A ‘Sound’ Economy (29-July-2022)

Honk…honk!  This is my road, and your presence shouldn’t impede my movement.  I use banned horns because I like their shrill sound!  Maybe I love it that I can annoy you!

Pyepaar….pyepaar!  We believe in recycling, and you can trust us…we pay cash for your newspaper and other old items of scrap value.

Tarakari, hannu, hoova!  We are better than Swiggy’s and Zomato’s…we bring everything fresh to your doorstep.  Trust us…we’re there from time immemorial, before aggregators had a business model, before our own children developed those Apps for the big companies.

Jhadoo….jhadoo!  We help to keep your house clean and rid them off cobwebs.  Remember, cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Bow…bow…grrr…grrr!  We bark and we howl, and we move around with gay abandon.  Darkness motivates us to chase each other to play and to announce trespass of our own self-marked territory.  We howl but then we don’t know why this disturbs your sleep…

India will be a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25 and a USD 10 trillion by 2030.  This puts our neighbouring nations and advanced economies envious of our growth trajectory, highlighted given the political and economic situation in some countries.  Diversity is our strength, and we are an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’  We continue to grow in all areas, manufacturing sector our high growth sector, stock-exchange on an up-swing, all this despite the Covid challenges that we have put behind us from serial lockdowns.

No looking back now that our Prime Minister has made a commitment to the world to achieve a net-zero target by 2070 at the recent World Leaders Summit COP26.  It is GHG – Greenhouse Gas, an indicator of the Carbon footprint where by 2070, those emissions produced will be balanced by those that are absorbed.  Among the carbon dioxide emitters, in the 4^th position behind China, USA, and EU where India is precariously placed, it is an uphill challenge and a responsibility that each one of us carry on our small shoulders.

Air pollution’s evil twin is noise pollution!  Electric vehicles, charging stations, and every new technology can lay the path for us to reach our goal.  The challenge though lies in the fact how we manage the interim period.  A surfeit of vehicles with modified mufflers make a loud statement as seen extensively at night times, particularly in cities like Bangalore.  Loudspeakers from public functions as well as religious establishments are blaring during unholy hours.  Commute on the roads from a recent visit to a popular pilgrimage town in North India made me understand the true meaning of ‘cacophony,’ not before it undermined that the decibel levels are only relative in comparison but absolute in their nuisance factor!

Nowadays street vendors use loud-speakers to announce their services.  In a pandemic situation where work-from-home is a necessity, our online sessions are interrupted by street vendors who announce in high volume throughout the day.  A necessity to keep these loud-speakers in apartment areas to reach the vendor voices into the deep recesses of the dwellers, but on roads with independent houses these announcements are an overkill.  They kill the peace within the house with their loudness, a startling alarm to the sleeping infants and elderly sick ones.  The salt rub on the wounds is when it drives the house dogs go berserk in their bark in the dark!

Authorities have turned a deaf-ear to this problem, shying away from their enforcement guidelines against those who wield political power.  On extrapolation, we can be rest assured that we will remain a “sound” economy. 

A COP of a different flavour has to thunder-in with a thud to bail us out!