Noise pollution and the religion of silence

All these laws and incidents underscore that Sri Lankans in general must learn to curtail noise and think about the ‘other’

These are irritably noisy days, especially when firecrackers are lit during the New Year. Firecrackers may be okay with noisy people who seek attention. But that is not so for people who seek a peace and quiet environment. Cats and dogs, who are terrified of crackers and creep under beds, will second what this writer has to say. 
Sri Lanka is a nation polluted by noise. There was a time when the public address system was ‘wilfully’ used to notify the whole town of an activity that was taking place on a playground or inside a religious institute. There was ego involved in this act of ‘showing’ what was happening. It was like saying ‘this is our religious sermon or our cricket big match and let’s see who comes up to protest’. And on most occasions, when those who were disturbed came up with complaints, such voices of dissent were silenced by those in power. However times have changed, thanks to updates to the law. 
It’s good if people having plans of hosting parties and open air concerts know the law. A landmark judgment was made in 2008 by the then Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva who stipulated new conditions related to noise pollution. The judgment empowered the police to entertain complaints by parties who were inconvenienced by activities that generated noise. Police can now entertain such complaints from the public under section 261 of the Penal Code. 
The issue that led to this landmark judgment was a fundamental rights application filed by the trustees of a mosque against the Weligama Police for turning down a request by the mosque to obtain a licence to use a loud speaker in the area. The police maintained that there were complaints by residents in the area against the noise generated due to the religious chanting echoed through loudspeakers. The judgment by the court not only went against the mosque, it also put a stop to noise pollution in the area during selected times. 
The present laws on ‘noise pollution’ restrict noise generating activities. A certain amount of activities generating noise is permitted between 6 am and 10pm. Individuals may get police permission for certain activities where noise doesn’t travel beyond a secluded area. Even such activities might be subject to further restrictions. All these laws and incidents underscore that Sri Lankans in general must learn to curtail noise and think about the ‘other’. 
That landmark judgment given 17 years ago associated itself with a religious activity. This is another opportunity to talk about noise pollution in ‘religion’. Osho (Baghavan Shree Rajneesh) emphasised on the importance of maintaining silence in the presence of your religious teachers and in the pursuit of the truth. It’s through the books published by Osho’s commune that we learned that when a sermon is misunderstood by an individual, he would do much damage to the society when he starts preaching on what he misunderstood. This misunderstanding also amounts to noise pollution from a religious perspective. 
This writer once stepped into the Gypsies studio in Ratmalana and experienced the feeling of being cut off from the world. You can dance the jig inside that studio and the outside world wouldn’t be disturbed. There is a famous cricket memorabilia collector residing near the Pamankada-Piliyandala Road which is full of noise. When you enter his home and close the main door, noise from the outside road is cut to zero. That house is soundproof! 
Before societies expanded, people were cultured. Back then, some sounds were permitted or even encouraged just to know that one’s neighbour, living some distance away, was ‘existing without difficulties’. Right now, the act of generating noise by the neighbour has got out of control. 
The present laws of heavily restricting noise pollution must be welcomed. We must read up on updated laws about noise pollution. Sometimes, the continuous use of a scraping or cutting machine used at a construction site might land the contractor or the house owner in trouble because such an action can also amount to noise pollution. 
All this underscores an old saying, ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse.’