I am standing at the tea shop, sipping my tea, halfway through my morning ride.
A couple comes up on a scooter. No helmets. Parks it on the road (even when ample parking is available). Gentleman gets off, spits. Orders two teas. Then opens a bottle of water. Sips. Spits. The woman sips. Spits. Tea arrives. They drink. Chuck the cup literally where they are standing without even as much as extending their arm (the garbage can, empty and unused, is about 2m away from them). Get on the scooter. Point the scooter against the traffic when a U-turn is no more than 20m away. Almost hit a truck. Shout and abuse the truck driver. Drive on the wrong side of the divider for a good 100m before joining traffic. Their scooter number ends with 786. The lady is wearing a burqa.
That, it goes without saying, does not mean only Muslims are like this. that scooter could well have had an angry Hanuman sticker on it instead, or a ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’ one, without changing a single other fact in this incident I witnessed first-hand right now.
This is us. Uncouth. Uncivilised. Uncultured. Unfit. Unhygienic. Unclean. Uneducated. Uncaring. And yet, ultra-religious and uber-nationalistic. Unparalleled. Us.
P.S: The photo is from the seemingly pristine ghat section just 5km from the tea stall. Beautiful location. Great view. Smooth roads. Quiet solitude. Just me, my Battlecat, and garbage. Tons and tons of it lining the beautiful road up the sides of the majestic Sahyadri. Incredible India. In every way.
