Indian civic sense

A couple of days ago, home minister P Chidambaram called upon the Delhiites to behave as citizens of a big, good international city in view of the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Though the message from the minister was for Delhiites in particular, it leaves us (all Indians) with a few thought provoking questions.

First, does it mean Delhiites can revert back to regular typical Indian behavior once the games are over!? No such message has ever been handed out to Indians any time before, which should make us assume, it could be just a slight detour from our regular behavior for a short time.

And second, can they really change in a matter of few months? We are talking about habits developed over centuries. We have been going about for ages - pissing on streets, defecating railway tracks, spiting pan on walls, littering pretty much every public place, blocking the drains with garbage and generally spreading the squalor everywhere.

It is almost as if, we just don't have a damn clue as to what is good civic sense. Unfortunately even now, we are not making any effort to teach the same to our children at school. Without such long term sincere efforts, we will always end up having act or pretend good civilized behavior just for such occasions.