We’ve heard it 95000 times. People love telling other people banal rules about exsistance with great gravitas.

“Don’t ever leave the geyser on!” vs “Don’t leave the geyser on, it will burst. This happened to our neighbours and their maid got hurt while washing clothes.” The latter has more of an impact, doesn’t it? It makes you feel like there is more depth in the consequences of your actions… Dark depth, which makes you feel so scared, that you don’t ever do it again.

“Don’t go out in the dark, the boogey man will kidnap you.”

Ancient societies and culture have framed this sort of “forbiddeness” in the form of rituals, mythologies, folklores or just in the way of belief systems that have been passed down from one generation to another. These stories are mainly told to children so that it may be inculcated into their sense of order, to perpetuate a society they are about to step into.

One of the main distinctions here is the fact that folklores are embedded in emotion. In fear and in shame. “If you don’t have a bath in the morning, you’re a ‘dirty’ person! God will not like you!”

Sidenote: – I think I have exhausted my allowance of the use of apostrophes in this essay. I will try not to use it anymore but can’t promise anything.

These rules trickle down into society’s ways of being. The shoulds and the should nots of life.

(erm…the apostrophes will be now replaced by italics)

These so-called laws are supplemented by jurisprudence. Civic duties that citizens should follow out of reverence towards the country.

Objective rules are harder to follow, DO NOT ENTER or STOP…any self-respecting rebel will staunchly question the validity of these statements on placards.

The use of DSLR cameras in many places in Mumbai is not allowed, but you can jolly well use the phone camera. Does it make sense? No, have I been subjected to it several times as a photographer? Yes. Will I do anything to change it? No.

The laws set up by any government in the world are extremely hard to follow, because they are extremely arbitrary. Chewing gum is banned in Singapore, in lieu of protecting public property from vandalism. In India, to the contrary people spit paan (a type of narcotic betelnut) left right and centre.

So, is chewing inherently wrong? No.

The way we discard the chewed upon material is the real point of contention here. Certain traditions encourage the careful use of public space, whereas some do not. So if I created a story about evil omens catching you if you spat on the streets that would resonate more with a vandalous population rather than just putting up signpost everywhere and just…hoping people follow it.