Lack of Accountability

Today is the first day of year 2012. I should be happy and right now be thinking about all the awesome things that would happen this year. A ride through a part of the city today, left a rather sour taste as the night approaches.

What happened today is just an example of what happens on a regular basis on Delhi roads. It is not a pointed comment at any one religion. Today, a particular religious group carried out processions on a large scale in the Capital and other parts of the country. On the road connecting Ring Road with Rajouri Garden, Tilak Nagar, Subhash Nagar and Janakpuri, huge stalls were put up on the road, with kirtans going on full volume, processions on that side of the road (leading towards Janakpuri) and the traffic which was supposed to go towards Janakpuri were forced to travel on the wrong side. We were stuck on the half km stretch for about one and a half hours, listening to kirtans I didn't understand, I didn't care about and most importantly, I didn't want to participate in.

My anger is not due to the fact that I got late, though it did add on to the frustration. What bothers me is the lack of accountability. Guessing by the length of jam from all four sides of the road (roads joining the main road from the colonies) there would have been at the very least about a hundred thousand commuters left stranded in their vehicles. People have a variety of problems, some get nervous in such jams, some start having breathing problems, some ambulances were stuck in the jam hopelessly blaring their siren, some people might have their son or daughter waiting to be picked up from somewhere, someone might be getting late for their flight, national or international, someone getting late for their meeting. But at the end of the day, is there any accountability? In the name of religion, such processions regularly paralyze traffic in metropolitan cities without ensuring an efficient alternate route.

I believe you are free to practice your religion any way you want till the time it does not force bother on other citizens.

Individual events are unimportant. What is important is the tendencies which give birth to these incidents. Our apathy towards inconvenience to others and absence of accountability, which can force people to behave, is the core reason.

This was a vent post which I decided to write when I was stuck right there. It is not informative, it does not give any solutions. If you have any solutions, comments or constructive criticism, do give your feedback below.