Civic (Non) Sense

Every year, somewhere around May/June, I get this urge to travel. This year was not an exception. But along with the excitement of travelling, I am feeling one more emotion.

Fear.

Not the fear of the cost of travelling, visa process, bland food, safety or anything like that. What I am feeling is the fear of backlash due to Indian people's image abroad.

I am sure many of you have seen the video of an Indian woman eating curry rice from a plate while talking loudly on the phone on the London tube. There was another video of an Indian tourist passing vulgar comments on women in Istanbul. Then there was a group of Indian tourists who insisted on playing loud music on the street of Innsbruck, Austria to dance Garba against the request of local people. And to top it all off, an Indian celebrity vacationing in Croatia got into the whole ‘Do you know who I am?’ routine when requested not to speak loudly in a restaurant. And these are the incidents just from the last month itself!

I myself have experienced something similar in my international trips. Once I was on an early morning train to Interlaken from Lucerne during my Switzerland trip. I sat in a coach with mostly firangi passengers and started praying furiously ‘let there be no Indian tourists in this coach’. But since there is no God, by the time the train started, the coach was filled with Indian tourists on a group holiday. They were talking loudly to each other across one end of the coach to another, their kids were freely running around in the coach and soon many of them started playing Antakshari. I figured out which state they were from but will not disclose it here as that would mean pointing fingers at a particular group of people… which is uncool. Anyway, within 15 minutes into the journey, they pulled out Thepla, Khakhra, Ganthiya and whatnot from their lunch boxes and started gorging noisily. The foreigners started giving these people disapproving glances and I ended up receiving a few of those even though I had done absolutely nothing.

This is what worries me. That the firangis who see this kind of behaviour, might assume all Indians behave in similar fashion…. and that bias will follow me when I travel. Now I generally don't comment on national level issues but since this is affecting me personally, I am feeling the need to vent.

So commencing venting on Indian Civic sense in 3…2…1..

The Visible Symptoms

Civic sense, in a nutshell, is defined as the social ethics that one exhibits in public spaces. The signs of poor civic sense are seen everywhere in India:

Littering: Despite ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ campaigns, Indian streets, especially in urban and semi-urban areas are frequently strewn with plastic, food waste and construction debris.

Traffic Chaos: Honking incessantly, ignoring lane discipline, running red lights and driving on footpaths are more rule than exception. Pedestrian safety is often completely ignored.

Public Sanitation: Open defecation, spitting paan and urinating on walls labeled ‘Do not urinate here’ continues despite public awareness efforts.

Vandalism: Public property, including parks, monuments and transport infrastructure, often suffers at the hands of neglect or deliberate destruction.

Noise Pollution: Loudspeakers during festivals, blaring car horns in residential areas and firecrackers during odd hours reflect a collective disregard for shared space.

I see that you are squirming a bit. Done a few of the above, haven't you? I knew it. Now you must be feeling the urge to provide some reasonable sounding excuses for such behavior. Let me guess…

Excuse Us

Population Density and Infrastructure Stress: India is a country with 1.4 billion people and crumbling infrastructure which is often stretched beyond its capacity. Crowded cities make it harder to maintain cleanliness and order.

Yeah…. No. Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong are all densely populated and Rwanda, Namibia, Botswana have worse infrastructure but all these are still cleaner than Indian metros. Try again.

Economic Inequality: Many underprivileged people live in difficult circumstances often without access to clean water, toilets or waste disposal systems. For them, civic sense might not even be a realistic priority amid survival struggles.

That's a little better. But how does that explain poor behaviour from Indians travelling abroad? These are obviously very well-to-do, educated people far from survival struggles. That's not it.

Apathy and Fatalism: Many Indians feel their individual actions won’t make a difference. “Sab aise hi karte hain” (Everyone does it this way) becomes a justification to ignore civic responsibilities

Sure but why particularly Indians feel this way? Rest of the world seems to be immune from this disease. This is a symptom, not a cause.

