Sound Pollution

I am used to the peace and quiet of my home in my neighborhood. India is full of noise.  All senses are alert anyways but sound is something that everyone ignores – actually, I think in India, everyone ignores every pollution.  And after living abroad for so long, these things bother me and I wonder why they don’t bother Indians in India.  Trash is the biggest polluting factor. But today I want to address sound pollution.

As soon as I come to India, and am out of the airport, the first thing I hear is all the honking. That is the most common pollutant the whole time. As soon as I am on the road, it is just honking – whether it’s the scooter, the car or even a bicycle! It’s just too annoying.  The pedestrian really is the last on the totem pole to get a right to be on the road.

I also noticed that people here shout a lot.  They yell out rather than walking a few steps closer.

When I stayed at the hotel in Ginger in Delhi, I checked in around 11 pm and went to bed about 12 am. But there were people outside in the hallway speaking loud and playing music. After 30 mins of it, I had to call the reception. 

At mausaji’s place, Banwari and family get up around 6:30 am and start making noise in the kitchen – all utensils playing music. Although after that there is not much noise. I can sleep peacefully.

At mamaji’s place, there is a mosque and a temple competing for people’s attention at 4 am!! Oh god! Yes – I do think of God at that hour and pray that he would tell these idiots to stop waking people up.

And then at chachiji’s place they get up at 6:30 am and work around in the kitchen, washing dishes, making tea.  I cannot really blame them, they have to get to work by 7:00 am. But there are some dogs outside the building complex. At night, the dogs would bark. So there goes the night!

And now that I am staying in the hostel there are issues here also. There are the dogs which bark at night. But then, it’s the ladies that drive me crazy! The ladies working during the night and early morning love to talk. And they talk like they are the only ones in the hostel – we don’t exist or we don’t sleep here. They move furniture, they shout out each other’s names. That is the one thing that has really bothered me about staying here.  Initially I was able to sleep but lately I have not been able to sleep and its really affecting me.

At the college, the students don’t know how to keep quiet.  They talk in the class, they talk in the hallways.  They swarm around me in the class like bees. Its claustrophobic. I just hate all the noise in the background. And then there are the two faculty colleagues who keep talking constantly while they are there.  The only time I get peace and quiet there is when one of them is in class. 

So really – there is not much peace for travelers like me.  Well…until I get home.