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"Where is discipline?"

SABITA RADHAKRISHNA

We grumble about our rights as citizens, but what is our contribution, asks freelance writer

Overpopulation seems to be the bane of our existence. We seem to lack awareness of some of the essentials of living. Like discipline, which is the need of the hour, in the face of natural disasters, violence and terrorism. An example of this lack of discipline is when we once waited for the Brindavan Express, which arrived three hours late. Hundreds of passengers trooped on to the platform, when the train was announced, standing where the respective carriages would halt. As luck would have it, the compartments were reversed — the AC coaches at the end and the others at the beginning — instead of the other way round.

Confusion prevailed. The passengers at the other end rushed forward, while the others ran to the end of the train. If we had formed ourselves into two queues to move in opposite directions, we would have been saved. Instead, we were pushed, crushed, our clothes torn in the fray, and hit with trunks and suitcases. Those of us who bowed to the inevitable moved forward without a word. So inflamed were feelings that had there been a voice of protest or a scuffle, a stampede would have taken place, and the old and the infirm and children would have been injured.

We grumble about our rights as citizens, but what is our contribution? In a city that lacks discipline, where do we have the patience to wait in a queue? Look around, in supermarkets, in banks, in ration shops, and in cinema halls, might is right, and it is the young and the aggressive who push their way through. That has become a culture.

When we have spread awareness of HIV and AIDS, it is also important we spread awareness of the importance of discipline and make it a way of life.

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