Heavenly London | Flash Post 323

Button, the silence as we sit in our room on the fourth floor of St James Court Hotel at Buckingham Gate is so refreshing and calming as compared with the insane noise we experience in our apartment in Mumbai.

Does it feel like heaven!

I don’t really know what it’s like in heaven but when we were out walking yesterday, Dost pointed out that every single vehicle on the streets here give right of way to pedestrians even if the traffic signals are in their favour.

That’s heartening.

And drivers don’t use their car horns so, there’s absolutely zero noise as compared to Mumbai drivers who practically sit on their car horns to get the vehicle in front of them to move even though that vehicle has broken down. And then, what follows, is a barrage of filthy abuse, rage, temper tantrums and more honking.

Is it because citizens are more civilised in countries other than in India?

I guess so. Civilisation means that you think in a completely different manner where you embrace your fellow  human beings and treat them in a manner that you’d expect to be treated in. It means that you do all those things that you expect others to do to you.

Which means that there is no noise pollution!

Yes. When you walk the streets, the only thing you step on are dry leaves that have fallen off the trees as its fall time and not plastic bags or bottles that people have discarded on the streets and not in litter bins. There is no chance of stepping on dog poop or spit or paan-chewed spittle. You will not see people fling empty plastic or paper bags and bottles out of their car windows after eating out of them and you’ll definitely not see drivers gargle and spit it out of their car windows.

Again, it’s civilisation at work, I guess.

Absolutely. The pessimist that I am, I don’t see the advent of that day because behaving in a civilised manner needs a completely different mindset. With our ever-expanding population, this seems an unachievable task.