Lack of Role Models: When public figures, politicians and even government officials show disregard for civic norms, it sets a poor example. Instead of inspiring responsible behavior, it normalizes indiscipline.

None other than Prime Minister Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan more than a decade ago at the height of his popularity. And today, apart from a few outliers like Indore, the situation hasn't changed one bit. So it's not as if there is never a buy-in from the top.

Here is what I think are the real reasons.

Differential Diagnosis

Poor Civic Education: Civic behavior is rarely taught effectively in schools. While textbooks may mention hygiene or road safety, real-life application or role modeling is often missing. Unlike countries where civic education is embedded into early schooling and daily routines, in India, it's either an afterthought or ignored.

Weak Law Enforcement: India has laws against littering, spitting and noise pollution but enforcement is often lax. This gives people the impression that they can break rules without consequences. To give you an idea, in 2024, authorities issued over 8 crore traffic challans nationwide; totalling around ₹12,000 crore in fines. Out of this, an estimated ₹9,000 crore remains unpaid; 75% of the total!

Caste System: Traditionally, tasks like cleaning latrines, collecting garbage or maintaining sanitation were forcibly assigned to the so called ‘lower’ castes. These occupations were seen as ‘impure,’ creating a psychological distance between ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ professions. This led to the widespread belief that keeping public spaces clean is someone else’s job… particularly those at the bottom of the caste hierarchy. There is a stigma now attached to manual labour because of which even educated urban dwellers hesitate to clean after themselves in public places.

But, you may ask, if Indians never had any civic sense then how come that has become an issue only in the last few years? Am I sure there is no racism/jealousy involved?

Sigh…

Indians who immigrated to Western countries in the 1950-70s were afraid of discrimination and hostility from the natives. So they kept their heads down, socialized only among themselves to minimize social faux-pas and concentrated only on their work. They tried very hard not to stand out… even if that meant adopting a civic sense that did not come naturally to them.

Things changed a lot, particularly in the last 10 years. First of all, there is this new narrative that Indians are the ‘Vishwaguru’ ( teacher to the whole world). Our music, movies, food, yoga….all the best in the world, as declared by UNESCO. Not to mention us being a financial powerhouse as a top 5 economy by GDP (never mind being ranked 122 in GDP per capita). And many Fortune 500 companies have Indian CEOs; clear proof of superior Indian intellect. No longer we have to be polite and diffident in front of Anglo-saxons. We should totally be ourselves when we travel abroad. No longer ‘When in Rome, do as Romans do’. More like ‘When in Rome, behave like its Rohtak’. Which means queue jumping, littering, loud conversations in public spaces and disregard for local customs.

And the advent of social media has made things worse. Every interesting incident is nowadays captured live on video and distributed all over the world in the matter of seconds. Earlier, when you read about misbehaviour of Indians abroad, you could still imagine ‘maybe it was just a misunderstanding and the foreigners are being overly sensitive’. But it is difficult to argue against the live video.

Conclusion

Are you waiting for me to provide solutions to this problem? There are no solutions. Some of my friends argued that with civic education from a young age, stronger law enforcement and community ownership, proper civic sense will be instilled in the country within a few decades. If you also genuinely believe that then I would like to sell you the Taj Mahal at a very attractive price.

Let’s face it. When an Indian tourist lands abroad, civic sense usually doesn’t make it past immigration. We treat quiet zones like personal living rooms, convert hotel lobbies into conference halls and consider ‘Do Not Touch’ signs as polite suggestions. Volume control? Optional. Queue discipline? Nonexistent. And God forbid someone asks us to follow local etiquette. We'll either argue, moralize or WhatsApp ten relatives about racism. The truth is harsh but simple: civic sense in India isn't just missing; it is unwelcome. And perhaps, it’s time we admit that it may never come.

As for me, I will travel abroad and pray like hell that I will be mistaken for a Sri Lankan.