Of processions
Istiaque Ahmed, Dept of ELL, IIUC
Our modern life is beset with multiple forms of processions. There is hardly any week when there is no procession. Processions are of various kinds. There are marriage processions, religious processions, political processions and processions by trade union people. All processions cause sound pollution and are irritating to the disinterested observers. The thud and clamour of people in the crowded streets and indiscriminate use of microphones in different processions are the main sources of sound pollution-- processions are a feature of the city life. Some of the processions are highly colourlul. Political procession is one of them. Flags and banners are parts of most of the processions. When a procession passes along a road, the vehicular traffic comes to a standstill, slogans are repeated and if it is a protest march, angry fists are displayed by the marchers. Political processions tend to be violent leading to destruction of private and public properties and involving police actions. A procession, of whatever kind it may be, arouses much interest among crowds of onlookers. Sometimes rooftops and balconies of houses on both sides of road along which a procession passes are filled with such onlookers. The men and women forming a procession lose their individual identify. The procession itself assumes a character of its own. The individual ego then is overpowered by the social ego. Processions thus symbolise the gregarious nature of man.
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