“What is sound” a 3 year old asks you and
you are having difficulty explaining this seemingly simple and innocent
question.
Where will this end….we already go to and
from office with windows rolled up. There will be a stage when the windows of
the cars won’t be enough to protect our ears. Will we still be emitting such
sounds then? Oh yes! Because if anything, our desire to get by that car in
front won’t get reduced, even though our hearing might…..
In all of human existence and through the ages
when man learned to speak in his different tongues, sound was used to convey a
meaning. The core of human emotions and understanding of the world was derived
from the meaning particular sound conveyed. The reliability was constant: whether
for human or animal, sound always carried a meaning. Sound was the outlet of
emotions for man and beast alike: whether it conveyed hunger, passion, anger or
fear, both relied on sounds and the nature of emotions they carried. Even
before it developed into a complex structure of a language, sound had a meaning.
Nature too found a way of expressing its emotions through the various sounds:
anger of the Gods, manifested by thundering skies. The resultant downpour, signified
anger evaporating into benevolence, as if God was guilty of being angry and
cried….giving the gift of life… Water.
Water itself was a cause of most pleasant as
well as most terrifying sounds…. from
the gentle water fall to the raging floods, the sound was enough to understand
the varying emotions and moods of water, just like all other elements and
inhabitants of the planet.
It was only after the advent of cars that a
new age has dawned: the age of meaningless noise in the form of horns. The age
when sound suddenly is a noise and is used as an object to “push away” vehicles
in front.
There is another interesting twist to it.
With the new age when small is the powerful, the honking is seen in inverse
proportion to the size of the vehicle. The larger the vehicle the softer the
horn and the smaller the car the more chatter it makes in form of meaningless
honking. The impatience of the driver of the vehicle is similar to the
impatience of a man with a weapon. The man with the weapon is always right and
is ever demanding. And the possessor of the weapon which is capable of
producing meaningless noise, demands that the vehicle in front would suddenly
give way to the mysterious “giant” making angry noises. So is it that the
honking is the new emotional outlet for the driver? Possibly. but the fact that
there is so much of it, should make us wonder all the more, why are so many
people angry?
The guy behind me, driving a small car and
the guy beside him, driving a two wheeler, honk profusely at the crossing, as
soon as the light turns green…Do I have a built in sensor and air plane that
miraculously ferries me away as soon as the lights turn green? I try my best to scurry away from the weapon wielding
giant. He crosses me, looks at me with a sarcasm on his face and honks some
more. I suddenly remember my neighbor’s dog…so small it looks like it cannot
possibly hurt anyone, but it has the most incessant bark. It continues barking
and baring its “vicious” teeth through the night, when all other neighborhood
dogs have fallen asleep. True the weapon of noise is not for everyone. It helps
the beast within us come out. The beast then drives away in his small car, a
smug look on his face, while I am cast aside by his honking.
Should there be law which would give permit
for honking? Should there be a tax on the number of times a car be allowed to
honk? Can there be a rationing on the number of times you can press the “H”
button in a day?
I am afraid to think of what would happen
if future generations invent a device which allows them to retrieve the sounds
of the past? We now know for sure that sounds never really die out. They live
on in the atmosphere, much like the “atman” of the Geeta, changing their
frequency but retaining their fervor. The
future human would soon discover that till about the end of 19th
century they are able to decode sound which they can decipher. Sound of the
temple bells, sound of the hymns of church, of azaan from mosque, of people
gathering for the evening, of music, of nature & occasionally, sounds of
war. However post 19th century things would begin to change. The
sound of motor would be more prominent. If they happen to listen to sounds in a
city, apart from roar of traffic, a new sound, meaningless in form and
conveying no face of the emitter would be heard. Horns honking….now what face
would that be? What do they convey? It would be all over…Will they think that a
new species was developed which had a
language of its own? Will they believe a secret war was being fought with the
hearing capabilities of the enemies?
So what do I do when I hear such
cacophony….I roll up the windows, turn on the AC and sing to myself…melodiously….nothing
can beat that!
……phonetically yours
Abhishek Sharma
