Littering in public: Matter of shame without guilt

With enforcement against public urination conspicuous by its absence, the only hope in stemming this nuisance-ridden flow is through positively shaping our public conscience.

Shame, shame, pup-pee shame!
Psychologists say Indians suffer from a shame complex more than a guilt complex. This is why they have nurtured an eating-privately-urinating-publicly behaviour.

They have no guilt for littering their public spaces (shame about this is nowhere on the horizon), but feel ashamed if their own homes are dirty.

This lies at the core of why an average Indian keeps his home spic-and-span while caring a damn for public cleanliness and hygiene. This also speaks volumes about why – when our bladders are bursting at their seams – we prefer a public park to our living rooms, bedrooms or private gardens to relieve ourselves.

This attitude is because of a ‘shame complex’ which characterises a fear of nurturing shame were it to do with shortcomings about their own homes; but about public spaces, as the blame on any shortfall can easily be passed on to someone else or a civic agency, the average Indian prefers to either turn his head or even indulge in the nuisance rather than tackle it head-on to put a stop to it.

We can gauge the extent to which we suffer from this attitude when even men in uniforms resort to this nuisance.

Even the more civilised among the citizens, when taking their dogs for a walk, ignore the mess left behind by the dogs. This is why we notice canine excretions on the roads and urine stains on car wheels and on roadside lamp posts.

M Shivamurthy (name changed), a retired personnel manager in a reputed private textile firm, who daily takes his black Labrador for walks in Sadashivnagar, sees nothing wrong in it. Instead he argues: “Where does a dog do this? I know it’s wrong if a man urinates in public; but a dog?”

Shivamurthy, is a well-read gentleman, but assumes that it’s fine to let domestic pets litter the public spaces. He is unaware that in the US and some European countries, the police fine pet owners if they  allow their pets to excrete on the roads.

“Oh no, I didn’t know about that!” admits Shivamurthy.
This is why pet owners in those countries move around with gloves to clean the mess after the dogs do their deeds and dump the remnants in a dustbin by the roadside.

This is just a case to demonstrate the utmost importance given by Western countries to enforce the ban on messing in public spaces.

This contrasts starkly with Indian cities where even men urinating in public are not touched with a bargepole by the authorities. Where is the civility among our citizenry then?

There are cases abroad too, but…
Although there have been several cases of people peeing in public in UK, France, Germany, Sweden, USA and even Russia, the only difference is the enforcement of the law under national health security or policy which are very stringent and do not let offenders off easily.

While in New York, if the New York Police Department (NYPD) finds a person with his pants down and peeing, the fine varies from $100 to $500. In California, it is $270, while in Chicago and Texas the police fines range between $100 and $500.

The police might also issue summons to offenders who have to appear before the local administrative court to plead guilty or not.
In United Kingdom, the police personnel spot offenders and issue summons on the spot. Public urination is a complete no-no for people in France, Poland, Germany and Netherlands; but of course, nature’s call force people even in those countries to urinate anywhere they find a place.

“First of all there is no stringent law anywhere in India which could scare us from peeing in public; and secondly, the streets are already filled with garbage, so people do not feel embarrassed to further dirty the place,” says Nilotpal Samanta, financial analyst, Ernst & Young India. “In Poland and Netherlands, which I visited recently, people are scared of the law and of policemen who find them and fine them. Even Indians abroad feel embarrassed to dirty streets or public spaces.”

In Indian cities, there are laws in place, but the enforcement is not taken seriously, partly because even policemen and civic agency officials show others the way to litter. A visit to the head office of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) at Hudson Circle would show how many of the civic agency’s employees, pull down their flies and let go in public on the perimeter walls of the head office of their own organisation.

“The problem is that there is no discipline among people, and there is no adequate infrastructure to cater to the increasing population. Where the law enforcers themselves are law breakers, how can one think of enforcement?” says Dr Meenakshi Bharath, gynaecologist and civic analyst.

If women can endure, men can too
Sulata Shenoy, child psychologist with Turning Point Child Guidance Centre, says: “If women can control their urges why not men,” asks Dr Shenoy, “the urge is the same for men and women, it’s just that men think its okay to use public spots as urinal points,” she said. “Many a time it is the parents to blame because they encourage their children to use public spots to urinate. It should all begin at a young age, when children are taught to respect public property. Secondly all enforcements must be done with a penalty so that people are forced to follow.”

—With inputs from Nirad Mudur