We're not the only blasted unsound lot

Whether it's during idol immersion processions or baraats, one increasingly irritating feature is the incredibly high-decibel, window-shaking 'music' (sic) played on gigantic speakers as the crowd moves its way down the road. It seems the point of the whole exercise is to be louder than anyone else. The fact that the noise - the boom of the bass can be heart-pounding and truly injurious to health - is part of some kind of one-upmanship makes such festive occasions come bearing a heavy, heaving, wall-harming downside that neither police nor public can do anything about lest they be accused of coming in the way of 'tradition' or 'free expression'.

If it brings any succour though - and it really doesn't - it turns out that this decibel destruction is not confined to our part of the world. The town of Porirua in New Zealand, the original land of woke and no-smoking, is facing the same aural pestilence in the form of 'siren battles' - cars equipped with industrial speakers and loudspeakers blaring music as they cruise the streets. The object is the same as here in India: to have the loudest, clearest sound. What makes the New Zealand version arguably worse is that they use not the dhik-chak dhik-chak prevalent here, but songs by Canadian saccharine crooner Celine Dion. Suddenly, the terror of our monstrous loudspeakers seems a wee bit better.