Search for ‘Do Indians lack civic sense?’ and you find a flood of social media posts, articles, and videos lamenting how Indians lack basic civic sense. Sometimes it is about littering streets, tourist sites, and hill stations. At other times, it is groups breaking into garba or other dances at tourist spots such as Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Eiffel Tower in Paris, or Train Street in Vietnam. There are videos about dirty Indian trains and buses, and rants about Indians breaking queues or abusing privileges like airport wheelchairs meant for those genuinely in need.
Even though some of this criticism is based on selective incidents and is unfair, it hurts only because, deep down, we know there’s an element of truth in it.