A villager once asked a doctor at one of those rural medical camps, if he would be able to read, after he wore the spectacles that had been recommended. “Of course”, said the doctor. The villager then turned towards his father sitting alongside and complained, “Look, wasn’t I telling you not to waste money by sending me to school, just to learn reading?” From some of the things that I see even well educated people do these days, I wonder if education has really removed their illiteracy?
Literacy is all about knowing how to read, write and do simple arithmetic (the three ‘R’s). This definition is okay for those who do not know any or some of these skills. For those who have mastered these & are officially literate, it is their attitude towards rules, laws and societal norms of behavior that really decides if they are putting their “literacy” to good use or continue to remain “illiterate”. It is this illiteracy my dear friends, that we are going to talk about today. Don’t be startled if you sometimes find your own image staring back at you, while reading this.

1.Do you cross the red traffic signal at a busy square, when no one is looking?
It was okay to do so if they hadn’t taught you in your ‘civics’ class that red means “stop”. There is absolutely no justification otherwise, for seemingly well educated persons to do so, without any compunction. Apart from the accidents that this can cause, it is as public an example of impudence, as there can be.

2. Do you get inside the sleeper-coach in a train through the gate marked “entrance”?
One of the most sensible things that Indian Railways did, a few years ago, was to mark each gate of the compartment as “entrance” or “exit”. When a train arrives, “educated” travellers amongst us however continue to throng both gates in a mad rush to get inside, as if their life depended on it. This scenario never fails to chill my pride in being an Indian.

3. Do you honk at the motorist ahead of you, the moment the traffic signal turns green?
A wag once defined impatience as what is exhibited when you honk at the motorist in front of you when the light turns green and patience as what you expect from the honking driver behind you, if you are first in the line. I can understand the honking if the guy ahead is showing no signs of moving (that rarely is the case). Most of us involuntarily honk as if we are the only ones who know the importance of those two seconds.

4. In spite of being prolific drivers, do you know the meaning of some routine road-markings?
A few months ago, Nagpur Municipal Corporation painted the middle of roads passing through even residential colonies with a thick continuous yellow divider. According to internationally accepted norms, this means that no overtaking is allowed on such stretches. On these small roads, even a passing bicycle necessitated anyone who followed, to cross over to the other side in order to get ahead. I am sure the orders to paint all those “yellow dividers” came from some fertile brain which wanted the remaining stocks of yellow paint to quickly get over (so more could be ordered).

Do you know the meaning of double yellow lines drawn on the edge of a road (more often seen on highways)? Well they mean that no parking is allowed on the kerb, wherever such lines have been drawn. Will we ever learn?

How many of you have complained to the nearest police station when you noticed a vehicle at night, on a highway, driving without working tail lights?
The truck or the bus driver may really be an illiterate. But how can you let a “killer” to just pass by with such impunity? I once read an interesting analysis of behaviour of cops in India versus those in USA. Well, cops are cops everywhere but a policeman there will never overlook certain offences like drunken driving, whatever may be the bribe offered because he is “educated” enough to know that some offences however trivial they may appear, are potential “killers” and that is just not acceptable. In our country we (the cops and ordinary citizens) probably do not value human life very much.

6. How many of us have stopped using plastic bags?
Do we need the government to decree a ban on using thin plastic bags (which are non-bio-degradable), before we will stop using them? Laws should normally be required for persons who would not follow norms unless the fear of breaking the law is instilled in them. Here we have “educated” persons glossing over hard scientific facts to continue activities, not friendly with the environment around us.

7. Do we throw garbage on the roadside or even worse, outside the bin provided by the civic authorities?
One just has to take a round of the “educated” residential areas of any city in India (including our own Nagpur) to realise that we care two hoots about public hygiene. We are known in the world to adopt high standards of personal hygiene but abysmally low standards when it comes to public cleanliness. When one sees the floral garbage that adorns public places after our religious ceremonies (Ganesh immersion for example) it becomes clear that we are more worried about spiritually booking our berth in heaven (by performing poojas etc) than keeping our surroundings clean. If this isn’t illiteracy, what is?

8. Do you stand in queues and do you motivate others to form one?
One has just to visit Bombay these days to notice that the Mecca of discipline in India (at least as far as getting inside BEST was concerned) is no longer so. They have learnt all the bad habits of Delhi, where might has always been right. Standing in a queue is spiritually equivalent to “saburi” (patience) which is eulogised by all religions (made more famous of course by Sai-baba temples). Why do we swear by it while worshipping and conveniently forget it when it is time to implement?

9. Do you have concern for others’ time?
I don’t think this even needs to be discussed. If we have no concern for our own time, how can we bother about others’ time? IST for long has earned a notorious meaning, as “Indian stretchable time”. Things have become so bad that organisers of various public functions routinely print two schedules, one for the audience and the other for speakers and special invitees, lest the latter face empty chairs on arrival. If we don’t do something about this in our schools and teach the young ones about the importance of time, we will soon be reaching late (like that train in the story) by a full 24 hours to find everyone complimenting us for our punctuality.

10. Do you drink and smoke because of peer pressure?
The biggest proof of “illiteracy” is when I see a doctor who is smoking cigarettes, ignoring his fellow professionals’ warning, prominently printed on the packet. This abounds in other more educated countries too but that is hardly a solace.
So dear friends, why don’t you give yourself a small test and work out how many of the above signs of “illiteracy” you possess. If the score is unfavourable but you resolve to improve, I guess the world and especially Nagpur will be that much better to live in.

"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page." In “Counterpoint” he tries to question some of the beliefs that we hold without any scrutiny, with the sole purpose of starting a healthy debate . He can be reached at creative@nagpur.dot.net.in