Imagine some person who wakes from coma, supposedly, after 40 years and tries to get into routine with his life; he must think he has come to some wrong planet that is being devastated by extra terrestrial activities. With the honking, loud music, construction fuss, deafening firework explosives, piercing loud speakers, wild traffic chaos, aircraft roars and so much so that, on realization that he is on planet Earth, would prefer going back to coma.
It’s awfully regretful that we humans are creating this entire whack and gobbling up the Earth that was once peaceful. Gone are the days when there was something called a beautifully calm day and we could have our breakfasts without the honking of that impatient driver who is in a rush to pick school children. We ourselves are the culprits and the sufferers too. When we complain, why cannot we realize that there are certain factors to be controlled at the personal level if, sadly, no law has been passed by the Government to control the noise pollution?
Starting from the homes that are meant to be our abode of peace and harmony, are distressfully frenzied with the horn beeps, late night to early morning construction work, air-traffic ways and to top it all neighbor nuisance has taken away the quiet from life. People come from work late at night or whatever time, can’t just get out from their vehicle to ring the door-bell; they keep on blowing the horn unless somebody opens the gate for them. Alright, we know that we get lucky just for a few hours to have electricity available but don’t you have cell phone to give a call to some person at your home, if laziness has occupied you totally and make you void of care-for-others even? Why are you so insensitive? Can’t you show a little care to the people who are your so-called neighbors?
Coming to another kind of rowdy neighbors who wouldn’t bother you with their vehicle but they do something harsher than those loud beeps. Yes, I am talking about the loud music that your next-door neighbor would not mind blowing your head off with. They would never consider if there is some student busy with his study or a senior citizen taking a nap. Clearly, their sensitivity bank account is drained down to vacant.
Also See : 3 Unusual Types of Environmental Pollution
Now the ‘I do’ ceremonies called the weddings; we don’t miss a chance doing the criticism on Indian culture when we fondly watch their media. Yet we don’t just criticize but we get ourselves into practicing their rituals on the weddings; keeping aside the rest, the fireworks, the ear-drum bursting firing and the dhol walas involved in our wedding celebration. All these activities happen close to the residential areas and not only for a couple of hours but it spans 3 to 5 days. Would you call it celebration if it involves ruining the comfort of the people you think you care about? Party as much as you wish but do not make it a ruthless torture for the people around.
There are bigger problems out there too that my imagination cannot even fully capture but here, importantly, I have focused more on the noise pollution that is in our hands to control. We can talk politely to the neighbors who think they are peaceful but actually not. At a personal level, you can negotiate with your rambunctious neighborhood to let them know how their noise is affecting your life and its peace. I hope they will listen to you when you are a caring neighbor yourself. In addition, ask the contractor responsible for that construction site to appropriately distribute the noisy and the noise-free work so it may not become the pain for the nearby dwellers.
We need to do all this on our own because, sadly, we have nothing in Pakistan called the “Housing Act” where you can file a complaint and are listened to; there is no place where you can report your rowdy neighbor. We are in need of Noise Pollution Ordinances to punish and fine the repeated offenders. This idea is elaborated in “Take Back Pakistan”. I wish we could have something like CDA who are fining the citizens doing any littering. Nevertheless, at a personal level our efforts never should seize. We can try to control ourselves and convince our neighbors too to stop adding to the noise pollution or more appropriately, if I call it, Noise Abuse, so we may save ourselves from the horrifying harm that the noise causes to our health
