Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL). Sweden’s famed Public Transport Network. The ‘Fasta Centrum’ #165 shuttle is about to push off the bus bay at its scheduled time. 09:11. The door closes as the driver turns to drive away. An elderly man, hurries across, knocks on the door to catch his attention. I do not see the driver but gather from the old man’s expression, that, he was probably turned down. He would need to wait another 20 minutes to get to wherever he was going. However, he does not protest as he walks back to the bench.
Amused, a chain of thoughts is triggered…
In my part of the world, this would not have happened. Well, three other things could have happened. One, there is a very good possibility that the driver is sympathetic enough to stop and let the old man in. Or (two) in every probability, some agitated passenger in the bus would have yelled ‘You! stop the bus,can’t you see someone is out there’. And three, it can also happen, that the bus accelerates while the old man curses the driver and transport system of the state.
Despite the insignificance of the social interaction played out before my eyes, the mind races to evaluate the differences, causes and excuses. Which is better? Who was more ‘right’? What are the limits of compassion? At what cost?
Surely, the Swedish approach has been purely, a rational decision. There is every reason for time to be kept. Punctuality is largely a derivative of discipline. Wasting, even a few seconds on a late comer would make a fool of all those who arrived on time and would much rather appreciate starting on time. Stretching further, if you were to let one in, another might show up as well and then, that presents another moral dilemma for our driver (Should I take him too, now that I have allowed one already?). I guess, he lost it the moment he decided to stay beyond 9.11…
Logical, as all these claims may be, they would still infuriate an Indian sensibility. The first emotion that goes through our mind is outright sympathy for the late comer. Tomorrow it could be you, desperately trying to get somewhere. Of course, one could argue that one should have planned, came in advance or found other alternatives…Yet, an Indian mind would allow a leeway ‘surely everything isn’t within your control’. What if the man wasn’t being sloppy after all. What if, something unexpected happened and he just could not make it… But an empathy for the late comer (and mind you, someone is always late) invariably leads to an unreliable system. What can be planned on a transport system that stops to ‘collect’ all people at a bus stop, no matter what.
Yet, I cannot absolve the Indian approach as totally altruistic. Besides sympathy, we have our historic hangovers. We still believe the ‘government’ (or anything ‘public’) is ‘for’ the people and ‘by’ the people but not ‘of’ the people. A feeling, the state is always against the ‘people’. So I should concede my perverse satisfaction when someone shouts at the driver to stop the bus. A transport system that is not ‘for’ the people (i.e. does not wait and collect) defeats the whole purpose of transport. So goes my rustic ‘socialistic’ leanings. Then of course, the economics of it all. With so few resources and so many of us, is punctuality really affordable?
Thoughts continue to dissect...
Just imagine, the conscience or the guilt played out on the poor driver’s mind. A Swedish driver justifies a ‘cold’ rational logic with the comforting thought, the next bus would come at 9.31, as he manages to look away; while, his Indian counterpart cannot guarantee anything in his system, the sense of guilt weighing more and more as he defects…take things into his hand?
And I am amazed. How perfection leaves no room for compassion. How, they are mutually exclusive. Either be cold, rational and be perfect. Or be compassionate and break rules. We cannot have both. And thus,(it cannot get more precarious than this) if the bus driver chooses to leave at 9.12, there you have it. A hopeless and unreliable transport system. It was never obvious until today…my mind races on… to the ‘The Big Fights’ , the endless primetime debates on hot issues. Well,‘An Appalling Public Transport System’ would make a worthy topic… but will they ever understand the Butterfly Effects?
Maybe there are no satisfactory answers to social conundrums. You always excuse yourself ‘comparing apples with oranges’. But guess what? There are only apples and oranges in this world. There are, of course, definite reasons as to why such distinct approaches exist or rather evolve. One often ends up chasing historical and economical roots to a society’s sensibilities, that, to sit in judgment of it would be nothing but silly. But if you can stop explaining or being judgmental, you could perhaps let go the prejudices and perceive the connection in everything. How a philosophy of an approach takes shape, how an individual mind or that of a society acts and reacts to a situation. The situation itself, being a cause. In short, the reciprocity of the multitude of causes and effects. You begin to suspect how it is all connected, how the macro patterns evolve from the micro causes of everyday life and still, manifest in them every moment.
