For nearly 200 years, India was governed by a system designed to extract, not to serve. The roads, the courts, the civic rules — they weren't built for Indians. They were built for the British to maintain order over Indians.
When the ruler is foreign, breaking their rules is not a moral failure — it's resistance. That instinct didn't disappear in 1947.
The Rules Were Never Ours
Colonial-era governance treated public infrastructure as an instrument of control. Streets were for the administration. Parks were for the colonists. The ordinary Indian wasn't the intended beneficiary — they were the administered subject.
When India became independent, the laws changed on paper. The psychological relationship with "government property" did not.
What This Looks Like Today
We meticulously clean our homes. We decorate our doorsteps. We maintain our private spaces with pride. But the moment we step past our threshold into the stairwell, the street, the park — that care evaporates.
This isn't hypocrisy. It's a colonial inheritance. "Mine" was worth caring for. "Theirs" — the government's, the administration's — was not.
The stairwell is no one's, so it is everyone's to neglect.
The Path Forward
Recognising this inheritance is the first step. It's not about blaming colonialism forever — it's about naming the thing so we can consciously choose differently.
The next time you catch yourself stepping over litter that isn't yours to clean, ask: whose rule is this actually breaking? The answer is: your own community's.