The tradition of celebrating every sunset sipping chai with your neighbour and laughing at the silly things is now a memory. Millennials today shake their heads in denial when asked if they know their neighbours.
Though studies and the elderly claim that knowing your neighbour is a healthy practice, young Bengalureans beg to differ. Intervention by neighbours in day-to-day life is considered a nuisance by most.
According to a pilot study by iD Fresh Food, most Bengalureans don’t even know the names of their neighbours. While 56 per cent of the respondents confessed to have never met their neighbours, 32 per cent claimed to acknowledge them when they ran into each other. Only 11 per cent of the respondents said that they regularly interacted and spent time with their neighbours.
“I am required to be in my office from 10 in the morning up until eight in the night. I hardly find the time to meet or get to know my neighbours. To be honest, I also lack interest in taking time out to intrude into other people’s life. But, when I need help, be it with collecting a delivery or getting the contact of an electrician, they are happy to help,” says Sujith K Sam, a resident of Indiranagar and an employee of 22feet tribal.
The shift in pattern is not caused only because there is a lack of time or interest. It is also a cautionary measure for some.
“A couple of weeks ago there was an incident in my apartment where a man broke into his neighbour’s house after forging a duplicate copy of the key. He was her neighbour’s son. The lady whose house he broke into had given the keys to his mother”, says Radhika Mukherjee who lives in UKN Esperanza, Whitefield.
Gadgets and social media sites seem to have taken over the need to socialize with people on a one-on-one platform.
“I stay in an apartment with my family. Like most others, I don’t know my neighbours either. But, we have a whatsapp group that consists of all the individuals in my apartment. A few days ago, when my parents weren’t in town, our car’s alarm started blaring and I was cluless. I immediately left a message on the group seeking help and three gentlemen came to look into the matter immediately. The need to actually invest your time into knowing your neighbour is made easier for us this way,” says Sachin, a resident at Siddagunte Palya.
When asked about how she feels about this changing trend, Sudheshna Mukherjee, a sociologist, recalls her childhood. A time when everybody knew their neighbours and treated them like family.
She says, “The social structure of our society is changing rapidly. The number of immigrants is increasing by the day due to the IT culture. This affects the housing systems too. People prefer living in gated communities with private pools and parks. They don’t have the time to socialize or unwind. We are slowly drifting to a more Western way of life where we are bound by formalities, making systems more mechanical. Today, Google plays your neighbour.”