Västberga gårdsväg!...the automated announcement breaks my thoughts….My Stop! I smile as I gather my stuff and get off the #165.
Is this what they call a ‘culture shock’? Butterflies in the stomach?
Amused, a chain of thoughts is triggered…
In my part of the world, this would not have happened. Well, three other things could have happened. One, there is a very good possibility that the driver is sympathetic enough to stop and let the old man in. Or (two) in every probability, some agitated passenger in the bus would have yelled ‘You! stop the bus,can’t you see someone is out there’. And three, it can also happen, that the bus accelerates while the old man curses the driver and transport system of the state.
Despite the insignificance of the social interaction played out before my eyes, the mind races to evaluate the differences, causes and excuses. Which is better? Who was more ‘right’? What are the limits of compassion? At what cost?
Surely, the Swedish approach has been purely, a rational decision. There is every reason for time to be kept. Punctuality is largely a derivative of discipline. Wasting, even a few seconds on a late comer would make a fool of all those who arrived on time and would much rather appreciate starting on time. Stretching further, if you were to let one in, another might show up as well and then, that presents another moral dilemma for our driver (Should I take him too, now that I have allowed one already?). I guess, he lost it the moment he decided to stay beyond 9.11…
Logical, as all these claims may be, they would still infuriate an Indian sensibility. The first emotion that goes through our mind is outright sympathy for the late comer. Tomorrow it could be you, desperately trying to get somewhere. Of course, one could argue that one should have planned, came in advance or found other alternatives…Yet, an Indian mind would allow a leeway ‘surely everything isn’t within your control’. What if the man wasn’t being sloppy after all. What if, something unexpected happened and he just could not make it… But an empathy for the late comer (and mind you, someone is always late) invariably leads to an unreliable system. What can be planned on a transport system that stops to ‘collect’ all people at a bus stop, no matter what.
Yet, I cannot absolve the Indian approach as totally altruistic. Besides sympathy, we have our historic hangovers. We still believe the ‘government’ (or anything ‘public’) is ‘for’ the people and ‘by’ the people but not ‘of’ the people. A feeling, the state is always against the ‘people’. So I should concede my perverse satisfaction when someone shouts at the driver to stop the bus. A transport system that is not ‘for’ the people (i.e. does not wait and collect) defeats the whole purpose of transport. So goes my rustic ‘socialistic’ leanings. Then of course, the economics of it all. With so few resources and so many of us, is punctuality really affordable?
Thoughts continue to dissect...
Just imagine, the conscience or the guilt played out on the poor driver’s mind. A Swedish driver justifies a ‘cold’ rational logic with the comforting thought, the next bus would come at 9.31, as he manages to look away; while, his Indian counterpart cannot guarantee anything in his system, the sense of guilt weighing more and more as he defects…take things into his hand?
And I am amazed. How perfection leaves no room for compassion. How, they are mutually exclusive. Either be cold, rational and be perfect. Or be compassionate and break rules. We cannot have both. And thus,(it cannot get more precarious than this) if the bus driver chooses to leave at 9.12, there you have it. A hopeless and unreliable transport system. It was never obvious until today…my mind races on… to the ‘The Big Fights’ , the endless primetime debates on hot issues. Well,‘An Appalling Public Transport System’ would make a worthy topic… but will they ever understand the Butterfly Effects?
Maybe there are no satisfactory answers to social conundrums. You always excuse yourself ‘comparing apples with oranges’. But guess what? There are only apples and oranges in this world. There are, of course, definite reasons as to why such distinct approaches exist or rather evolve. One often ends up chasing historical and economical roots to a society’s sensibilities, that, to sit in judgment of it would be nothing but silly. But if you can stop explaining or being judgmental, you could perhaps let go the prejudices and perceive the connection in everything. How a philosophy of an approach takes shape, how an individual mind or that of a society acts and reacts to a situation. The situation itself, being a cause. In short, the reciprocity of the multitude of causes and effects. You begin to suspect how it is all connected, how the macro patterns evolve from the micro causes of everyday life and still, manifest in them every moment.
Västberga gårdsväg!...the automated announcement breaks my thoughts….My Stop! I smile as I gather my stuff and get off the #165.
Is this what they call a ‘culture shock’? Butterflies in the stomach?
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