Behavioural 'hom'ily

• Our Home Minister wants Delhiites to behave. This sudden discipline alert comes in the wake of the Commonwealth games that the capital city will host next year. He has said that in the past many years, he had not noticed any change in the behaviour of Delhiites.
  Why single out Delhiites? Is it because it is the national capital, the drawing room of our home, which we like to showcase for our guests for that first impression? Mr home minister, dusting and cleaning up the drawing room is not enough. Why don’t you suggest a revamp of the whole house, which is untidy and in a mess?
  We Indians like to “show” that we are disciplined and clean. So while the drawing rooms in our house are kept well, the insides tell a different story. And, we pass this thinking to our children too, who feel it is okay to live in a messed up environment. And we carry the same method in disciplining our children. How many of us police them on their talking/behaving at home? But we expect them to “behave” when guests are around, or when we take them out.
  Ditto is our home ministry’s mentality. The commonwealth games are approaching and the errant Indian need to clean up his/her act. So the minister says stop jumping signals, stop flouting traffic rules, stop jaywalking, stop spitting on roads, stop breaking civic rules etc etc. But why do we have to wait for an occasion to “start behaving” ourselves. Why cannot we Indians just start inculcating the values of good civic life and set an example for the younger generation, with or without high-profile guests gracing our nation?
  Mr Chidambaram has also said, “Those coming to Delhi from other places in the country must accept the discipline of living in a big city. We are not living in countryside. We are living in a city. Therefore, we must behave as citizens of a big city.” So does he mean we can get ruthlessly unruly in countryside without a damn for discipline? This irresponsible “cattle class” statement reeks of a wannabe.
  A thought on our cities, big and small: we have signals, flyovers, zebra crossings, stop lines, overhead bridges and underground subways for pedestrians, and traffic police to monitor these. But vehicles, not just the "ordinary" 800 ccs, but also the super luxury BMWs, Mercs and Skodas, jump signals, cross the stop line and hog the zebra space when the red light is on, with pedestrians given no choice but to cross the road past the zebra crossing. In fact, I have even seen these so-called luxury car travellers, lowering the tinted glass windows and throwing waste paper/plastic out on the road. Oops! That is the education our children are getting on road and civic sense. Let us not blame the next generation. They just follow what they have seen at home and on the road.
  But just observe the same lot when they step out of our country. They are extra careful about keeping the foreign country and its countryside clean. And, the same set come to India and complain of bad roads, bad traffic, litter and a host of “wrong behavior” that seem to irritate them! Never mind our Indian "guests".
• This message is for the Indians who chose to stay, or did not have any choice to move out. There is filth, traffic, chaos and indiscipline. But let us not just wait for a Commonwealth games or an Olympics to clean up our dirty roads and filthy manners. Chidambaram’s message is too narrow-minded. He must at least take this opportunity to encompass the entire nation for the clean-up message. It is time the police, civic authorities and the people begin to get sensitive about keeping the house and its inmates in order for ourselves, rather than to show the outsiders what we are.