Travel etiquette

I travel very much, each time I travel by train I observe that people have seemed to have lost their civic sense these days. Those of you who travel by train will agree, when you enter a A.C. coach in a train it is like a fish market. People talking loud, shouting at the top of their voices. If there is a group or a family traveling then it is much more.

Even people who are traveling alone or others are hooked on to the mobile sets answering or talking loudly. Some of the conversations I have observed goes like this.

“hello, hello! can’t hear you, hello, hello”
“there is no network, I am in train”
“we are on train”
“pick me up at so and so time”
“on train safe”.
“how is every one at home”
“eat well, sleep well”

And most of these conversations go on and on as if there is no tomorrow!!!

I just wonder what people did and managed when there were no mobile sets???

The other annoying factor is the loud music emerging out of mobile hand sets, some people tend to showcase their music to the whole world. They seldom realize there are co-passengers traveling and need to maintain silence.

I am not against mobile use but people need to realize that when they are traveling they need to respect the privacy of other and not think the train is a fish market or their home. This is where we lack civic sense and the social etiquette in society.

In the west for example when I travel by train it is comparatively quiet, people do respond to mobiles but in a low voice, they keep quiet as if it is traveling in a plain. In India luckily while travel by flight it is relatively quite. Thank god passengers are asked to switch off their mobile or even that would have become a fish market.

I only wish:
- Mobile use is ban on trains.
-People learn some civic sense so that they remain quiet or talk softly. when they are traveling with others – respecting others privacy.
-stop being so dependent on the mobile sets.
-Stop listening to loud music on rains.

Inequality in water consumption patterns

It is interesting to look at the consumption pattern of water amongst the various population in India. There is an urban, rural divide and also difference in rich & poor in consumption pattern. Majority of people live in rural areas and most of them have limited or no access to tap water, 24/7 running water. They have to walk for miles to fetch water which is a major task for the women folk every day. They manage to get around 2 / 3 pots of water each day which is 10 liters of water for all the house hold use. On an average, per capita consumption of water in a city like Delhi is 225 to 250 liters per day. Poor people living in slums of Delhi do not have access to water sources so the average per capita in such areas is only around 33 liters per day.

Now we see there is a huge distinction between the usage patterns of water for domestic use. Particularly between urban rural divide and rich – poor. Some use 10 to 33 liters per day and the others use 250 liters per day!!!

It is important to understand the politics of use of water, lot of consumers in the affluent areas need so much water for daily house hold use which is generally for bathing (showers), washing machines, kitchen use, gardening etc. in poor quarters of the city and large tracks of rural areas people have access to water sources only to cook and bath.

If this scenario continues, there will be a situation where the haves will use more leaving less to poor house holds. The future trend should call for action to encourage rich consumers to use less so that poor quarters have some more to use which is dignifying and humane.

Guru Bhai