November 08, 2007

life in general: noise pollution all around


Drill and shrill! Deafening, nerve-grating sounds! That is the ugly reality of urban India that supposedly has the most educated industrialists, businessmen, affluent citizenry. In Bombay, noise levels are at their highest noise. Be it the daytime-&-nighttime heavy-duty construction machinery of builders or the tile-cutting drill machines used in affluents' homes or society compounds. Or be it is the loud prayer calls emanating from loud speakers in mosques, or the relentless clanging of temple bells. Or be it the annual torture of nerve-grating bombs during Diwali.

But they are fast asleep -- not just the police or municipal authorities but also the high-income citizenry -- oblivious to the serious harm they are causing to everyone's health by their actions (citizens) or lack of it (enforcement of the noise pollution laws by the authorities). Till they wake up, those who don't indulge in these things will have to stay awake on account of the noise pollution. How much more great can high-class urban India get?

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