Watch: 'Tranquility', the short film that shows how Aizawl has learnt not to blow its own horn
Without any official support or legislation, the capital of Mizoram has become India's first no-honking city.
The scenes are common in any city. Sure, things look cleaner and the sights are breathtaking. Birds are chirping in the background. Mother and son go for a drive. The roads are packed with traffic. A time lapse of the city's main street looks like any another.
But there's something different about this short film about Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram. There is something it lacks. A sound that is persistent in every city around the world and more so in India. Not a single car horn can be heard. And, just like that, the city's soundscape has become music to the ears.
The short film, produced by Films Division, was made as a result of the government body's mission to promote cinema in the North East. It reached out to six young filmmakers from Mizoram and Nagaland to help them learn the ropes of filmmaking. Tranquility was one of the films made as part of that project. It documents the capital city, whose three lakh residents have come together and decided to stop honking altogether.
The average decibel level of a car horn is around 110dB. Which is bad news for most, because sounds louder than 60-70 dB are said to cause gradual hearing loss. In cities, the problem of noise pollution has become so bad that ENT specialists say that urban dwellers normally have a 20dB hearing loss.
A 2013 report found that Mumbai is India's noisiest city, followed by Lucknow, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Chennai, while Bengaluru and Kolkata were found to have the least violations.
The most common source of noise pollution everywhere was vehicular honking. In Gurgaon, 70 per cent of the noise pollution is caused by honking. Fines are meagre and people continue to have sleepless nights. And hearing loss and sleep are not the only things affected by noise.
Chronic exposure to noise above 55dB can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. The WHO estimates that "one million healthy life years are lost due to traffic noise".
Now, if only, more Indian cities could follow Aizawl's route, things would not seem so bad in the country.
