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An Outing … Worth Forgetting
April 13th, 2008 @ 23:03:23 | DelwareWaterGap, NationalParks, Nature, NewJersey, Pennsylvania, USA
The Outing
After much deliberation by my dear friend (and his colleagues) that lasted for nearly 18 hours, it was decided that on Sunday, the 6th of April 2008, they would visit Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area. The underlying plan was to have their portraits taken (by yours-truly) with waterfalls/ravines/woods as the background.
Why Worth Forgetting?
After intermittent obstacles (stopping and waiting for others to tag along, for breakfast, etc.), the group finally reached the area near Layton around 11 am (which was about two hours behind schedule according my plan)! When stopped for the first set of road-side shots on the way to Tillman’s Ravine, signs of uncivilized behavior surface for the first time. Yelling, shouting, and other such condemnable acts started one after the other…
Situation further worsened when I saw reckless and speedy driving on a wilder road, interspersed with residential areas, and the icing on the cake was at the Tillman’s Ravine parking lot. After having parked my car and setting up my camera gear, I see one [BLEEP] (apparently considered to be the leader/cause of such stupid acts) drives the car at high speed and does donuts (swirling/circling movements) with the car – resulting in noise that would easily outshine that in Times Square in NYC.
I was (and still am) in complete disbelief as to how could a bunch of people – so called educated (each one had one / two degrees from prestigious institutions) professionals (all of them work for the same multi-national company that Tiger Woods advertises for!) could behave like with such utter disrespect towards (the quietness of) nature!!
Upon asking a reason for such behavior, the lead [BLEEP]‘s response: Now that I have done it [CAR DONUTS IN A QUIET ENVIRONMENT, CAUSING INSANE AMOUNTS OF NOISE], you will enjoy the quietness more/better!. My dear friend, whom I have known (or so I thought) for 10+ years, summarized & justified the behavior: Whenever a group of people go out, it’s quite natural for the mob-mentality to set in. If that lead [BLEEP] hadn’t shown up, most of the crowd would have behaved in a sane manner.
Compelling argument, but leaves me begging the same old questions:
- How much longer before maturity sets in, even amongst the so-called educated professionals?
- If a person’s behavior depends on those of the people surrounding her/him, should she/he be considered mature?
- Why is it so easy to pick and follow a dumb/stupid thing? Why doesn’t our brain think to do something from its own judgement?
- How much more loss (in terms of natural resources and wildlife habitats) do we have to endure before we realize that nature’s quiet beauty should enjoyed quietly and not abused.
- Did the students fail the education system or the education system fail the students?
My dear friend supported the latter but, please, I beg to differ.
- How much longer before the realization, that JUST BECAUSE I PAID FOR IT, I NEITHER OWN IT NOR HAVE THE RIGHTS TO ABUSE IT, sets in?
- How much longer before one realizes that one’s act(s), especially when outside of his/her own country, helps formulate views about that nation in general?
- Most importantly, how long before we realize that freedom comes with responsibility?
It has been a week and I still can’t stop fuming about it – the scene ([CAR DONUTS IN A QUIET ENVIRONMENT, CAUSING INSANE AMOUNTS OF NOISE]) is still etched in my mind and pisses me off quite often. This one was, by far, the worst outing I have ever gone on. and I have never been more ashamed (of the people that I went with) in my life.
At the end of it all, I believe I am the one to be blamed – while these educated professionals assumed that they would be finding a 100 feet waterfall in the middle of Manhattan and that they could make as much noise as they wanted, I assumed that all educated professionals (most of them were/are in a serious relationship as well – another sign of maturity?) are mature enough to know the required etiquette to be amidst wildlife habitats and natural wonders. Neither their assumption was right nor mine – but the consequence(s) of my bad assumption(s) are worse than theirs 
If everybody was like you, world would be a very boring place … so said my dear friend on that dreadful day. May be very very true. But by the same token, I strongly believe that if everybody was like them – with utter disrespect towards time, other’s opinions and public property – much of the wildlife on this God’s Green Earth would disappear sooner than later and we would have nothing to show for subsequent generations!
