Noise

Traffic, siren, crowded metro, loud music, blaring car horns- all create noise. What it is like to live inside a loud urban city? How do people survive inside this noisy bubble? Do they surpass their sanity to the point where noise becomes a background track, or do they, actually, listen?

It was a humid evening; I was sitting and sipping my tea at home. Laziness, as a daily routine during holidays, was keeping me glued to my place. Suddenly, I heard some noise coming from the window- two men were abusing, a child was crying, people were talking loudly- all at once. I went outside and noticed that there was a quarrel between two neighbors in society. They were abusing each other. Both men were middle-aged, had respectable jobs, earned a decent living and one of them was a father, whose son was crying next to him. Ten to fifteen people had gathered around them, just like me. We were all curious to know what had led these two, so-called, civilized and normal men to fight so openly, in the street. The crowd was both, an audience to the drama, as well as a pacifier, trying to stop them from hurting each other. But the two men were so furious with each other, that they didn’t even notice their cell-phones and watches falling on the road.

 

After about fifteen minutes, one of them, finally, left with his kid, and the crowd began to disperse. Later, that day, I came to know the actual reason for the fight. The children were playing cricket in the street, and the ball had, accidentally, hit one of the two neighbors, as he was passing through. The man had faced no injury, as the ball had barely touched him. But the situation really heated up when the kid’s father stepped in. 

This incident immediately reminded me of the news of the Dentist, who was brutally murdered by a group of men, after his ball had hit one of them, while playing cricket in Janakpuri, Delhi. Imagine living in a society where the value of life is less than a man’s ego! Imagine the plight of the family members who lost a soul to an argument. The most terrifying moment was when I thought about how the event that took place in my neighborhood, could have taken a similar, unfortunate turn if the other people had not stopped the two men when they did. This issue can be faced by each one of us, inside, as well as outside our homes; are we prepared to face it? Or will we ignore it and turn to the next page in the newspaper? With these incidents of rage increasing on petty issues- where are we headed? What was the noise that I heard? I think it was the noise of humanity dying inside the gated colony.

This increasing rage and dehumanizing behavior is not a by-product of technological advancement or any other singular factor. It has been growing on us like weeds throughout the years; we have just been ignorant to the fact. We are just afraid to accept that we are the ones who contributed to this menace by ignoring it. Each one of us, whether a teacher or not, should not be a raging model for our children. We can end this cycle by playing our small but significant parts.