After 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai the famous chant going around was “Enough is Enough”. The spirit behind the mantra was that we were going to demand a change in society and in the way we live.

But one of the things that I have observed two months after the event is that we as citizens are not willing to change themselves. We simply do not have the time for others and are simply irresponsible. The politicians and bureaucrats are one amongst us and how could we expect them to be different from what we are. Change needs to begin with us. How many of us have changed the way we observe simple social rules.

I live in Colaba in Mumbai - an area which claims to be the domain of the rich and famous (I’m not that by a long way!). Drive through Colaba and you would simply be amazed at the chaos that rules. Vehicles would be parked in two rows on the SBS Road which is the main artery through Colaba and buses have no option but to be plying down the middle of the road.

The pavements which the BMC spends crores to make and repair each year would be filled with hawkers and hence people would have no option but to walk on the roads.

People cross roads nonchalantly which defeats what we have been taught in the schools i.e. “look to your right - then to your left - then right again to make sure that there are no vehicles approaching before you cross the road”. Here people just put up a palm to stop vehicles and cross the roads. They wouldn’t care if there were vehicles approaching.

Hardly a soul stands in the bus stops put up by the BMC with much fanfare because they aren’t too accommodating in the firs place. People waiting for buses are on the roads. So buses don’t have to get close to the bus stops. They could stop right in the middle of the roads to pick up people who are waiting right there anyway.

People traveling in the back of vehicles chew sugarcane and spit right on the road. Try to persuade them from doing it and you could be at the receiving end of his fury.

Two wheelers jump signals without blinking an eyelid. Vehicles waiting at signals don’t know the significance of a Zebra crossing (How can we expect an illiterate taxi driver from knowing that Zebra crossing demarcates a zone through which pedestrians cross the street when the guys zipping around in the Mercedes and the BMWs don’t! How many of them reprimand their drivers for violating traffic rules?)

The good is that the number of traffic cops who man the roads have gone up in the recent past. But guess what it doesn’t matter! It only implies that you could get caught more often for violating rules. You just need to be be prepared to shell out some more bribes when you get caught to get away.

The other day I was travelling with a friend as co-driver when the traffic cop waived us to stop. He demanded my friend’s license which was produced. He demanded to see his registration papers next which was shown to him. Then he said that his co-driver was travelling without the safety belt fastened. When I protested that I had it on he said that I may have put it on after being waived to stop. How the hell was I to prove that I had it on. Was there a way that the courts will accept my story against the cops.

Finally, my friend offered the cop Rs 30/- bribe. The cop quietly asked him how much money he was offering. My friend told him Rs 30/-. The cop asked him to make it Rs 50/- which he did. Quickly we were waived off. Are we entrusting the security of this country to such dishonest policemen? How am I to feel safe with such guys in charge.

It is time to change because enough is enough. But let the change begin within. Let us stop demanding change and let us start by making a difference ourselves.