Poor civic sense in Indians…Zara Sochiye!

Zara Sochiye was a short TV program Doordarshan showed in my teenage years. It’d be mostly aired when a movie-break was due to finish and would be short enough to catch many eyeballs–certainly of children of the house who were done with their quick house chores of laying dinner tables and keeping school bags ready in some manner…

The program would show many situations on streets or homes that required changing. On roads, it’d be about throwing trash, spitting or crossing carelessly. At home it’d be about saving resources of various kinds–cooking gas, electricity, water flowing while washing clothes, brushing teeth etc. and even being a good neighbour. Being avid TV watchers and starved of watchable programs in pre-24/7 TV era, most children of the time lapped up anything Doordarshan offered.

Now, as an adult, I find that I’ve been wary of wasting natural resources. Or, obstructing anyone’s parked vehicle with mine. That it pains me no end to see people throwing trash out of car windows or cars being washed with hose pipes or people keeping their baskets in payment queues and continuing to pick up more wares in department stores…and so much more. It’s possible that as a kid I did stop and think about situations shown in Zara Sochiye and internalised some lessons. Or that my parents and school instilled some good sense in me that helps now. But then why are people of my generation lacking in such basic civic sense? Didn’t they watch Zara Sochiye? And, what do we do for them or youngsters who need this orientation? As we’ve advanced as a society, we’ve created more avenues for bad behaviour by people and that must be corrected or the future generations will find themselves in a rotten society… Can advertising firms and corporates be convinced to use some of their corporate social responsibility budget for films on making us a civilised society? I doubt it that people will learn any other way.