What makes this experience even more pitiful is that people involved hail from the same region that was once (at least in part) ruled by emperor Ashoka – the same fella who once inscribed the wildlife conservation laws/policies. Much like everything from that time, these were inscribed on stone – so that they would stand the test of time and some natural elements. But the level of natural awareness (amongst majority of people) is much like those stones … buried deep some place (the social fabric)…
Lessons Learnt
I swear you will never see me with these folks ever again – at least not in any place/region that has anything to do with nature and/or wildlife. It also has made me keep the phone numbers of all NPS local offices handy – so that I can report such obscene acts immediately. Last but certainly not the least, I learnt that I should not judge a book by its cover and that looks are most often deceiving, like Shakespeare once wrote in MacBeth – Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.
I have also realized that wildlife and nature (landscapes and waterfalls, etc.) were there in UP Michigan and there are probably plenty more in this part of the world. But what it certainly lacks (the mistake is on me, I haven’t found many yet) is the same number of sane people – that share similar concern and enjoy it the way it was/is meant to be. I MISS YOU GUYS
If I thought what I went through was bad, my friend went though something that’s a million times worse. READ IT HERE.
Sad to hear this gowtham. The fact that you are so agitated by this makes me realize how bad it was….i also saw the leopard episode dude…never seen something like that….hope people realize the importance of nature and all that….
I can understand your anger and frustration. Hopefully writing about this will help you forget this episode and lets hope there are no more of such encounters!
@Santosh, Akira:
I hope so as well… let’s see.
Its still worth fighting for and talking to people. Trust me.
[...] Teksty piosenek. wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt…the one to be blamed – while these educated professionals assumed that they would be finding a 100 feet waterfall in the middle of Manhattan… [...]
hmm… heard the story from Santy…. dunno what to say… most of us lack awareness on this. sensitizing is a necessity annsutte, having a couple of degrees doesnt ensure you much when it comes to nature, or any finer experience for that matter
@Kalyan,
Will do what I can. May be I should talk to you more about how to handle such situations – you go through such things lot more frequently than I do…
@Sree:
Let me explain why I think/believe having a degree (or more) should teach us things to behave normally. Most of us, who grew up in our education system, have written few hundreds of exams (class tests, mid-terms, finals, public exams, etc.) and on an average, they lasted 2-2.5 hours. It was a quiet setting, by an unwritten rule, that demanded students remain quiet during that period of time, Do you think any our teachers would have stayed mum if one of us started shouting, yelling and acted in a manner not acceptable for that setting?
Along the same lines, when hundreds are quietly enjoying a musical concert, say by Unnikrishnan, and one of us (or a group) does similar things – things that are not acceptable to that particular event/setting.
We probably would have been thrown out of the exam\ (concert) hall, be branded the bad fella not just for the reminder of the academic year (event) but mostly likely for the rest our lives. They will probably remember us just for that one incident than anything else we may have done or do.
To me, being amidst nature, is just the same as writing an exam and attending a concert – exam to an extent that it tests my behavior and discipline; concert to an extent that there is an irreplaceable symphony of sounds – ruffling of leaves, chirping of birds, flow of water and such…
Sorry to hear of this experience. Unfortunately, freedom is often mistaken to be the right to be vandals..reminds me of a kannada quote : “dushtarna kandre doora iru”.
Gowtham , i was your friend on your seemingly “dreadful” day. The ppl who have commented above have done it based on what u say above, its a free country, what can i say, you can write possibly whatever you want.
You are free to delete my comments , but its blown way out of proportion and I strongly feel you overreacted to the situation.
First of all we didnt hurt nature in any way, we shared a couple of jokes and that isnt noise pollution, maybe for u attuned to a voice above , but for normal humans it was a peal of laughter just to keep the mood going.
Second, if one person decides to do “car doughnuts”, its not that we encouraged him, you cant blame the whole grp for it. Also he behaved after that, there was no reason for you to fume about it so long.
Everyone does their bit for nature, we have our way of appreciating it, we are not vandals, neither did we break anyhting nor throw junk around, iam not trying to justify whatever we did but just that nature is tolerant towards all sorts of human beings . Its some people who need to learn tolerance.
There is no “one” way to appreciate nature, stop sterotyping it.
Mother earth is getting splintered everyday there are bigger issues in your hand to fume about than a group of well meaning individuals who laugh aloud or talk aloud. I agree the car thing was unaccepatable but yet again it isnt unpardonable, the person who did it, did not repeat it…he appreciated the rest of the trip well and thats what you need to observe.
My friend , Nature gets hurt by negative thoughts more than noise. You hurt nature more than us that day.
