Md. Kamal Uddin The subject of this funny article is word pollution. I first made light of such a serious issue by naming it with the help of His Excellency Sukumar Roy.
Sukumar Ray created a fictional world of noise pollution. Do millions of Ghatka flowers bloom when you hear the sound of drums? So tell me, I think it’s firecrackers! That flower bloomed with the sound of drums.
Then he started running around smelling the flowery fragrance. The frost started falling with a rush. Finally, the moon set with a rush, a rush, a rush, a rush. The real issue of noise pollution is not so funny. There are many types of pollution. Vayu is a demon. There is a story about him in the epic Ramayana, Aranyaka. In that Aranyaka of Valmiki Ramayana, translated by Hemchandra Bhattacharya, the twenty-first to the twenty-sixth heavens are visible. Damascene was the cousin of King Ravana. In other words, the war between Rama and Ravana and the conquest of Lanka were started by Damascene and his other brother, the demon Khar. This Khar and Damascene attacked Rama and Lakshana in the Panchavat forest because of their sister Shuparnaka and were killed by the mob. Ram-lakshan killed the original pollution but perhaps no Ram-lakshan has the power to eliminate the pollution alone. Let us not talk about other pollution, let us talk about noise pollution. First, let me talk about my personal experience. I have spent more than a decade in the Bahaddarhat bus terminal area of Chittagong. I used to live in a small house on the side of the road. Later, I moved to a secluded village. The face of Bahaddarhat area started changing. The entire road was filled with motor garages and factories. Some of those factories were repainting old cars and some were overhauling engines. The most unbearable and tragic thing was towards the end. A gentleman set up a horn repair shop right opposite our house. Most of this gentleman’s customers were taxi drivers. Taxi drivers would come there late at night to get their horns repaired after collecting their fares. Again, that time was also convenient for the gentleman. The gentleman probably worked somewhere during the day. He would return home in the evening, take a nap, finish his dinner, and then go to the factory to start working. Then he would understand how noise pollution was caused by the constant loud noises. Shivram Chakraborty spoke of a miraculous car that honked its horns.
Here, both meanings of the word “bad” can be applied to the cars arriving at the gentleman’s factory. The work of repairing the horn would go on all night. Our sleep at night would be forbidden. Then our lives would be in danger. It was impossible to tolerate one thing every night. Still, I would spend the night with cotton in my ears. But I had to tolerate this thing not in a day or two, not a month or two, but for years. I tried a lot, but none of the neighbors in the area would agree to oppose those institutions. Why should I protest alone? Those garage owners started becoming terrorists and regularly donated money to all religious activities. There was a special arrangement for the police, but that too in cash. Of course, I could have complained against the police station. But I had some doubts in my mind, but it would not have had much effect. A bad enemy would be made out of them. I remembered the late Narayan Gangopadhyay of India. At that time, he used to write a series of “Sunder Journal” in the Desh Patrika. At that time, Narayan Gangopadhyay was bedridden at home due to a heart attack. It was reported in the national newspaper at that time. At that time, Hindi songs were being played on a microphone in front of his bedroom window. Loudly. Meanwhile, at night, along with the sound of car horns, microphones of various events, especially political public meetings, cultural programs, and religious musical instruments were playing, which is incredible, but it is true that filing an application to prevent noise pollution did not help. The microphone continued to play day after day and due to this torture, he (Narayan Gangopadhyay) finally died and that would be his final installment of Sundar Journal. He had informed him in advance. I used to read his writings regularly. There is a fascination with environmental noise and social pollution noise in particular. In the Puranas, the sages have said, ‘Shabad Brahma’. Have you ever played the canister? You will see that after playing for a while, your mind gets quite excited. I feel like playing louder. It is said about playing musical instruments and music that beginners have the blessings of the god of melody in this regard. So that even if they play or sing out of tune themselves, they do not catch their own ears, but rather sound sweet. Otherwise, new, clumsy students would never want to learn to sing or play an instrument. Realizing their own inability, they will stop practicing music or give up practicing music. Even if these out of tune songs and instruments sound sweet to the ears of the person who is singing or playing them, think about the people in their neighbors’ houses. Still, out of tune songs can always be tolerated. But no matter how melodious and sweet the song is, if it is sung out of tune at an inappropriate time or in a loud voice, it can cause a lot of pain. Currently, my neighbor living on the ground floor listens to music from morning to night. If someone new comes in with so much noise, he will think that the microphone is playing in the house next door. However, if there are such neighbors, there will be no need for other families to play music. At the house of a close neighbor of mine, on the occasion of his grandson’s Annaprashan, a single song was played on the microphone for almost seven days in a row, and that song was ‘Tomar Samadhi Phule Phule Bhara’. It is a song that is suitable for a child to eat rice in his mouth. In fact, the song is being played. What song, why is it being played, whether it is causing inconvenience to others, who cares, who cares. In the past, the High Court had issued some instructions regarding the use of microphones.
The writer Sarat Chandra was in a terrible sound disaster on a ship bound for Rangoon. That part of Srikanth’s novel is well known to the Bengali reader in the school textbook. Still, some projected parts can be remembered in terms of noise pollution. A kind of loud sound reached my ears, which I have no experience to compare with. It is said that when a cowshed catches fire, a kind of sound is made. But a sound like this requires a cowshed as big as the cowshed. If there was a big market in the era of Mahabharata, it would be a different story. But in this Kalikal, from Teknaf to Tetulia and from Kabul to Brahmaputra, from Kumarika to the border of China, all kinds of Surabham are practicing together in this enclosed shell of the ship, accompanied by musical instruments. The chance to hear this great music rarely happens. …… The great poet Shakespeare said, ‘He who is not fascinated by music can kill people’. But I think he did not know about the music that could kill people in a matter of minutes. Still, fortunately, there were no microphones and noise pollution instruments during the reign of the good Sharat Chandra. It is difficult to imagine what would have happened if this great song had been sung on a microphone. The Honorable Court has certainly specified the time and volume of the use of microphones (i.e. how loud the microphone should be played). Perhaps some benefit will be gained from this. But the sound monster is not only dependent on the microphone. There is the sound of hammers banging in the factory of the house. There is a three-hour sound of a motor car horn, how much noise it can cause. If you do not get into a jam on the busiest roads of Dhaka and Chittagong, then only you will understand. Seeing those motorists honking their horns, you can understand how rude and inexperienced our drivers are about noise pollution. There is no comparison to the types of noise that can be caused. After all, there are fireworks and firecrackers. Our former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was a victim of a bomb attack on August 21st and lost her hearing due to the sound of the bomb. In our country, bombs are used for general sabotage. Crackers are used during Puja festivals, in playgrounds, at immersion ghats, in weddings, processions and in self-inflicted injuries. These too must be controlled. Otherwise, there is no escape from noise pollution. The new addition to noise pollution is mobile phones. Every mobile user who uses a mobile phone is a victim of noise pollution. A few days ago, it was published in the newspaper that mobile users are being physically harmed like smokers. I started writing about noise pollution in motor garages. Noise pollution is more in motor garages than in motor garages, especially in mill factories, where noise pollution levels are high. Although there are government restrictions to prevent noise pollution, noise polluters do not obey the restrictions. Because wherever they honk, many educated car owners and drivers consider it bravery to honk their horns. We are constantly being harmed by noise polluters. Therefore, the appropriate authorities of the government should prevent noise pollution.
Writer – Bangla TV presenter, journalist, essayist