Noise Pollution and Us
...when such honking is not at all called for. If now the question is one of other vehicles, such as rickshaws, adding to the problem, a constant jingling of bells, accompanied by the hollering of the rickshaw pullers, is what makes its way into the ears. The degree in which noise levels have been rising in the country can again be understood through observing the way airline flights take off from the airport. There is invariably a huge roar of engines heard over the city as a plane rises in the sky, leaving whole neighbourhoods in quite a state of uproar for minutes together. Add to that the breezy way in which air force jets, on routine or training flights, sometimes fly over hospitals, schools and homes, with the result that people are left feeling irritated and, in the case of the physically weaker ones, undoubtedly ill. And vehicular or flight-related noise is not the end of the story. There is the fact, borne out by an observation of the ground reality before us, that of late we seem to have become a nation of very loud people. Where historically Bangalis have been known to be rather polite and soft-spoken in nature, today their voices are more in the nature of the shrill than the suave. That is a pity; and it is often reflected in the way some of our lawmaker...