Rags,
Before I go any further, let me repeat what I replied for Sree:
Most of us, who grew up in our education system, have written few hundreds of exams (class tests, mid-terms, finals, public exams, etc.) and on an average, they lasted 2-2.5 hours. It was a quiet setting, by an unwritten rule, that demanded students remain quiet during that period of time, Do you think any our teachers would have stayed mum if one of us started shouting, yelling and acted in a manner not acceptable for that setting? Along the same lines, when hundreds are quietly enjoying a musical concert, say by Unnikrishnan, and one of us (or a group) does similar things – things that are not acceptable to that particular event/setting.
We probably would have been thrown out of the exam\ (concert) hall, be branded the bad fella not just for the reminder of the academic year (event) but mostly likely for the rest our lives. They will probably remember us just for that one incident than anything else we may have done or do. To me, being amidst nature, is just the same as writing an exam and attending a concert – exam to an extent that it tests my behavior and discipline; concert to an extent that there is an irreplaceable symphony of sounds – ruffling of leaves, chirping of birds, flow of water and such…
About hurting nature, remember writing paragraphs and paragraphs (pages and pages) worth essays about types of pollution during school/college days? I bet NOISE too was considered to be a type of pollution, and you probably wrote condemning it. From your perspective, all you (or others whom you brought along) may have done is to talk loud or share jokes or do dough-nuts or forget to cut the volume (of car stereo) when parked roadside, but I believe there is a time and place for each of those things – the time and place we went to wasn’t the one for it.
About stereotyping, there were at least half a dozen other cars that passed by us, while we had parked on our way to Tillman’s Ravine – did you see any of them drive at high speeds or play loud music or do dough-nuts? No. There were residential areas along the same road and people who have houses there have paid lot more than what we do through our measly tax dollars – they didn’t come there to see the same old things from a city-setting.
About the whole group getting blamed for one person’s acts: whether you like it or not, the world/society behaves/treats you in a military way. One person does something not so good and the whole group bears the punishment. I am glad (very very glad) that this happened very early in Spring and that not many locals/park rangers were around to witness our acts as a group and possibly leading to unbearable consequences.
And trust me, thoughts (negative or positive) do far less compared to the actions (negative or positive) and knowing it isn’t the same as doing it. If just thoughts were sufficient, we wouldn’t have any of the bigger problems (issues) that you are thinking of, including noise pollution.
PS: I don’t hate you (or the other three) but I just hate you for that particular day and that particular 8 hour period.
Whether it is Unnikrishnan’s concert or a day amidst nature, unfortunately we need to be sensitized to treat them the way we deal with examination rules. The degrees dont hold good Gowtham… and I guess its bad analogy too, given that the rules you are referring to are enforced ones(not at all unwritten/unsaid – quite loud and clearly stated, n imbibed in us as kids), while the way we deal with these experiences needs sensitivity. Like it or not, our degrees dont do much to help us there. I strongly feel there is need to teach people how to value these experiences. Coming to nature, I know of one guy by name Arun who is doing some work in this regard in Bangalore. Do check his blog in my links, its called ‘kshitijadeDege’.
n by the way, people do yap nonstop in Unnikrishnan’s concerts, and all we can do is throw some nasty glances and hope that they get the point!
friends,
Let me interrupt here… First of all, no-one should take it personally. It applies to Gowtham also. I agree to some extent that Gowtham is over-reacting here because as per Rags’ comments, this happened only once and was not repeated again. Also, this was not a hiking camp or an expedition where everyone has a similar motive with the presence of a group leader. Everyone wanted an outing, and exhibited their own way of having fun and they are individually liable for their own acts. I feel more than anyone else, Rags and Gowtham have taken it very personally for no mistake of theirs. Guys, there was no great crime that was committed. As Sree mentioned, it does happen in today’s music concerts. I don’t think either the organizers or Unnikrishnan will take it personally. If they do, they will be spoiling their mood which is not worth it. On the positive note, you guys should be happy that this is the first time in US u guys have gone on an outing together. I am sure u guys had fun inspite of these incidents. Hoping this would be an ice-breaker
- Prash
Hi Gowtham, I know I should not interfere in this matter. Still felt like sharing my thoughts. Your concern towards Mother Nature is much appreciated and I agree every one of us should understand and implement thoughts which can protect the earth . It would have been better if you had expressed your opinion by sharing the same expressions which you have put in the blog with group who visited and discussed amongst each other before the event is over. It is just another approach . I feel you both ( you & Rags ) should go out and njoy an outing and forget the bitter experiences which both of you might have experienced.