Waiting For The Next Mahatma

My recent visit to Bangkok proved what I had suspected for long - that the lack of civic discipline and disrespect for civil order is peculiar to Indian culture.  I was amazed at the way commuters on the Bangkok metro queued up and got into the metro in an organised, unhurried, civil manner despite the stations being as crowded as a Mumbai station.  In Mumbai, that happens only if there are uniformed security people enforcing order.

It set me thinking.  It is not as if the Indian gene is prone to dis-order or loves to break rules.  In fact the Indian psyche too used to be obedient and subservient to laws.  We too liked civic order and self-discipline - that was the only reason why the British could rule India with so few people for centuries.

I think the Indian respect for civil order and discipline actually started crumbling during the 1920s and the 1930s during the Non-cooperation and Civil Disobedience movements in connection with our Freedom Struggle. It suddenly became fashionable and patriotric to break laws. And of course if it served purely selfish motives then so much the better. The individual thus lost his respect for laws.

India is the only country where a traffic cop (when he feels magnanimous) can wave you through a red traffic signal.

It took a great Mahatma to give Indians the courage to break laws, and defy the rulers.  Unfortunately we keep  breaking laws with impunity long after the British have left the country.

I wait for the day when another great Mahatma will emerge who will re-kindle the Indian's respect - and desire - to have order and self-discipline in our lives.