We know the city is on the brink of a major water shortage, and here we had thousands of litres just spilling into a massive cascade that went on from Saturday until  Friday -- a good six days without anyone even as much as bothering to stem the flow.

First we thought someone had forgotten to close the tap before leaving town. But that was not the case, as we found out a few days later. The problem was that the repair work on one of the valves of the main pipe of that residential building had gone awfully wrong. The workers, not knowing how to deal with the problem, had apparently abandoned work. The result was the huge wastage of water.

When the building's committee was approached along with one of the candidates who is supposed to run in the forthcoming assembly elections, we were met by one resident of that building. And he was livid. He was rude. And in his expressions there was a strong flavour of guilt at not being able to fix the problem emanating from his building and having had to be reminded by residents of a neighbouring building; and the frustration at not being able to get the workers back to rectify the messed up works.

He said: "Do you think I am not a good citizen, that's why I am allowing this water to run to waste? You live in a different building. It's none of your business to interfere with ours! Please just mind your own business!And let us do our work!" 

The word "please" stood out as a sore thumb in that rudeness. But there was no point arguing with an idiot.

I wondered what he would do if a LPG cylinder leak caused an explosion leading to a major fire in our building merely. Would he have just sat twiddling his thumbs? Or would he have stepped out to offer help?

That water was not from the borewell, but from the water pipeline from Cauvery river. It was not just his or their water. It was our water! Every one's water!

We talk about civic consciousness. We talk about standing up together as one to make our city better with better and safer amenities. We talk about making living in Bangalore better.

Where then does that leave space for people like this man, who by all appearances could be defined as an elder, but with a child's brain? It's none of your business??!!

The interaction -- or rather the one-sided verbal 'skirmish' -- with this 'gentleman' happened on that week's Wednesday, which was four days since the water had been gushing out.

For all that man's rude assurances about "We will fix our own problems", solving the problem took another two days.

As we speak reams about correcting several gone-wrong systems in our civic setup, I am shocked to see that these kind of people in our lovely Bangalore are not an exception, but apparently a rule. They are everywhere! They are on the roads, the one who spit back fire when told they are in the wrong lane; they are on the footpaths, the ones who glare back when pointed out they are urinating in the wrong place; they in the balconies of homes, who make an aggressive gesture when asked why a they throw garbage down on the streets. They are everywhere!
How does one hope to improve this city, in that case? There are too many who don not want to allow that to happen...
Damn sad!