Muffling Mumbai

Activists battling the cacophony say they can show the way for other noisy places

- David Rocks

Living in Mumbai requires an inexhaustible tolerance for noise. There’s the ceaseless revving of autorickshaw engines and the clamor of car horns as drivers edge through traffic. There’s pounding and buzzing from the construction of office towers, apartment blocks and a new metro. Drumbeats and trumpet melodies spill out from weddings and countless festivals. And it’s all topped off by bellowing street vendors and garbage trucks blasting Bollywood songs.

So when Sumaira Abdulali began campaigning against noise pollution in India’s financial capital two decades ago, friends, acquaintances and even her attorneys insisted it was a fool’s errand. “People told me it’s ridiculous to even try, because Indians love noise,” she says. “We’re a noisy country.”

But in 2003, Abdulali won a lawsuit seeking to roll back changes to environmental rules that had allowed blaring music late into the night during a festival each autumn. The ruling led to a blanket ban on loudspeakers within 100 meters (328 feet) of schools, hospitals, courts and places of worship. And she has since won more than a dozen other actions both on her own and via the Awaaz Foundation (awaaz means “noise” in Hindi), which she launched in 2006.

The World Health Organization warns that noise is a top threat to human wellness, affecting not only hearing but also sleep, brain development and cardiovascular health. With increasing urbanization, ever more people are exposed to unrelenting noise. And Mumbai may be the epicenter of this emerging global crisis.