Red-coloured nuisance

I live in a place called Ghatkopar where cowdung on the roads is a pretty regular sight. At times it is buffalodung also but I cannot tell the difference. In fact, I am so used to it that in the future, if I go and live in some foreign country and happen to see cowdung, I will start feeling homesick!

I guess, until someone builds toilets for cows, you cannot really blame the cows for public defecation! They've got to release it somewhere! Similar is the case with humans in Bombay. There aren't enough public restrooms and I would excuse someone who, in dire need of relieving himself, leaves a damp patch on the wall. I guess the appropriate cliche here is "When you gotta go, you gotta go!"

Two paragraphs over and I have not said anything about the red-coloured nuisance I mentioned in the title. So lets define it now - "A residue left in the mouth of a human when his/her saliva mixes with gutka which, if swallowed, causes hiccups and which, if spat out, causes public nuisance."

This is one nuisance that I definitely mind. It is because while cowdung and urination do cause a nuisance but at times, cannot be avoided - this definitely CAN be avoided. However, it has become so commonplace over centuries, that people are not ashamed of it. There are red streaks everywhere. Not only it is disgusting but it is also the cause of the spread of diseases. It has become the moral right of every gutka chewing citizen and if they are pulled up, they take a personal offence.

Two real life incidents:
1. I was minding my own business at a bus stop when some idiot spat next to my feet and my black shoes got two red dots on them. When I looked at him angrily, he smiled shamelessly.
2. This time railway station, a person again spits next to me, this time no red dots on my shoe but still I express my displeasure. His self-righteously angry argument - "Side pe gira naa, aap pe to nahi."

Even though smokers pollute the air, the smoke fizzles away, but gutka chewers make the ground dirty and leave their mark for a long time. I wonder then why there are so many people against smoking but very few against this public nuisance. If there is a whole-hearted drive by the BMC to fine all such people caught, it may not make much difference to the troublemakers but it will still be a small stepping stone to eradicate the filthy habit. To the best of my knowledge, the fine is currently Rs. 500. Even if it is reduced to Rs. 100 but the effort is whole-hearted, the BMC will earn a lot of money!

I also feel strongly about non-gutka chewing people spitting for no reason whatsoever or sportsmen spitting on the very grass they dive and play on but I will reserve that for another post. Also, politically speaking, there is another red-coloured nuisance which goes by the name of Prakash Karat, I might write about that too once I come out of my habit of writing about right-wing nuisance!