Upturning The Pyramid Of Noise In Our Society

An overwhelming share of Indians would qualify as quiet. Yet we pay more attention to noisy brands and politicians. It’s time to invest in a quiet society

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I get nostalgic this morning. I go back to school. The wonder years really, when one lived without a worry. I go back to my seventh standard class in good old Bengaluru. The noisiest class a kid can ever belong to, I guess. One is just about into adolescence, discovering life. You are coming into your own. You are noisier than ever before. A bit of letting go, a bit of pain, a bit of discomfort and possibly a whole lot of confusion.

When you are all of 12 years old, you have two lives really. One at home with your parents and siblings and relatives of every kind. The other is the one in school, with your classmates, your teachers and the entire school ecosystem. At times, you are different in each. At home there are masks you wear, and at school too there are masks you wear. And then there are those moments you spend with your class buddies where there is no mask at all. You are you. I go back to those times.

We were all of 42 students in my class. I am in touch with some of them still, and then I remember the names of some more. But that's where it stops. I do not remember my entire class. I remember the real noisy ones. Maybe eight of them, mostly back-benchers.